A camera’s white balance setting adjusts the color balance for particular lighting so that what we know to be white actually appears white, without unwanted coloring. In turn, a properly set white balance helps other colors to display more accurately, too. Most of the time, the auto white balance setting on your DSLR camera or advanced point-and-shoot camera will prove extremely accurate. Occasionally, though, your camera might need a little help.
Typical Shooting Modes
Your camera likely comes with a variety of different modes to deal with common, more complex lighting situations. Using these settings lets you compensate for lighting without having to adjust the white balance manually each time. Typical settings are as follows.
AWB (Automatic White Balance)
In AWB mode, the camera takes a “best guess” option, usually choosing the brightest part of the image as the white point. This option is at its most accurate outside, with natural, ambient lighting.
Daylight
This is the white balance option to use when the sun is at its brightest (around noon). It adds warm tones to the image to combat the very high color temperature.
Cloudy
The cloudy mode is best under sunlight with intermittent cloud cover. Like daylight mode, it adds warm tones but it takes into account the slightly cooler nature of the light.
Shade
The shade mode helps when your subject is shadowed on a sunny day, or when you’re shooting on a cloudy, foggy, or dull day.
Tungsten
The tungsten setting compensates for the orange color cast that incandescent household bulbs emit.
Fluorescent
Fluorescent and the more recent compact fluorescent light bulbs emit a green color cast. On a fluorescent white balance setting, the camera adds red tones to combat it.
Flash
The flash mode is for use with speedlights, flashguns, and some studio lighting.
Kelvin
Some DSLRs have the Kelvin mode option, which allows you to set an exact color temperature setting.
Custom
The custom mode allows you to set the white balance yourself using a test photograph. Custom mode is especially useful with the energy-saving compact fluorescent and LED lighting that is becoming more common. Such bulbs come in various temperatures, from warm to cool; using a custom mode allows you to adjust to the specific lighting.
The Special Challenge of Fluorescent Lighting
Fluorescent lighting used to be simple: It always emitted a green color cast. Older digital cameras, which typically have just one fluorescent setting, can handle a small number of fluorescent lights. Modern fluorescent lighting, however, gives off several different color casts, usually cool. Many newer DSLR cameras offer a second fluorescent option to cope with this stronger and more variable artificial light.
When and How to Use the Custom White Balance Setting
If you use an older camera; need the whites to be perfect white; or are shooting under CFL, LED, or a mixture of artificial and ambient light, the custom white balance option is the way to go. Here’s how to use it.
