RAW will give you the flexibility you need to change your white balance after the fact, whereas file formats such as JPEGs really bake in the white balance so you can’t do much adjusting. Note that for this to work effectively, you will need to photograph in RAW (rather than JPEG or HEIF). But in cases where your camera messes up, that’s okay just open the images in a post-processing program and correct the white balance. Your camera will analyze the lighting and generally give you fairly neutral photos. Here’s my favorite method of dealing with white balance, and it’s really, really easy. Simply put your camera’s white balance setting to Auto. How Should You Set Your White Balance for Great Results? Now, you can apply white balance effectively in two different ways: Either in-camera before you take a shot or in post-processing after your images have been captured. There are pros and cons to each method, which I’ll discuss below.
(It does this by adding in some of the opposite color on the spectrum if your image is blue, the white balance process adds in some orange, and if your image is orange, the white balance function adds in some blue. So if you have an orange or a blue image, a white balance can make it look neutral again. White balance refers to the process of correcting color casts in your images. So what do you do when you encounter images with a warm or cold color cast? You compensate for the color cast using something called white balance. You want images that look relatively natural, rather than images that are weirdly blue or strangely orange. Like this: Generally speaking, this is not what you want. But your camera, on the other hand, is not that skilled. So when you photograph a scene that’s under warm light, you’ll end up with a strong yellow/orange/red color cast. Like this:Īnd when you photograph a scene under cold light, you’ll end up with the opposite (a cool blue color cast over your image): Now that you know all about color temperature (and color tint), it’s time to get to the most important part of this article: Why light color actually matters.Īs I said, your eye is really good at compensating for color shifts and can instantly make everything appear pretty neutral. Why Does Color Temperature in Photography Matter? Most light doesn’t actually move very far along the color tint spectrum, which means that photographers often just talk about color temperature and get away with it.īut you’ll occasionally run into lights with strong tints (such as the green tint of a bright neon sign), so it’s a good idea to remember what color tint actually is, just in case.
Remember how I said that every light lies along a yellow/blue spectrum? Well, there’s another spectrum that matters: The green/magenta spectrum, also referred to as the color tint spectrum. Over time, you can train your eye to see the warmth or coolness of a light source – but for now, just understand that these variations exist. Of course, there are many other light sources, both natural and artificial, all of which offer different temperatures.
Tungsten light bulbs are less warm still (but still warm). Cool Lights vs Hot Lightsīefore I really dive into the importance of color temperature to photography, it pays to understand what types of lights are warm and what types of lights are cold.Ĭandles are very warm, as you might have guessed. Sunsets and sunrises are slightly less warm. Honestly, it’s not important – what matters is that you remember what color temperature is and that lower Kelvin values mean warm while higher Kelvin values mean cold. Now, there’s an obvious point of confusion here: Low Kelvin values refer to “warm” colors and high Kelvin values refer to “cold” colors. Now, photographers refer to the color of light in terms of color temperature. We use a scale in Kelvin you’ll talk about very cold lights in terms of 7000 Kelvin and beyond, and you’ll talk about very warm lights in terms of 3200 Kelvin and below. Outdoor Camera Settings to Get Perfect Exposures Every Time The Best Camera Settings for Outdoor Portraits 15 Indoor Photography Tips for Stunning Results
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