Tuesday 31 May 2011

What is white balancing?

White balancing is where you ensure that the white in your photos really is "white" and not cream or blueish white or any other shade of white. Digital cameras may have an auto-white balancing (AWB) function but with all the different lighting conditions with their different shades of white, it's usually not as good as the human eye, so the photographer sometimes has to intervene and take action to ensure that the white of the photos is indeed white.

Sometimes the camera can be confused if a shot is mostly one shade of colour, say green, it may mistakenly think that the scene is being lit by a green light and will auto-white balance accordingly, so the photographer has to step in and make sure this doesn't happen.

How can a photographer intervene to do white balancing?

1.) Take RAW shots

Taking photos in RAW format enables you to manipulate the white balancing after the shot is taken. After taking the photo, the camera usually shows you a screen with a colour slider, where you can adjust it manually to white balance the shot. Depending on your camera, an alternate way to white-balance is to click on the part of the photo which you see to be pure white, and it will adjust the rest of colours of the photo accordingly.

2.) Ensure you have a sample of white in your photo

To allow you to white balance a shot, it's helpful to have white in the shot. This isn't essential and some photos don't have white reference points in them, but if there isn't a white reference point, white balancing is more tricky and your camera is more likely to struggle with auto-white balancing.

3.) Carry with you a white card to show you what white is

If your shot has no white in it,  you can have a reference card or object with you to help you white-balance by eye. You can buy photographer card kits for a range of colours, including different ranges of greys, to help you white balance by eye.

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