E04 Camera Basics White Balance White balance

Camera Basics White Balance White balance is a feature that ensures that the colour white is reproduced accurately regardless of the type of lighting under which a photo is taken At a very basic level.

Camera Basics White Balance

White balance is a feature that ensures that the colour white is reproduced

accurately regardless of the type of lighting under which a photo is taken At

a very basic level, it is common to use the Auto W hite Balance setting

However, this setting is no one -size-fits-all solution For a white balance

setting that best suits the lighting source, choose one of the preset white

balance settings on your camera

White balance makes sure your pictures turn out with the appropriate colour tone for the lighting

Points-to-note

- Its original function is to ensure that white appears white in your photos

- You can also use it to add a colour cast to your photos

Depending on the light source, the photo you take of a white object may take on a colour cast, appearing reddish or bluish, for instance This is

something that is not apparent to the naked eye, because our brain

automatically corrects the colour casting so that the white object still

appears white regardless of the light source However, cameras don’t have that ability Instead, this function is carried out by the white balance (W B) function, which ensures that white objects are depicted as white in photos regardless of the light source

Most of the time, if you were to shoot with white balance set to the "Auto" mode, which is also commonly known as Auto W hite Balance (AW B), the colours in the photo would be quite close to those that you see with your naked eye However, for some scenes, "Auto" is not able to make the

appropriate corrections, which results in colours being depicted differently from those that you see W hen this happens, choose a white balance setting

from among the presets You will have a few options, such as “Daylight”,

“Shade”, “Cloudy”, “Tungsten light”, “White fluorescent light” and so on

However, you can also use the W B function to i ntentionally add a colour cast

to your photos Try it out for yourself: First, take a photo with the “Daylight” preset Compare it with photos taken with “White fluorescent light” or

“Tungsten light” See that the images are more bluish in tone than the on e shot with “Daylight”? Next, try “Cloudy” and “Shade” You will get images that are warmer in tone

Take note of these effects—you can use them to create drastic changes to the look of your final image

The difference between the various white balance presets

Auto

Daylight

Shade

Cloudy

Tungsten light

White fluorescent light

All examples shot with: EOS 5D Mark III/ EF50mm f/1.4 USM/ FL: 50mm/ Aperture-priority AE (f/1.4, 1/6400 sec, EV+1)/ ISO 100

These were shot outdoors on a fine day Compared with the photo shot with the “Daylight” preset, the white house looks warmer in the “Shade” and

“Cloudy” examples, and cooler in the “Tungsten light” and “White fluorescent light” examples Under normal circumstances, we recommend using “Auto” when shooting outdoors because it gives a more natural look

Auto

Daylight

All examples shot with: EOS 5D Mark II/ EF70 -200mm f/4L IS USM/ FL: 70mm/ Aperture-priority AE (f/4, 1/250 sec, EV -1)/ ISO 100

The sky during sunrise and sunset are reddish in to ne W hen you

photograph them with white balance set to “Auto”, the function tries to

correct the red-cast clouds so that they will appear white, and this mutes the reddish colours in the sky If you want to emphasize the reddish tones

instead, here are the presets to try in order of increasing effect level:

Auto→Daylight→Cloudy→Shade

Auto

Cloudy

All examples shot with: EOS 80D/ EF -S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM/ FL:

135mm (216mm equivalent)/ Aperture -priority AE (f/5.6, 1/200 sec, EV+1.7)/

ISO 200

If you were to photograph the light of a tungsten bulb using AW B, the light

will appear white in your image, although it really is a warmer tone For a

more accurate depiction of the white, choose the “Tungsten light” preset For

an even warmer tone, choose either “Shade” or “Cloudy” These settings will

impart an overall reddish tone, giving the entire photograph a warm feel

White balance correction function

If we were to get technical about colour tones, white balance presets can

only adjust colour tones alo ng the amber/blue axis To adjust along the

magenta/green axis, use white balance correction function This emphasizes

the purple/green tones, which can make subjects look more appealing

To set the white balance correction function, first, fix the colour tone of the entire image by choosing one of the white balance presets Then, in the white balance correction menu, adjust along the magenta/green axis If you need to, also adjust for blue/amber, and there you have it—your custom-toned image

From the SHOOT menu, select [W B Shift/Bkt.] to display a screen like the one above Shift the square marker to the desired position on the grid

The letters on the [WB Shift/Bkt.] grid each represent a colour Move the square marker in the direction of the colour you want to emphasize

Examples of white balance correction

Normal

A:9

B:9

G:9

M:9

All examples shot with: EOS 6D/ EF24 -105mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM/ FL: 24mm/ Aperture-priority AE (f/3.5, 1/500 sec, EV+1)/ ISO 100

In the above examples, I shifted the square marker by the number of units indicated in the caption for A(mber), B(lue), G(reen) and M(agenta)

respectively The effects of the adjustments are clear in the final images that result