What is White Balance in Photography? How does it work?

No matter what type of photo you take, one thing you should know about light is that not all light quality is created the same. Because the difference in light color will make the photo look unnatural and off-tone. So, to better understand this issue, let's learn about white balance mode and how to adjust its color.

What is color temperature?

The first thing we need to understand is what color temperature is. And how does it affect the color of the photo?

Color temperature is a physical property of light measured in Kelvin (K). The spectrum of light will depend on the temperature of the light source, estimated by the number of degrees K, from which we get the corresponding color. It should be noted that the higher the temperature, the stronger the radiation emitted, giving a cool color and vice versa. Objects with lower temperatures emit radiation that tends to be warmer in tone such as yellow or orange. Below is a table of the color temperature of the light source for you to follow.

Different light sources provide different color temperatures. Temperature values ​​start from 1000K to 10000K. Normally, the light you often see has a color temperature of 5500K, which is a typical neutral light level. If your camera is set to Auto White Balance mode, it will use the Kelvin value based on the white object as a reference point for other colors.

What is white balance?

White balance is simply understood as balancing the color temperature in your photo. It is created to ensure that white is displayed most accurately even when shooting in places with sunlight, flash, etc.

Unlike the human eye, technical cameras do not have the ability to automatically balance white well. It causes the created photo to contain blue, orange, or green tones corresponding to cool and warm color temperatures. Once you understand the white balance in the camera, you can easily remove this color cast.

White Balance in Camera

Digital cameras can only guess the color temperature by observing the light coming from the surrounding environment. It causes some photos to appear slightly blue or slightly yellow. Skin tones may not look natural.

So, at this point, you need to manually set the White Balance mode on your camera to get the correct color temperature. Nowadays, most cameras have the option to set or adjust White Balance manually with some typical settings, including Sunlight, Shade, Tungsten, Flourescent, and many more.

White Balance Modes

Camera White Balance modes all use Kelvin values ​​as a measure. Of course, these values ​​also depend on each manufacturer and each model. Here are some White Balance settings that you can refer to:

• Auto mode: This is the default mode of the camera. This mode will automatically calibrate the White Balance according to the ambient light, even when using flash. However, using auto mode should be limited to cases when you do not have enough time to set the White Balance for each photo or in specific lighting conditions. 

• Tungsten (or Incandescent) mode: The camera will add a cool tone to the photo because incandescent light is usually warm in color. By adding cool tones, the bright yellow or orange tones of tungsten will be reduced.

• Direct Sunlight mode: This mode is used when shooting outdoors with sunlight shining on the subject.

• Flash mode: This setting is only used when the flash is the only light source. The camera will add a warm tone to the photo.

• Cloudy mode: The camera will add a slightly warm tone to the photo when the sky is completely covered with clouds. Sometimes, when shooting sunsets or sunrises, the camera cannot reproduce the vibrant colors. You can also preset this mode to add a warm red tone to your photo.

• Fluorescent mode: This mode is used to take brighter and warmer photos to compensate for the cool tones of fluorescent lighting.

• Shade mode: The camera will add a warm, orange tone to the image, the captured photo will have a warmer color than Cloudy mode.

• Color temperature change mode: You can automatically change the Kelvin value from 2500 to 10,000.

• Preset mode (PRE): This mode allows the camera to recognize what white will look like through the current color temperature. In some cases where there are many light sources, or it is difficult to determine the main light source, what we have to do is take a photo of a white paper so that the camera sensor can read the temperature information color from that white paper and reset the camera's White Balance algorithm properly.

How to Set White Balance in Camera

The best way to get the correct White Balance is to set it via Preset (PRE), but you will need a White Balance card known as a gray card or 18% gray card. This process involves holding the White Balance card in front of the lens so that the camera reads the correct color temperature of the light reflected from the card.

Additionally, some cameras may require you to take a photo of the White Balance card first, then read the color of the card to determine the correct white balance. Remember that this is not a permanent setting of the camera and will change as the lighting conditions change.

Adjusting White Balance when shooting RAW and JPEG files

If you shoot with RAW files, white balance is one of the adjustment features that you can change in post-processing without affecting the quality and sharpness. In addition, White Balance changes for RAW files are always more flexible than when changing with JPEG files. So as long as you shoot in RAW format, adjusting the color temperature of the light source in the photo will be easier to handle, especially in the post-processing stage.

Conclusion

Thus, just by understanding color temperature and the operating principle of white balance, you can master the color of the light source in the photo. Hopefully, you will be able to apply white balance settings to change the color in a creative and unique way.