What Is White Balance

White balance (WB) is the process of removing unrealistic color casts, so that objects which appear white in person are rendered white in your photograph. To get your camera to properly display white, as it was seen in person, you must take into account the "color temperature" of a light source. Color temperature refers to the relative warmth or coolness of the white light. Our eyes are quite good at judging what is white under different light sources, however, digital cameras often have difficulty in judging this using the auto white balance setting (AWB). Improperly set WB can create unsightly color casts which are unrealistic. To adjust white balance in traditional film photography required using different cast removing filters, which had to be attached to the lens, for each lighting condition. Digital cameras do not require these filters. Understanding WB can help you avoid color casts that are created by you camera's AWB which will help you improve your photos under a wide range of lighting conditions.

To understand WB requires understanding a little bit about color temperature. Color temperature describes the spectrum of light which is radiated from a "blackbody" with that surface temperature. A "blackbody" is an object which absorbs incident light, neither reflecting it or allowing it to pass through. In simpler terms, think of a piece of metal being heated up. You can heat that metal to become "red hot" and for even higher temperatures it can be heated to be "white hot". In the same instance, "blackbodies" at differing temperatures also have varying color temperatures of "white light". Click here to view a chart of color temperatures of some common light sources.

If you shoot in RAW file format-
RAW is the best, by far, solution to getting the proper white balance. RAW, unlike other file formats, allow you to set the white balance after the photo has been taken using photo editing software.

If you shoot in JPEG or TIFF format-
Most digital cameras, now-a-days, contain a variety of preset white balances. These presets are a good place to start if you have a DSLR camera and work quite well if you are using a point and shoot that has no further adjustments. The best way to set white balance, however, is to use a "18% gray card" and set that as a custom white balance setting. Please refer to your owners manual to see how to set a custom white balance for your camera.

Of course this is just the simplified version of White Balance so to find out more and in more detail please try searching the internet for White Balance. There are many good resources in print and on the internet.