Articles from Parent Magazine
by Matthew Panzarino
White Balancing Act
Out of all the camera features in all the world, I had to pick white balance.... why? White balance is one of the most overlooked and underappreciated features out of any on your digital camera. First we’ll explore what white balance is.
Simply put, the white balance setting controls what your camera thinks is a pure white color, also known as a color temperature. If your camera doesn’t “see” white correctly, it will shift all of the other colors in the spectrum, creating a color cast. A good example of this is when your flash fails to fire indoors and you get a very yellow or greenish colored image. This was a big problem with film cameras because film had a set white balance or idea of what white looked like.
Fortunately, most digital cameras contain a variety of preset white balances, so you do not have to deal with color temperature problems during the critical shot. By using the WB selection tool you can choose between these presets to help your camera get the perfect color in any lighting condition. Auto WB (AWB) is available in all digital cameras and uses a best guess method within a limited 
range good for most common conditions, but it can be fooled. This is the default setting of all cameras. Next, custom WB allows you to take a picture of a white or gray card under the same lighting, and then set that as the white balance for future photos. With "Kelvin" you can set the color temperature over a broad range. The remaining six white balances are listed in order of intensity, correcting for regular household bulbs, fluorescent, sunlight, flash, cloudy days and open shade. When shooting pictures in
any of these conditions, taking a moment to set your WB to the type of lighting you’re under can make all the difference in getting correct color from your pictures.
For additional help on setting the WB on your particular camera stop by Horn Photo!
