Comments on: Manipulating White Balance for Artistic Effect

By: Katyy

Katyy — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 23:03:39 +0000

Im only 15 but I want to be a photographer but I dont know if Ill have the money

By: Sii

Sii — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 12:47:18 +0000

My camera allows me to adjust the WB exactly as I want it using the primary colors plus green. I use this setting often to convey more of intention to the veiwer, as shown in the two pictures of the beach and of the icicles. However, I find it difficult to gage the correct WB for a ‘true to life’ shot and so I tend use the most suitable auto setting and make any adjustments in post processing. A grey card is not always convienent and more often than not there is no handy reference in the shots I take, and so I fear that my post processing adjustments are not ‘correct’.

Is there any method I can use to make sure my post adjustments are correct? The main problem is I lack the confidence of my convictions. Any help would be greatly appreicated.

Sii

By: GariRae

GariRae — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 20:35:41 +0000

I prefer to keep the white balance in Auto, then adjust in Photoshop. Then, I’m better able to really see the impact of WB adjustments. I often find I need to “warm” cool shots and “cool” warm shots just a bit. My concern with adjusting the camera setting is forgetting to change the setting when the situation changes, which it can by just moving from inside to outside, shadow to sunlight, room to room.

By: Jeff Kontur

Jeff Kontur — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:44:51 +0000

Abbie, all other things being equal, in an ordinary daylight shot to warm it you’d use cloudy or shade. (Makes the camera think the light is blue so it makes the picture more orange to compensate.) To cool it you’d use tungsten. (Makes the camera think the light is orange so it makes the picture more blue to compensate.) Of course you can get into all sorts of lighting scenarios but this is it at its most basic.

1 EV = 1 f-stop
EV stands for exposure value. It’s an easier abbreviation than f-stop when writing and is technically the more correct term, though both are exactly equivalent.

By: Abbie

Abbie — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:15:37 +0000

Sorry – I don’t think I made it clear in my previous post – but I was trying to check my understanding of which pre-set setting to use to get :

a) a warmer shot
b) a cooler shot

thanks!!!

By: Abbie

Abbie — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:13:28 +0000

Just getting to grips with all the new terminology that comes with starting to learn about photography. For white balance, if I want to:

- Warm up my shot – I’d choose the Florescent setting?
- Cool my shot – I’d choose Tungsten????

Also what is EV?

By: Jeffrey Kontur

Jeffrey Kontur — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:10:52 +0000

@Tanay- I checked out your picture on Flickr. That is spectacular. With all the greenery in the frame, I probably would have been hesitant about trying white balance manipulation myself but your results speak for themselves. Nice job!

By: Jeffrey Kontur

Jeffrey Kontur — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:28:28 +0000

To Julie: I am not aware of a ready-made cheat sheet, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one floating around somewhere. The real key is to understand what you want to do with white balance. If your goal is to correct color casts and come out with true colors, the settings on most cameras are pretty self-explanatory. When the predominant light source is a tungsten bulb, you pick tungsten. When it’s flourescent lights, you pick flourescent. (Olympus actually recognizes three different flourescents: warm, cool and all-purpose.)

If your goal is to manipulate color balance, as suggested in the article, that requires understanding a bit about the color of light. I actually discuss it a in one section of my book Photography Basics. Think of the color spectrum as going from red to white to blue. Tungsten light is orange — toward the red end of the spectrum. To correct for it (move the recorded color temperature closer to the middle), your camera adds blue — from the opposite end of the spectrum. If you had a light source with a blue cast, your camera would add orange or red. It always pulls from the opposite end of the spectrum with the goal of “neutralizing” the color so it falls in the middle. That’s a very oversimplified explanation but hopefully it gives you something to build on.

By: tanay

tanay — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 08:36:42 +0000

yea even i played around with white balance put it on incandescent on a sunny day while taking the picture of a butterfly the results were really nice..the background had less color and the butterfly looked beautiful
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34459324@N07/3205952996/

By: Sherry

Sherry — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 04:01:26 +0000

Thanks for this white balance info. I’m very pale and can’t wait to try your beach tip!