Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Learn About White Balance




Well, I just shot these photos in the winter. They are examples of the different variations you can capture if you allow yourself to learn a bit about controlling white balance. If you are interested in learning more, dig out your camera manual and find out if you can control the white balance on your camera.

Tip: Can't find your manual? Well, put the model number of your camera along with "pdf" into a google search and see if you can download a copy of a pdf manual onto your computer. I actually download many camera manuals ... and I would always download a camera manual in advance for any camera I was thinking of purchasing.

The Nikon D90 allows you to control the white balance in many ways. Most cameras allow you to pick White Balance presets for sunlight, shade, fluorescent and incandescent lighting. Experiment with these settings when you are in the appropriate application. Go ahead ... get wild, use the wrong settings too! Sometimes this will do some very interesting things to your photos. Remember, if you like it, who cares what anyone else thinks ... unless of course you are trying to appeal to the masses.

My favorite way to control white balance is by setting a light temperature. The D90 allows for adjustments between about 2,500 and 10,000 degrees kelvin. The upper photo was taken at approximately 7,600 degrees and the lower photo was taken at roughly 3,700 degrees. The Auto White Balance setting on most cameras is usually set around 5,500 degrees.

OK, now dig into the subject of white balance in your manual discover how to alter the white balance. Play around with some shots so you can see how the settings will change your photos. Do you feel that one of the photos above is colder than the other? Do you see how you can control the feeling of a photo by changing the white balance? Go ahead now, give it a whirl. What have you got to lose?

NikonSniper Steve

41 comments:

Anissa said...

Beautiful. And a great explanation. Thanks. :)

Jeanne Estridge said...

I'm actually untrainable at photography, but that's fascinating.

Kerri Farley said...

These are gorgeous!! I want to go play with the White Balance now!!

Unknown said...

gorgeous photos!

A Brit in Tennessee said...

An amazing difference in just a few tweaks. Thanks for this information, I'm off to find my white balance ;)

Mike said...

Stephen on my Canon EOS 1000D you can preset/alter WB to several different options e.g. full sunlight.

You can also adjust the WB manually.

Is this the same on the Nikon and if so what did you do in the example above?

Bruce Caspersonn said...

Well, yes, that's lovely. My trouble is I don't know which of the 2 photos, I like the best!!!
Bruce.

NikonSniper said...

pat & bruce from down under,
thanks for bring this up. you make a great point. altering the white balance in this way does not necessarily make the photo better. in other words, both photos have equal photographic value ... at least to me. but i am trying to demonstrate how to give your photography a different feeling. i feel the cold more in one than the other. this is just a way to warm or chill off something in order to hit a target you may be shooting for. at the end of the day. i am fond of both. in fact, the reason i love these pictures has nothing to do with the sunset. i have taken at least 15,000 photos of this tree over the last decade. many are on this blog. to me ... i see more in the tree than anything.
nikonsniper steve

kyungmee said...

wonderfully explained and fantastic shots..either way!

Scott Law said...

Beautiful pics and great advice. I do often use auto white balance, but, I try to always remember that if I'm taking a sunset shot I set it to daylight and it really enhances my colors. Anyone who wants to enhance their photography needs to experiment with their white balance and then after they know what they are doing they can make smarter decisions.

Bruce Caspersonn said...

Well said, Mr. Nikon. Thanks.
God bless the person who invented digital cameras. I wish it had been me.
Bruce.

Stephanie McGee said...

Beautiful photos. Is white balance only on digital cameras? I'm just curious as I'm currently in a photo class but we're on film and in black and white.

I know this is really the first time I've commented, but I do look at your pictures every day. Thanks for sharing your wonderful hobby and the beautiful moments you've captured.

NikonSniper said...

jeanne,
wish i lived close to you in ohio. i would love to hear you raving about what i could teach you in photography in 90 days. i know you are teachable. i can say this with authority ... because folks, my photos were dramatically changed in 90 days at a community college back in 1981. it is much easier to learn what i did in that college years ago because of digital technology. folks, there is art to photography. that is true. i won't lie! BUT, i still attend basic classes occasionally with adults walking through the door that don't think they are trainable. six weeks later they are starting to get the hang of it ... but the real noticeable change is that they love to take their cameras with them and they continue to learn on their own with what they got of the class.
don't give up! keep shooting!
nikonsniper steve

Dawning Inspiration said...

Thanks for this info. I'll give it a shot!

Carolyn R. Parsons said...

I sometimes operate a television camera..I'm a reporter but I shoot too and they frown if you mess with the white balance ;)

Fantastic explanation. Thanks for that.

Breeze

nanny said...

A million thanks for the explanation......I will experiment now.....tell us more...

said...

Stephen, thanks for the comment! I would like to say I had something to do with that photo, but unfortunately I cannot. :(

This photo is from photobucket (I still need a good camera before I can preform a photo as this lol) That pic of you is very much like that one. cool. Thanks a lot though! I hope it wasn't too much of a disappointment :(

Pat said...

Both photos are great. I love a lone tree against a beautiful sky.

I fiddle with my white balance a lot. But then sometimes I forget to change the setting back from when I am in the sun, to inside, etc. I'm trying! :)

NikonSniper said...

either way .. it's still snazzie yazzie!
nikonsniper steve

myletterstoemily said...

i thought both photos were beautiful. it is awfully
kind of you to instruct us neophytes!

NikonSniper said...

stephanie l. mcgee,
i am fairly certain that most of the newer film based cameras have white balance presets. however, one of the biggest problems i think when you are shooting film based cameras is when you change settings and forget to change them back. simply said ... shooting film is harder, by far. you get some instant feedback in digital that can keep you from going all day long shooting in the wrong mode. this is why i have been able to learn and practice better photography over the last 7 years. i learned more in the last 7 than the first 23 by having instant feedback. check your film camera manual for white balance options (if any).
nikonsniper steve

Julie ScottsdaleDailyPhoto.com said...

excellent photos and great explanation. I have a Nikon D90 and have just started to use kelvin option. it does give the photo a different feel. i ended up liking a water photo I took with the bluer cooler kelvin color. your explanation was very insightful. thanks

WR said...

Hmmm, I don't think I've experimented with white balance at all but will look into it now. Thanks for the lesson. very intriguing shots...gorgeous color

CalinMirisan said...

great shots and a very useful tips.

Don and Krise said...

It's awful easy to get stuck in a rut by leaving your camera on "Auto" or "Program". I guess that's fine, and most of your photos will come out okay, but you have to remember, playing with things like shutter speed, apertur and white balance aren't going to hurt a thing. Go ahead and try new things. Your photos might start looking better, and you might just learn something.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Thanks for this valuable info!

gogouci said...

Wow, I just had flashbacks of color balancing, gray scales and my darkroom days. I think I still have my spot brushes somewhere in garage.

Ihsan Khairir said...

Shoot in RAW and deal with the WB later... that's what I do sometimes.

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

Thanks for the tips. We accidentally took some with the white balance changed and that's how I got my feet that I posted at the bottom of my blog page. Interesting!

Amy_Fire said...

That is really cool. I love the way the white balance changes the pictures. Good bit of knowledge. =)

Anonymous said...

I shoot in RAW, too, as the person above me. I attempt to set the white balance on the camera correctly so that I have an "as shot" image as a decent starting point. I play around with the raw white balance settings from time to time to see the effect different settings (daylight, shade, flash and yes, even adjusting the kelvin numbers) have on the picture.

~j said...

@Jeanne
i thought i was untrainable until a friend and i decided to spend one day a month playing with our cameras. we've discovered that you have to shoot alot to become comfortable and that some of our "mistakes" are our favorite pics.

Stephanie McGee said...

Thanks, Steve. I'll have to check it out. I'll let you know if I ever am able to experiment with it. (And how it turns out if I do.)

Love the blog.

Stephanie

Patrinas Pencil said...

great advice, Steve. I only have a cell phone camera, but it does have white balance on it and I have seen the dramactic differece.

I love the tree as well but added withthe sky and the sunset, makes for a picture perfect shot!

Kristi said...

WOw! Thanks for the manual tip. That is a great idea. I had no idea you could capture a different look like that by just changing the white balance. I thought those pictures were taken at different times of the day.

~Kristi

Big Sky Chef said...

Nice Photos Stephen

Anonymous said...

Keep posting stuff like this i really like it

Photos- said...

My white balance still does not seem to do much about yellow light inside.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the work you have done into this article, this helps clear away a few questions I had.

Ruth said...

My senior year in my bachelor's degree in photography I learned about RAW files. It unleashed a wealth of power in changing the image after I get it out of the camera. Photoshop has presets and I love to use the sliders to create my own look that can't be replicated by the camera or presets. I love coming here and learning about Christ and photography plus you pictures are such a joy to view. Added information printers are at around 5000 K. To get a better match from you monitor to your printer set the monitor at that temperature, too.

Chwile... said...

Rozstrzelone w chmurach. Super!