A Simple Christmas Photography Tip | White Balance
We already discussed the Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO which are about the exposure. This Christmas Photography tip is a little more advanced and covers the importance of White Balance in Christmas Photography.
What is White Balance
Generally speaking, White Balance in digital photography is how our cameras represent different colours. By default the camera is set to Auto White Balance. In many new cameras the Auto White Balance works just fine. But there are few situations that you need to manipulate the White Balance to get the better result, and one of them is Christmas Photography.
Why you need to tweak White Balance for Christmas Photography
In Auto White Balance mode, camera tries to detect a neutral colour (such as white or grey) and adjusts the other colours accordingly. And usually we may not have those neutral colours available in our Christmas decorations. That is why camera may not be able to set the correct colour tone.
White Balance is Off
To help camera setting correct colour tonality, we can use White Balance presets. Just go to camera menu and select the correct light source as your White Balance preset. In this example. Since the light source was Tungsten (normal household bulb), I select “Tungsten or Incandescent” preset. You notice the colour change. It is warmer and more pleasing.
Correct White Balance
Use Custom/Pre White Balance for perfect colour
If you are not shooting in Raw format and want to have close to perfect colour, you need to consider shooting in Custom White Balance. In Custom White Balance you set the Neutral colour for the camera, and camera adjusts the other colours accordingly.
In the Photography Bootcamp program I have dedicated a full session to cover White Balance in depth.
White Balance Presets in Camera Menu
DEC
2017