Have you ever noticed that sometimes you take a picture indoors and it just does not look right in color? People take pictures every single day with white balance that is off and they never even realize that their picture could look better. However, if you compare the image to the actual real life situation, then you will see that the color is not right. Often, on indoor images, the picture will look blue. Professional photographers call this a cold image (think of it as blue=cold). They may also look orange depending on the lighting in the room. This problem can easily be repaired by changing the white balance setting on your camera.
The white balance is simply how the camera reads anything white in the image. When the camera reads the white, it will then set the colors for everything else in the image based on what it read as white. Often, if you allow the camera to automatically set the white balance, it will not read the white very well because of subtle changes in lighting, and this will throw off the color of the whole image.
Can you correct these problems? The great news is that every single camera has some level of white balance settings. That includes the little camera on your phone! The white balance is so important that being able to change its settings is always included. However, it will not always be called white balance on your camera. To control this setting, you will need to know what to look for.
If you are using an SLR camera, then it may actually be called white balance, and you can control the warmth or coldness of the image on your own. As mentioned, cold will make your picture look blue. On that same line of thought, warm will make your picture look more orange.
What is it that causes the white balance to get off? It all has to do with ambient lighting. When you are outdoors, the lighting is coming from the sun, and it will be a warm light. If you are taking pictures indoors, you can have a number of different light sources. These different light bulbs can range from warm to cold and they can confuse your camera a great deal. To get the best pictures, you should always change the white balance for different settings.
Your camera will probably name the different preset white balance options based on the lighting source. On almost all cameras, these settings will include Direct Sunlight, Cloudy, and Shade for outdoor situations. For indoor situations, the settings will include Tungsten (cold), 2,500K (cold), 4,000K (warm), 7,100K (warm), and 10,000K (very warm). You will have to experiment with these settings when you are indoor situations to find the right white balance. Once you learn them better, you will easily be able to choose the right balance for every single situation.
Once you start controlling the white balance on your pictures, you will go back and look at old images with a frown. You may have never even noticed that the color was off before, but you will not be able to help but notice how much better your images look now.
Real Life Example: Your child is getting an award in elementary school and you take pictures under those cold fluorescent lights make your little one look like they are actually blue-ish. They were not cold, so you definitely do not want them to look cold. If you are in this situation, try changing the white balance to either Tungsten or 2,500K. You will see a difference immediately.
The image of sliced apples on the left has incorrect white balance, while the image on the right has correct white balance.
