What is white balance? I couldn’t find a definition that I liked so I’m making one up. White balance is a technique that can be used to correct the color in a photo to make it look like it was taken in natural light. What you may not know is that most artificial tends to be more yellow than sunlight. Incandescent light gives a golden cast, while fluorescent light has a green cast. Your brain make an adjustment so you don’t normally notice the the yellow cast, cause you’re smart that way. However, the camera doesn’t know to adjust unless you tell it to.
So what happens when you take a photo inside with only incandescent light? The photo comes out yellow like this one.
Well the good news is that they are a lot of things you can do to adjust for the yellow light.
1. My first suggestion is to use natural light if at all possible, but if the room does not have a window, then you may not have a choice.
2. If you are shooting in a room that has little to no natural light, then you can make an adjustment on your camera. If you have a DSLR, it should have a setting for white balance. One of the options will be tungsten lighting. Select that one if you are shooting indoors with no natural light. It will automatically make your photos more blue and less yellow. I find that it overcompensates on my camera so I don’t use it, but some people swear by this setting.
3. The other option is to shoot in raw and make an adjustment in post-production. This is the option I use. If you have a DSLR, you should have several shooting options, large jpeg, small jpeg, and raw. I set it to raw. It allows me to make many more adjustments to the photo than if I shoot in jpeg mode. It is really easy to adjust the white balance of a raw photo in Photoshop. The image below was shot in raw and then adjusted for white balance in the raw mode.
The photo below shows how yellow the photo was before it was corrected.
4 Another option in Photoshop if you shoot in jpeg is to add a cooling filter to offset the yellow. For this photo below I adjusted the jpeg image using the cooling filter 82.
So there are a few choices to consider when shooting without natural light.
For comparison, here is a shot taken with natural light. Although this photo was edited, the white balance was not adjusted at all.
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Hey Anita,
I really enjoy your blog and envy that you have so much time to dedicate to it. Thanks for the photo tips. I just started blogging and feel pretty lame at it. Plus, my time is limited as I work full-time& have two teenagers, yada yada. All my photos (as you can probably tell) are taken from my iphone. I don’t know if I have the ability to correct the lighting with that or what. Also, I really enjoyed your bow-tying tutorial that your daughter took on the ipad. I’m decent at bow-tying, courtesy of my mother :), but loved watching it anyway and the humorous story about the the first filming. Love looking at the pics of your homes too. They are both gorgeous. It’s given me some great ideas. I think the grain sacks are my fav. P.s. I reside in Florida, my birthplace, but I graduated from UT Austin and lived in Austin for ten years. I love Texas and still miss it.
Thanks again,
Lori
Love the tips!…Keep them coming 🙂
Great tips, Anita! Your explanation of white balance is one I understand! I see so many of my photos in your examples of what not to do! Many thanks for the advise!
Thanks Anita, I will have to check these options on my camera.
Patty at Home and Lifestyle Design
hi anita- i love these tips. I will take all the help I can get. Have a nice weekend.
I have a new camera and will give your tips a whirl. Thanking you!
Merry Christmas!
Thanks Anita..i have a Nikon D7000 and still learning how to use it…thanks for the tips!
So much to learn and you are such a wonderful teacher! So easy to understand with great examples in photos. Thank you for taking time to help us. Merry Christmas!
Hi lovely lady.
Thanks so much for your great Idea and keep warm.
XXOO
Diane
Thanks for your photography tips. Although I am not a blogger I read many blogs and have learned so much about composition & perspective from studying the photo layouts. Your simple explanations and clear examples are a bonus to this novice!
Thank you for all the effort that you put into your blog site! It is truly beautiful and inspirational.
Happy Holidays, Terri
Thanks so much for the tips! Wow, what a difference it makes. I really haven’t taken the time to learn all these things about my camera and so I just end up shooting on auto with a flash. Not the best. My resolution for 2014. Learn, study, and play with my camera. I really appreciate this! I need all the help I can get. lol!
hugs,
Jann
Anita,
Thank you for these amazing photo tips, dear friend!
I have a small Canon “Point~n~Shoot”. . .so much of this post is Greek to me!!!
One of the resolutions for 2014 is to attend a Photography Class.
Perhaps, in time, I’ll have a better understanding!!!
Keep ’em coming just the same. . .eventually something just might “click”!!!
Fondly,
Pat
Hello Anita,
Thanks so much for all the tips…I will try some of them out. Merry Christmas!
Blessings,
Linda
Great info, Anita! LOVE this post!
This is the first description of White Balance that I’ve read that was clear and concise. That helped.
Thank you.
Thanks for the tips. I usually edit my white balance in Photoshop too & shoot in the raw. I still am learning a lot about my camera. Your photography and blog are lovely. Added you in Google+ so I can visit again.