White balance represents the colour hue or tone in your images. When you do not work to get accurate white balance the images may be tinged with an incorrect colour hue. This can be disastrous at weddings or when you are shooting portraits. Even a small modification of colour tone can produce unpleasant pictures.
White balance is important in portraiture due to the fact that it means precise skin tones. If you white balance is not set to an accurate setting then skin tones may look slightly blue, greenish or pink. It does not matter whether skintone is fair or dark. If your white balance is inappropriate for your shoot you will feel unhappy with your pictures.
There are various white balance settings on your camera. These are called white balance presets. These presets are intended to set your shots to a particular tone. For instance, there is a white balance preset called daylight. Daylight is designed to mimic the colour temperature at noon. The light at midday looks very different from the light in the late hours of daylight. If you want a colour temperature coherent with daylight hue then simply change the white balance preset to the daylight setting. If you like your images to look golden then you may select the cloudy or shade in your white balance presets.
Before I go on any more let me delve a little deeper. White balance is connected with colour temperature. Colour temperature is related to the certain type of hue in your shots. The light at different times of day will give you different hues. Some of these tones are suitable for particular subjects and not others. That's why, when you change your white balance presets, your entire image looks different to the one prior.
Colour temperature does not relate to Celsius or Fahrenheit. Colour temperature relates to the colour of light. When the light looks fairly white you can say it is reminiscent of daylight colour temperature. Camera suppliers made a white balance preset to reproduce this daylight temperature. White balance temperature simply relates to the colour of the light you are shooting in.
To simplify this let's take for example you are photographing a scene at 2.30 in the afternoon. You see that the light changes every few minutes due to the wind. One minute you are shooting in full sunlight. The next minute you are shooting in cloudy light. The colour temperature of these two lighting conditions is very different. So how can you get precise colour in different light? The answer is to do a custom white balance.
Custom white balance is a white balance setting particularly created for the unique light you are working in. This means that even if you have shifting light you can still have very true colour. Creating custom white balance is done using the colour checker reference tool such as a gray card. A gray card is simply a small card that tells the camera where middle grey is. Once the camera knows where mid grey is then it knows where all the other colours are. By photographing in this way you are telling it to set all the other colours around this spot.
The way to set white balance is to shoot your gray card. Once you capture the gray card you can then alter your white balance setting to custom. The camera will then ask you if you want to use that image as a colour recommendation for all the photos from now on. Once you select yes the magic begins. You will see authentic colour every single one of your shots.
Altering your white balance may differ from camera to camera. It's crucial to check your camera instruction manual to locate your white balance adjustment adjustments. I know where they are on the Canon 5D but I am unfamiliar with where they are on a Nikon. I trust that the process is reasonably alike from manufacturer to manufacturer.
Setting your white balance to custom, or choosing the preset yourself, is an essential part of your colour management workflow. Colour management is one of the unsung heroes of photography. It is essential with all the shooting that you do. You will be able to get correct colour in your brighter areas, mid tones and shadows. No longer will your white look off-white or your deep black look dark grey. If you do your white balance properly you will find that white actually appears like a sharp and crisp white. Once you find that your colour management has been done correctly gaining correct, clear and stunning colour will become as easy as pressing the shutter button.
By Amy Renfrey
The first image has incorrect white balance. You can see how much blue has been removed from the image. This is an example to show you how important colour management is.
The photo below is what accurate white balance looks like. This is done with a grey card. Simply photograph the grey card (fill the frame) under the same light as your subject. Then set the white balance to custom, using the photograph of the grey card as a reference. Check your manual to see how this is done. Each camera may be different.
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