Today, we'll take a look at White Balance. In short, white balance is how to make something white in your photo actually appear as white when you view it. This isn't always how the camera records photos because - believe it or not - light actually has color to it.

Have you ever noticed how a photo taken in incandescent lighting sometimes looks yellow? Or how that shirt looks one color when you buy it in the store (fluorescent lighting) and looks completely different when you go outside (natural lighting)?

Not to bore you too much with the details, but that is the color temperature of the light. That color temperature is measured in degrees Kelvin - for example, sunlight is generally 6700K, fluorescent light is around 5000K, and moonlight (generally pretty blue) is around 4100K, etc.

In order to make white appear as white, you need to set your White Balance setting in your camera to match the color temperature of the light in which you are shooting. These days, cameras do a pretty decent job of figuring it out for you and setting your color temperature accordingly (this is your Auto white balance setting). An even better option is to shoot RAW, which allows you the option to adjust the color temperature after you take the photo, meaning with just one minor adjustment slider, you can ensure that the colors presented in your photos match what they were went you took the photo (if you want to adjust them further after that, that is up to you, but you at least start with accurate colors).

Ok - I guess I said I wasn't going to bore you, so let's get right on into the example that will show what I'm talking about. Below are a couple versions of the same exact photo. The only difference in them is the color temperature (and thus the white balance) - mouseover each thumbnail to see the larger image and get an idea of how color temperature in your lighting affects your photos.

4400K	4950K	6700K	B&W

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/640 sec at f/4. Image Stabilization on. ISO 400. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw. National Aviary, Pittsburgh, PA.

The original shot was recorded at 4950K - which is pretty accurate color temperature for outdoor lighting on a cold, overcast, winter's day. I normally bump photos to around the 6700K temperature range to most closely match sunlight, but as you can see in this case it just simply looks wrong, causing a yellow cast and making the photo far too warm for the subject. So I tried the slider in the opposite direction, trying a cooler light, eventually ending up on 4400K to give that slight bluish color to the photo, to cause it to look slightly colder - which I felt is perfectly fitting for the subject. And finally, I ran a quick black and white conversion just to eliminate the slight touches of color that were there and reduce the photo to its very basics.

What do you think? Does that help explain white balance and color temperature at all?

- Bill