Week Three Discussion: White Balance

Congratulations! If you have worked through weeks one and two and practiced the assignments, then you are now capable of shooting in manual! It was fast and easy to learn to set your ISO, aperture and shutter speed, wasn't it? Not nearly as complicated as we all thought it would be when we took our cameras off "auto." Nice job, everyone! And like any other skill, you will need to practice, practice, practice to fine tune your knowledge and know it innately. In time, you will be able to instinctively pick up your camera and assess the lighting conditions -- ISO speed set, check! And then you'll ask yourself if your subject is moving or still? With that answer, you can figure out how long your shutter will need to stay open to capture the action -- Shutter Speed set, check! Next, you'll ask yourself how much of the scene you want in focus. Visiting the Grand Canyon? You'll want to catch all of the scene and set your aperture to do so -- high number, narrow opening. Or perhaps you'll want to capture some lovely orchids that you've painstakingly grown, so you shoot wide open, with a low number, to focus on that stunning flower and get some lovely bokeh for the background. Perfect! And you can do that after the first two lessons. Again, congratulations. Many people who own DSLRs never get this far and they never move from the auto setting. And that's okay -- great pictures can still be taken, but they're using their camera as an expensive point and shoot. But by knowing how to operate on manual, you are in control, not your camera!

Okay, with the "exposure triangle" down, what's next? Well, there are many other adjustments on a DSLR where we are in control, and the one we will tackle this week is White Balance. If you've never read about white balance before, your camera is probably set on "auto white balance" with the camera deciding the type of lighting that is in play when you press your shutter release to take a picture. But cameras are notoriously bad at doing this.

I had never paid much attention to White Balance, until we covered the subject in my photography class through Parks and Recreation. Our instructor had laid out little trinkets around the desks and counters in the room -- nothing particularly interesting to photograph, with a light next to it. I sized up the situation and thought she was wasting my time. Why would I want to photograph trinkets that would never, not even on their best day, produce a photo of any interest? I couldn't believe she was going to waste the limited class time with this exercise! So I begrudgingly got out my camera and walked to the first station. I was shocked that my photo came out blue. And at the next station, my photo came out yellow. What was going on here? Why wasn't my camera capturing what my eye was seeing? I literally couldn't believe my eyes. The answer to what was going on was White Balance. While you eye seamlessly adjusts to various lighting source temperatures, your camera doesn't. Understanding white balance will help you get much truer colors in your photos. 

Please read the Week Three lesson on White Balance and complete the practice homework assignment and post your photos before the next lesson is posted next Sunday. I think this one may surprise you like it did me. In addition, here is an Adorama video to view that discusses White Balance. I'll be interested in hearing your thoughts and seeing your photos once you complete the assignment! 

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Extra credit: For those who would like to learn more, here is a useful Digital Photography School article discussing white balance, and for those interested in the science behind color temperatures, here is an Adorama video Behind the Scenes: More About Color Temperature.