White Balance and Color Temperature

MC 310: Basic Photography Bong S. Eliab

Mass Communication Program

Outline

§  White Balance Explained §  Color Temperature §  How to compensate color temperature §  How to get the actual colors §  Color cast as effects

White Balance

§  Is a way to correct the colors in the photograph taking into account the light it was shot with;

§  Why correct the colors? - not all light sources produce the same light quality and temperature equally across the whole visible light spectrum

White Balance

Incorrect White Balance

Correct White Balance

Source: www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/white-balance.htm

Color Cast Correction

Color Temperature

Visual Spectrum

Kelvin Color Temperature Light Source 1000-2000K Candlelight 2500-3500K Tungsten Bulb 3000-4000K Sunrise/ Sunset 4000-5000K Fluorescent Light 5000-5500K Electronic Flash 5000-6500K Daylight with Clear Sky 6500-8000K Moderately Overcast 9000-10000K Shade/ Heavily Overcast

WB: D65

WB: D65

dSLR White Balance Presets Automatic White Balance

Custom White Balance

Tungsten Light Source

Fluorescent Light Source

Daylight Light Source

Flash Light Source

Cloudy Lighting Condition

Shadowy Lighting Condition

Guide for WB Presets

Color Distribution

Raw Format

§  Use the RAW file format (if your camera supports them).

§  Allows you to set the WB after the photo has been taken.

§  Allows you to set the WB based on a broader range of color temperature and green-magenta shifts.

Raw Format Advantage

Mixed Lighting: Problem

§  AWB usually calculates an average color temperature for the entire scene,

§  AWB Uses average temperature as the white balance

§  AWP - Acceptable approach §  However AWB tends to exaggerate the difference

in color temperature for each light source

Mixed Lighting Note:

• Building to the left is quite warm

• But the sky is somewhat cool

•  WB was set based on the moonlight-- bringing out the warm color temperature of the artificial lighting below

•  White balancing based on the natural light often yields a more realistic photograph.

Automatic White Balance

AWB

§  white balance is available in all digital cameras and uses a best guess algorithm within a limited range-- usually between 3000/4000 K and 7000 K.

Custom White Balance

Neutral Reference

Automatic and Manual WB

Custom WB uses 18% gray reference point.

Automatic White Balance

Custom White Balance

Custom White Balance

§  Custom white balance allows you to take a picture of a known gray reference under the same lighting, and then set that as the white balance for future photos.

Fluorescent WB Preset

Shade WB Preset

Cloudy WB Preset

AWB

Fluorescent WB Preset

Tungsten WB Preset

Custom White Balance