PCPhoto
Master White Balance For Better ColorAuto white balance is an effective tool, but you often can do better with other, more controlled settings |
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Page 2 of 3 Even if you set a specific white balance, you can still freely change the colors as defined by this setting in the computer, in a RAW converter and even with JPEG files (there can be a cost to doing it with JPEGs in terms of image quality, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it). For me, though, having a specific setting gives me a locked-down interpretation of the scene based on how I actually experience it. It can allow me to get closer to reality or to push that reality, but all based on what I’m doing as I shoot. I’m not getting someone else’s interpretation (the camera engineers’) or a wimpy color balance from AWB that’s designed to “please the masses.” If you want to get more from your images, if you want to expand your color control over the image, try something other than AWB—the default setting of digital cameras. I want to be clear that AWB has made huge advances in recent years and often can give you great results, especially in tricky and changing light conditions. However, it also can give you dull, uninspired colors because it often removes color casts you don’t want removed (such as the warm tones of a sunset), it may make a wrong “guess” as to what’s the right color for a scene, and it can dumb down the color options because that way the camera is more acceptable to most buyers.
In addition, there’s an important consideration you need to make if you often take a lot of photos in a single setting. AWB can give you inconsistent color when you’re taking multiple shots in such conditions—the camera keeps changing the white balance it chooses as you change the angle to your subject, the composition and/or the focal length. The camera “sees” different aspects of the same scene, such as different colors in the background or sky, yet the camera has no way of knowing that this isn’t a different scene altogether, so it reevaluates the white-balance settings for each shot. This can be a pain if you need to produce images from this location that actually look like they all belong to that location. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done in the computer to make things like skin tones match. Below: Compare the results of Auto (left), Cloudy (middle) and Tungsten (right) white balance.
If you shoot AWB, sure, you can change the white balance, but to what? How does that change relate to what was really seen at your shooting location? Are you sure you remember? And you’re adding an extra step and decision point to your workflow. I have no desire to spend any more time than needed. An easy way to deal with white balance is to choose an actual white-balance setting based on the conditions. This can be set fairly simply—just match the setting to the conditions in which you’re shooting, e.g., sun to a sunlit scene, shade to a shady subject, light bulb (incandescent or tungsten) to an indoor situation and so on.   |
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