White Balance

Apologies for the lack of posts lately. I've had limited access to my computer over the last few days, and trying to update via iPhone is an exercise in frustration. I'll try to get back to a more regular schedule this week. Meantime, let's talk white balance.

If you've read my previous posts, you know that I've benefitted greatly from watching National Geographic's Great Courses DVD on fundamental photography. I can't recommend this course enough, as it's made me think about the fotos I'm taking in ways that have noticeably improved my photography. Most recently, I've watched the lessons regarding lighting, which have some great tips on how to light a subject using both ambient and introduced light. The host, photographer Joel Sartore, also mentioned white balance, about which I've thought very little before now.

Sartore mentions that auto white balance (which I used basically all the time) tries to mimic our eyes' adjustment to different lighting. The effect is that white looks like what we perceive as white, and the other colors follow. This is fine, but he also mentions preferring to allow the camera to capture what's really going on, without adjusting for color consistency, by setting white balance to daylight and forgetting it. Below are some examples of when it worked and when it didn't. (One note is that I'm doing a lot less processing on these fotos. Some I may run through post eventually, but I'm starting to get more confident about how my shots are coming out even without editing. Exciting!)

This shot from a conference at my church did NOT work. Fluorescent lighting is bad news unless you adjust the white balance.

Same conference, with white balance adjusted for fluorescent lighting. Still kind of harsh, but at least everything doesn't look a sickly yellow.

Leaving white balance to daylight gave fotos of this adorable baby a reddish warmth that I found quite pleasant.

Here, I set my camera down on a table and set a timer. I'm pleased with the soft lighting (from an incandescent bulb bounced off a wall in the corner), and the slightly yellow cast gives a warmth that feels cozy to me.

I'm more conflicted about white balance on the above and below fotos. Test shots with adjusted white balance came out too harsh and clinical for my tastes, but the yellow lighting is on the border between nicely warm and a little too much. Better composition of shots might have helped, but it turns out people get tired after about five shots.

Daylight white balance gave this shot a reddish warmth that I loved. Also great is the smile on Clare's face. When two subjects are in love, it's much easier to get a great shot of them.

Speaking of love, here's my favorite subject, waiting on some food. It's easy to get good shots of her, and I love doing it. Again, the reddish light warms everything up nicely.