Mastering New Camera Techniques in 2014 – How to Set White Balance Accuracy?

In this section we’ll continue sharing about next camera techniques known as white balance accuracy. It’s a basic aspect of photography that rarely used, while it can have a big impact upon the images you take. You might forget about the white balance setting, especially when you take a shot in raw. However, it’s something worthy learning about as it helps you to achieve the best result on the exposure and colors of the shots.

You’ll find your camera’s Automatic White Balance setting works in many situations, especially in most lighting conditions. But, it doesn’t always make a pretty good job of capturing the exact colors. Your images may come out with blue, red, or green look, despite the scene looked normal when you see with naked eye.

Make Use of Strong Colors

As noted, auto setting is good at certain conditions. When the main subject of your interest is dominated by a single tone or color, such as orange sunset, a large expanse of yellow flowers, or a blue sky, it does a better job. In these situations, you’ll get an advantage of single strong color that counteracted the condition of lighting.

But, you shouldn’t always rely on the auto setting. When it comes to the light at sunset or sunrise, the actual white balance you’ll see is near to the Artificial or Tungsten Light setting (3.000-4.000K). You can take a shot with this preset, but the warmth that you want to capture may lose much. Instead, keep the beauty orange glow in your shot by trying Daylight or Cloudy White Balance setting.

How to Use Software to Set a Custom White Balance

Looking at how powerful photo editing software to create a custom white balance setting. While a number of white balance aids are available, all you really need is merely a sheet white paper or a piece of grey or white card.

When taking a raw shot in a scene that contains single neutral tone, you can easily adjust the white balance either when you process the pictures in software, or in-camera. But what if there are none of neutral tones in a scene you take? This is the right time to use the white or grey paper you’ve prepared.

There are some simple tips to adjust white balance setting in software:

1. Set up a reference paper
   Place the white or grey paper in the shooting stage. It’s better to place the paper in the same light as the focal point of your shot. Select a preset of white balance setting on your camera, depending on the situations at the time, such as Daylight. Make sure you are taking a quality shot.
2. Remove the paper
   You don’t constantly need to place the paper. It’s only used for one frame. Once you’ve took a shot with the paper in the frame, remove it and you can carry on shooting.
3. Use the software
   Photo editing software, such as Adobe Photoshop CS, is easy-to-use. Press ‘Select All’ button to select all the shots you’ve taken in the same light as the first shot with white or grey paper. Let the magic of editing software happen by clicking on the white paper. In other way, you can synchronize the White Balance setting by clicking the ‘Synchronize’ button.