Edited By Chinawolf Digital Photo

Admin | February 02, 2012 | Comments Off

Edited By Chinawolf Digital Photo

Edited By Chinawolf Digital Photo

Photographers choose preset white balance settings based on the primary type of lighting they're shooting under. Or they set the white balance manually using the Custom button. With a point set that the camera or the photographer says is neutral, the camera adjusts the proportions of the primary colors of red, green and blue. In this way, color cast is eliminated or minimized.

Setting the Custom White Balance

To set the custom white balance, the photographer takes a plain piece of white paper or a white card especially designed for photography that has been purchased from a camera store and places it about 18 inches from the camera. The photographer must be sure that the light falling on the paper or card comes from the same direction that it will when the photo of the subject is taken.

Now the photographer takes a photo of the white paper or card. Make sure the that paper or card fills the viewfinder or screen. The white point or custom setting that results is the gold standard for white balance in a specific lighting situation. After all, light whether it is reflected or incident comes in many shades and the shades are determined by the (primary) lighting source. (Incident light is the light actually falling on or absorbed by a subject as opposed to reflected light that "bounces" off a subject.)