On the flipside, if you’d like to present something even cooler than neutral (as I do with most night images), select a LOWER Kelvin value. If, on the other hand, you like your skin tones a little warmer or want to showcase the dramatic warmth of the lighting, select a HIGHER Kelvin value (I like to start at around 6500K when emphasizing the warmth of sunset on a clear evening - that’s approximately 4000K warmer than neutral). Thus, if you’re shooting at sunset and want to neutralize the warm hues, simply dial in the color temperature of sunset: somewhere around 2500K. Once you know the color temperature of various types of light, just remember that by dialing in that color temperature, you are achieving “white” balance for the light. Decide whether you want to neutralize or dramatize the color of the light Following film’s lead, if you can only handle memorizing three temps, memorize Daylight (5500K), Average Shade (8000K), and Lamplight (2800K), and go from there. Tungsten Type B film, on the other hand, is 3200K. What did the light feel like to you? What is your perception of the color setting?įor example, you might be surprised to learn that although the human eye tends to perceive moonlight as bluish, it is technically a “warmer” light than daylight as an artistic matter, I always cool down my white balance settings from neutral when shooting at night, as it best approximates how I envisioned the scene (also worth noting is that unless you’re shooting long exposures with a tripod, you’re usually NOT shooting by moonlight alone).įor the science geeks among us, you may be interested to read more about the reason that we perceive night light as blue (the “the Purkinje Shift”) here.Īs a point of reference, we can also look to film, which is produced to perform best in certain types of lighting.ĭaylight film, for example, approximates 5500K. “Unnatural” color temperatures can also be extremely effective in setting a certain atmosphere or otherwise changing the mood of a photograph.Īlways be keeping your own vision in mind and the way that color can come into play and enhance your work. Indeed, when we shoot at sunset, very often, it’s the warmth of that “golden hour” that we find so appealing. In such scenarios, setting “correct” white balance completely strips the drama and beauty of the light. … But what if you want to embrace the coolness that we associate with night or the warmth of a honey hued sunset? What do you expect to happen when we convert it to black and white and then adjust the white balance? The tonality does, in fact, change: The fact is that while you can adjust white balance as desired when you shoot in RAW, working with accurate white balance in camera results in more accurate exposures. Those who shoot in RAW may pay little heed to in-camera white balance based on the commonly held belief that RAW images are infinitely flexible when it comes to white balance adjustments in the digital darkroom. Myth #1: In-Camera White Balance doesn’t matter as long as you shoot RAW This article will take a look at some of the most common misconceptions about white balance, as well as taking a look at one of the less commonly used approaches to white balance: White-Balance-by-Kelvin. There are a number of ways to set white balance in camera: AWB (Auto White Balance), CWB (Custom White Balance), White Balance by Preset (Sunny, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Tungsten, etc), or White Balance by Kelvin.
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