White Balance 01

The color temperature is measured in “Kelvin.” Normal daylight has a color temperature of 5600 K or Kelvin. Most people have their white balance set to “automatic” and then in post production they sometimes change it if deemed necessary. I ask you to take a raw image and develop it. After you are done with all your setting export the image and then change the White Balance of your image. Subtract 1000K from your image and export it. Then go back to your original white balance and add a 1000 K. Look at all three images and compare them.

White Balance 01a White Balance 01b White Balance 01c

I photographed this dahlia at the dahlia garden in San Francisco. The automatic white balance setting on my camera picked a 5623K setting in my first image. I subtracted 1000K from the original image and I got a pretty cool colored image. Then I added 1000K to my original image and I got a very warm colored image. Which image do you like the best. Do you like the automatic setting of my camera or would you pick a custom setting? Do this exercise and pick different subjects and photograph them. Change the white balance in post production or in your camera and watch the outcome. As always, enjoy this exercise!