Friday Photography Tips #2 - White Balance
White Balance in portraits can be the difference between 'cold' and 'warm' or 'sick' and 'healthy' looking.
To me this topic is one of the most important in photography and it often seems like the most overlooked. Unnatural colours within an image can so easily undermine what should be a great picture.
1. What is White Balance?
In my last post I talked about how sophisticated our eyes are. They have evolved to see in daylight, and although throughout the day the colour of this light actually changes, we are still able to perceive the correct colour of objects.
But cameras need a reference for what colours should be, or things that are white, will look more blue, orange, green or purple. Think of old film photographs from the 80's and how the indoor lighting made everything look like it had been spray-tanned.
"Chunky Me" - courtesy of Uncle Jim :)
2. Set It BEFORE You Take Your Shot
Most cameras allow you to set the white balance by selecting presets like Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, Fluorescent, Tungsten and more. Some cameras will let you set the white balance by photographing a neutral object (like a white piece of paper) or by manually choosing the Kelvin (temperature) value you think appropriate.
By choosing the light conditions you feel best represents the actual light you are photographing in, you will get a ‘neutral white balance’. This simply means that the colours you see in the image accurately reflect real life, this is essential if you are photographing something where the viewer NEEDS to know the correct colours (e.g. clothes for a fashion catalogue, a bride's wedding dress or your perhaps favourite flower in bloom).
Bluebells
If you cannot change the white balance or it doesn’t look right afterwards, it is simple enough to adjust afterwards using editing software like Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom (free versions of these applications are available on smartphones). Please look at the video at the bottom of the post for a guide to editing portraits using a smartphone.
3. Multiple Sources of Light
Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where there is more than one source of light and the white balance is harder to establish. Where two different light sources impact your scene (like daylight through a window and an interior light bulb) a good starting point is to set your white balance to the most dominant source (or set it to automatic and fix the colours by editing).
There is some subjectivity to this, portraits that are slightly warmer than the ‘correct’ white balance can be more pleasing. Take a break from an image and look back at it again with a clean pair of eyes to check you haven’t gone too far, because this is easily done.
The image above is that of my wonderful and talented wife playing fiddle at the Ennis Tradfest last year. With cool natural light prevailing on the left and warm indoor light on the right, the white balance is a compromise with the aim of looking as natural as possible.
And don't forget, if you love your composition but don't feel like the colours are right, try it in black and white!
Happy Friday,
Tom
