Phun Phriday! #29 - White Balance

I thought for this week's Phun Phriday! I'd have a little Phun with white balance. Almost all digital cameras have the ability to adjust for white balance, and often we can use that to our advantage. After all . . . that's why it's there. The purpose of this post is just to show you the effects of changing the white balance setting in your camera.  All photos were taken outdoors on a totally clear day with beautiful blue skies.  The white rose was in the shade of the house with a black cloth draped behind it.  No artificial light of any kind was introduced.  This first photo looks to my eyes like the most accurate rendition of the real thing.

For this photo I just left it set on "Auto" White Balance. As you look at these different effects, be sure you look at the leaves and the background as well as the flower itself.

The camera was set for "Fine Weather" White Balance.

This one was set to "Shade", but I think they are programmed more for tree shade.

This photo was set for "Cloudy" conditions.

Dramatic change here - It was set for "Tungsten" light. Tungsten light has very little blue in it so to compensate this setting adds lots of blue.

The setting on this was for "Cool Fluorescent" lighting.

And this one for "Day White Fluorescent".

My camera has three settings just for Fluorescent and this one is "Day Light Fluorescent".

Here it is set of the color of "Flash". As you can see it is very close to the "Fine Weather" setting.

Many cameras even let you set specific White Balance by what's called a Kelvin Setting. A Match Flame burns at about 1700 to 1800 Kelvin, whereas noon direct sun is about 6000 Kelvin and Partly cloudy sky is about 8000 to 10000 Kelvin. For this photo I had it set to 12000 Kelvin.

And for this one I had it set to 14000 Kelvin which is high as my camera will go.

If you've followed my Sunset Sundays you've seen some sunsets that are very blue like the one here.  And of course you've seen lots and lots of orange ones like this. In most cases I have played with the White Balance.  I shoot most of my sunset photos in "Shade" mode because it adds yellow right in the camera and for those that appear very blue I have shot with the White Balance set to "Tungsten" as you can see what that does above.

I hope that you are glad you stopped by Phun Phriday! today, and I hope you'll go out and play with your white balance settings.  I strongly recommend you get out your owners manual to your camera and have Phun!

Photography should be Phun and that's why I have my Phun Phriday! posts.  Have you done something Phun, wierd and/or creative lately? If so, leave a link to it in your comment. If not - well I'd really love to hear from you anyway.

P.S. I'm headed out of town early today and don't know when I'll have Internet access again for the next few days. If I can't get to it while traveling I'll play catch up when I get back.

Don't be shy - leave a comment or email me.  I look forward to hearing from you!

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