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When to Avoid Auto White Balance
Auto WB isn't always the best tool for certain high-contrast photos
By Jo Plumridge Jo Plumridge Writer University of Plymouth Former Lifewire writer Jo Plumridge is a photography professional and writer for photography and travel venues such as BBC, Digital Camera Magazine, and Saga Magazine. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on February 13, 2020 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Travel Tech Digital Cameras & Photography Tips for Mobile Photography The color temperature of light varies throughout the day. Adjusting a photo's white balance helps remove the color casts that different color temperatures produce. White balance depends on a white point, an area in a photo that should be white. A camera's white balance setting adjusts the color balance for particular lighting so that what we know to be white actually appears white, without unwanted coloring. In turn, a properly set white balance helps other colors to display more accurately, too. Most of the time, the auto white balance setting on your DSLR camera or advanced point-and-shoot camera will prove extremely accurate. Occasionally, though, your camera might need a little help. Lifewire Typical Shooting Modes
Your camera likely comes with a variety of different modes to deal with common, more complex lighting situations. Using these settings lets you compensate for lighting without having to adjust the white balance manually each time. Typical settings are as follows. AWB Automatic White Balance
In AWB mode, the camera takes a "best guess" option, usually choosing the brightest part of the image as the white point. This option is at its most accurate outside, with natural, ambient lighting. Evi Abeler Photography Daylight
This is the white balance option to use when the sun is at its brightest (around noon). It adds warm tones to the image to combat the very high color temperature. Evi Abeler Photography Cloudy
The cloudy mode is best under sunlight with intermittent cloud cover. Like daylight mode, it adds warm tones but it takes into account the slightly cooler nature of the light. Evi Abeler Photography Shade
The shade mode helps when your subject is shadowed on a sunny day, or when you're shooting on a cloudy, foggy, or dull day. Tungsten
The tungsten setting compensates for the orange color cast that incandescent household bulbs emit. Evi Abeler Photography Fluorescent
Fluorescent and the more recent compact fluorescent light bulbs emit a green color cast. On a fluorescent white balance setting, the camera adds red tones to combat it. Evi Abeler Photography Flash
The flash mode is for use with speedlights, flashguns, and some studio lighting. Evi Abeler Photography Kelvin
Some DSLRs have the Kelvin mode option, which allows you to set an exact color temperature setting. Custom
The custom mode allows you to set the white balance yourself using a test photograph. Custom mode is especially useful with the energy-saving compact fluorescent and LED lighting that is becoming more common. Such bulbs come in various temperatures, from warm to cool; using a custom mode allows you to adjust to the specific lighting. Evi Abeler Photography The Special Challenge of Fluorescent Lighting
Fluorescent lighting used to be simple: It always emitted a green color cast. Older digital cameras, which typically have just one fluorescent setting, can handle a small number of fluorescent lights. Modern fluorescent lighting, however, gives off several different color casts, usually cool. Many newer DSLR cameras offer a second fluorescent option to cope with this stronger and more variable artificial light. When and How to Use the Custom White Balance Setting
If you use an older camera; need the whites to be perfect white; or are shooting under CFL, LED, or a mixture of artificial and ambient light, the custom white balance option is the way to go. Here's how to use it. Obtain a gray card, which is just what it sounds like: a card that's 18 percent gray. In photographic terms, that's exactly midway between pure white and pure black. MiNe / Flickr / CC BY 2.0 Under the lighting conditions in which you'll be shooting, take a test shot with the gray card filling the frame. Select custom in the white balance menu and select the photo of the gray card. The camera will use this photo to judge what should be white within images shot in that particular lighting. Because the photo is set to 18 percent gray, the whites and blacks in the image will always be accurate. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire Understanding the White Balance Modes on a DSLR Color Temperature and Your TV How to Correct White Balance Color Cast Using GIMP What Makes the Canon EOS 7D a Great Camera? How to Use Your Mac's Display Calibrator Assistant How to Photograph Running Water With a DSLR Black and White Photography: Make Great B&W Pictures What Is Burst Mode and How to Use It How to Take Better Sunset Photos With an iPhone The 6 Best Ring Lights for Cameras in 2022 The Best Picture Settings for Samsung 4K TV Mastering Shutter Priority Mode on Your DSLR Snow Photography Tips: Improve Winter Photography The 5 Best Softbox Lighting Kits of 2022 Use a Digital Camera as a Scanner How to Save Old Photos to Your Computer Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies