As I See It

Dana And Aramis’ Wedding

Here’s the first wedding that I’ll upload online. Hope you like them!

So here is a slightly technical tip which will help ALMOST ANYONE improve their photos. This does not only effect people who use expensive camera gear, but in fact, it is more important for those using cheaper cameras.

So here is a picture, can you tell what is wrong with it?

Maybe you don’t see it yet. But what if I upload the corrected version of this picture.

Now it makes sense. You’ll probably say, the color is wrong. But more precisely, it was a problem with white balance or color temperature. Most DSLR’s which can shoot in RAW have the advantage of being able to adjust this setting after you’ve taken a picture. However, if you’re like the many who have a point-and-shoot camera which directly links to JPEG, you’ll have to learn how to fix this in camera before you take a picture. A lot of times understanding white balance makes a big difference.

So what is white balance, and how do I fix these on my camera? Just read a little longer and I’ll show you.

White balance is exactly what is sounds like. It is a standard of balancing color, which balances white (or grey)  to produced correctly color balanced pictures. Incorrect white balance tends to shift to the red or the blue of the RGB color spectrum leaving you with unflattering shifted images. I’m baffled at how often, “professional” photographers who charge for their photos mess up white balance so often. It is embarrassing, and people will use the “creativity” moniker to justify their incorrect WB.

DON’T BE ONE OF THESE PEOPLE!

I will seriously own you.

First you’ll have to find the white balance option on your camera. It’ll look something like this.

There will be multiple options. These are usually the standard drawings to denote specific white balances. These pictures will make knowing the white balances SOO MUCH EASIER to understand. White Balance is measured in Kelvin, which is the temperature of the incident light. But Instead of memorizing each temperature for each different type of light, you can just use the pictures.

For normal sunlight situations, the sunlight mode on the far left is best. For cloudy days, the cloud. And depending on the type of lightbulb, whether it’s incandescent or fluorescent, you’ll use one of the two blinking light’s in the center. While using flash, you’ll use flash, and the custom white balance is kind of advanced for this type of tutorial. A lot of newer cameras do a pretty decent job of setting WB automatically. But your eyes are soo much better than the camera, and setting this manually will ensure you get it right the first time.

Seaport Village

A Wisp from my Wandering Mind