White Balance

White balance is used to adjust colors to match the color of the light source so that white objects appear white. Subjects may be lit by a number of different light sources such as sunlight, incandescent bulbs, fluorescent lighting and it might affect the tone of the photograph.

In DSLRs it is possible to adjust the white balance to suit your light source, so that white looks white, not yellow or blue. Normally there is an automatic setting and the camera decides what white balance setting to use. However if you know what your light source is you can usually set the camera to it and this may give better results. Most digital cameras have settings for sunlight, shade, electronic flash, fluorescent lighting and tungsten lighting. Some have a manual or custom setting where you point the camera at a white card and let the camera figure out what setting to use to make it white.

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