Sometimes the camera’s built-in image color modes, also known as Creative Control modes (e.g. Standard, Vivid, Monochrome, etc.) just don’t adequately capture the mood of the moment. For example, let’s say you want to accentuate a moody winter scene with an added slight blue tint, or raise the temperatures of a sweltering summer shoot with an extra dose of sultry lighting. Unfortunately, your camera may not be able to produce the light tint you want via the built-in color modes. Or is it?
Almost every digital camera on the market today, even the cheap plastic junk cameras, have this highly visible, hidden colored lighting feature.
OK, hands up, who has ever set a camera’s white balance to “auto”? That’s right, nobody! OK, maybe that one photographer who actually takes portraits under artificial light… Certainly not more than a handful of photographers. Why doesn’t everyone else tinker with white balance? Because it works “well enough” for almost all lighting situations. End of story.
Well, not so fast, Edward Weston. If you use your white balance properly, you can give your photos a very different color expression than you would get with your usual color control modes. For example, if you want your camera manufacturer to introduce a film simulation for Lomography LomoChrome Color ’92 Sun-Kissed film (buy here), then don’t wait too long. Instead, choose “Shadow” for your camera’s white balance and watch as a radiant warmth envelops your photo, giving you a pretty good approximation of the ’92 Sun-Kissed film (see Figure 4).
Similarly, you can use the Tungsten White Balance setting to give your photos an ethereal twilight color cast in more pleasant daylight conditions. But don’t stop there; try all of the different light source white balance settings on your camera (see Figures 5 and 6).
In addition, these white balance light sources can be combined with your camera’s color control modes. An ideal scenario for this unusual combination is using the camera’s monochrome color control mode with various white balance settings (see Figure 7). This unusual technique is a great simulation of adding a color filter to black and white film (see Figure 8). Of course, some cameras have these types of color filter simulations, but if your camera doesn’t have this feature, altering the white balance could be your saving grace. After much experimentation with these various “combo” techniques, avoiding “auto” white balance could be your preferred setting.
(Please note: Not all camera manufacturers offer the “tungsten” white balance setting. For example, the Nikon 1 J1 shown below does not.) Alternatively, try “Incandescent” and “Fluorescent”.)
Do you use automatic white balance when taking photos?
