setting thewhitebalance. With adigitalcamera, you make asimilaradjustmentelectronicallyby daylight) orby addingablueoryellow filter. With film, you dothis by usingthecorrect type offilm(tungsten or the lightandcreate“white”. Hencetheterm“whitebalance”. balancing itwithmoreyellow orblue—tooffsetthepredominatecolorof It turnsoutthatwecancompensateforthecolor temperature by balance. “sees” theactualcoloroflight.Thesolution istoadjustthewhite The problemcomeswhentakingaphotograph. Unlike people,thecamera What isWhiteBalance? conditions. as “white”undermostlighting we seeawhitesheetofpaper color temperature. Asaresult, brains automaticallyadjustforthe between lightsourcesbecauseour unaware ofthedifferencesincolor Importantly, wearegenerally to“whitehot”.from “redhot” in thecolorofmetalasitisheated bluish. Thisisnotunlike thechange temperature (5500-6500K)andis yellow. Directsunlighthasahigher (2500-3000K) andisreddish- For example,thelightfromatungstenbulbhaslowercolortemperature different types oflightsourcesemitatdifferentcolortemperatures. The colortemperature of lightdependsonitssource.Inotherwords, numbers. (“K”), whichisanabsolutetemperature scale—ithasnonegative All lighthasacolorhue.ScientistsmeasurethisindegreesKelvin of colortemperature. The bestplacetostartunderstandingwhitebalanceiswithanexplanation About ColorTemperature camera—and you getwhiterwhites! your art.Itdeterminestheaccuracy ofthecolorscapturedby the White balanceisthethirdimportantcamera settingwhenphotographing Get WhiterWhites Set theCamera S hoot G reat I ma ges ™ Copyright ©2016 Color&Ink StudioLtd.All rightsreserved. notes
ShootMyArt .com 1 TM light is more yellow than it actually is and doesn’t correctfortheblue. light ismore yellow thanitactually isanddoesn’t result inanimagethat is tooblue.Inthiscase,thecamera thinksthe Conversely, shootingin sunlightwiththecamera setfortungstenwill Oops, thewrongsetting! correctfortheyellow inthelight. is morebluethanitreally isanddoesn’t image willbetooyellow. Thishappens becausethecamera thinksthelight If you’re usingtungstenlight, butthecamera issetforsunlight, thenthe match. Thesefollowingexampleswillhelpillustrate. of lightsourceyou’re usingand setthewhitebalanceoncamera to Getting thewhitebalancerightrequiresthatyou pay attentiontothetype Getting itRight neutral whitesandgray tones. With thecorrectwhitebalanceset,imagewillhave accurate colorand colors inyour art. result inacolorshifttoward yellow orblue,whichthrowsoffallofthe You knowby lookingattheimage.Anincorrectwhitebalancesettingwill OK…so howdoyou knowifthewhitebalanceisrightorwrong? Why WhiteBalanceMatters temperature ofthelightsource. And thecorrectwhitebalanceisonethatmatchescolor Set theCamera S hoot + Camera: Sunlight G Light: Tungsten = Too Yellow reat I ma ges ™ Copyright ©2016 Color&Ink StudioLtd.All rightsreserved. + Camera: Tungsten Light: Sunlight = Too Blue notes
ShootMyArt .com 2 TM With mobile devices,many camera selection. Set buttonagainwillcomplete my color temperature. Pressingthe set thewhitebalanceto aspecific are provided, includingonethatcan light source.Anumberofchoices to findthesettingthatmatches my balance settings.Ithenusethedial from themenuaccesswhite I firstpresstheMenubutton,and With thisDSLR,thewhitebalancesettingisaccessed fromthemenu. again tosetthewhitebalance. Finally, Ipressthefunctionbutton “Auto”. determines thewhitebalancein because oftheway thecamera the whitebalanceformostartwork setting. Itdoesnotcorrectlyadjust Avoid usingthe“Auto” or“AWB” and shade. fluorescent light,aswellsunlight have settingsfortungsten and fluorescent light.Mostcameras my lightsource—inthiscase, setting thatmostcloselymatches balance settingsandselectthe Then Iusethedialtofindwhite menu. opens thefunctionorsettings press theFunctionbutton—which On thiscompactcamera, Ifirst colors areaccurate. balance onyour camera sothe Now, let’s seehowtosetthewhite Setting theWhiteBalance correct. Nowyou’ve nailedit! right andthecolorsinimageare for sunlight,thewhitebalanceisset But insunlightwiththecamera set Oops, wrongagain! Set theCamera S hoot G reat I ma ges ™ Copyright ©2016 Color&Ink StudioLtd.All rightsreserved. + Camera: Sunlight = CorrectColor! Light: Sunlight notes
ShootMyArt .com 3 TM “whites”. the lightsourceyou’re using,andyou’ll have accurate colorsandwhiter Now you’re allset—the whitebalancesettingonyour camera matches apps willletyou adjustthewhitebalancesetting. Set theCamera S 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Setting theWhiteBalanceonYourCamera hoot Make any othernotesaboutsettingthewhitebalancehere: can befoundintheSpecificationssectionat backofthemanual. More informationabouttheavailable whitebalancesettingsusually name ofthesettinghere:______. comparing its color temperature against the chart (above). Write the light source.Ifthesourceisnotlisted,findclosestmatchb to adjustthecamera tothewhitebalancesettingthatmatchesyour Turn onyour camera andfollowthestepslistedininstructions temperature (inKelvin). Write ithere:______. If you areusinglightbulbs,refertothepackagingandfindcolor usually usewhenphotographing your artwork: In thelistbelow, checkthebox nexttothetype oflightsourceyou instructions arefoundhere:_____. for areferencetoimagecolor. Write thepagenumberwhere Look intheIndexfor“WhiteBalance”orTable ofContents Locate theinstructionmanualoruserguideforyour camera.
Shade Overcast daylight Direct sunlight Daylight (blue)photofloodbulbs LED bulbs Flourescent worklights Compact flourescentbulbs Halogen worklights High-wattage tungstenphotobulbs “Old style” householdincandescentbulbs G reat I ma ges ™ Copyright ©2016 Color&Ink StudioLtd.All rightsreserved. y notes
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