What Is the White Balance Setting on my Digital Camera?

Have you ever taken a picture of a beautiful winter scene and been disappointed to discover the crisp, white snow came out with a bluish tint?  This is the kind of situation your digital camera’s white balance is meant to prevent.

The white balance is a sensor that analyzes the lighting conditions and colors of a scene and adjusts so the white in the picture appears white.  This helps insure the other colors appear as natural as possible. This is one advantage digital photography has over tradition film.  With film, you buy with a certain lighting condition in mind.  If that changes, you need to either change your film or hope you can fix any errors in post-production.

Most digital cameras allow you to use either automatic white balance or choose between several preset conditions such as full sun, cloudy day and so forth.  Automatic white balance will work in most conditions.  There may be times, however when you want to “warm” up a picture to enhance the color, such as for portraits or sunsets.  The best way to do this is  set your camera’s white balance to “cloudy”.  This will deepen the colors and add a glowing quality to portraits.  It will take a beautiful sunset and enhance it to the point of incredible.

Practice taking the same photo with different white balance settings to get a feel for the changes each setting evokes. Keep notes until you have a good idea of what each setting does.  In time, you will come to automatically sense which setting is best for your particular situation.

White balance is a small setting that can make big changes in your finished photos.  Make it your friend and you will no longer have to worry about faded sunsets or blue snow.

Why Digital Photography?

Digital photography is quickly becoming the preferred way to take pictures.   If you are in the market for a new camera, consider the following advantages of digital over traditional film photography.

In the long run, digital is less expensive.  All photos are recorder are on memory device within the camera and then downloaded straight to your computer.  You skip the need to keep buying rolls of film and paying for developing. You can send unlimited copies of the same picture to friends and relatives without spending a penny extra.

You see your pictures quicker.  Most digital cameras allow you to view your photos immediately.  There is no waiting and worrying about whether or not that “perfect shot” turned out.  You can take a picture of that new baby and immediately download it to your computer to share your good good news with friends and relatives. There’s no need for anxious grandparents to wait days or even weeks for a picture.

Most digital cameras have built in editing features.   Cropping and re-centering the picture to make it look its best can be done easily.  You no longer have to worry about a stray hand distracting from the main subject of your photo.  Sharpening can be done immediately to bring out the details.  Within minutes you can have a print-perfect photo.

You avoid the frustration of running out of film and having to find a store that is open in the middle of an important event or on vacation.  Depending on the size of your memory card and the setting of file size and quality, which you often control, you can store a couple hundred pictures on one tiny card.  That is the equivalent of nine or ten rolls of film.

These are just a few of the advantages of digital photography.  It is definitely worth considering as you search for your next new camera.