Smart_Photography_-_January_2016_

There is this setting called Auto

White Balance on my camera. How

does it work and can I rely on it?

Ideally, as the colour of light changes,

you should also change the WB setting

on your camera as explained above.

But photographers are forgetful people

(sometimes they are even negligent!).

Since you may forget to change the

WB setting as dictated by the lighting

conditions, camera manufacturers

provide an easy solution, known as

Auto White Balance (AWB). When set,

this setting takes care of the varying

lighting conditions and automatically

sets your camera’s WB.

White Balance setting that I see on

my camera?

Under difficult lighting conditions

(example – mixed lighting), or when

extra accuracy is desired, Custom White

Balance (CWB) could be used. The

method to set CWB may differ between

makes/models of cameras. Please check

your user manual.

For Canon cameras

a) Keep a white card or Kodak 18%

grey card ready (The 18% grey card

reflects equal amounts of red, green

and blue). I suggest you set your

camera to an ‘average’ exposure setting

like f/8 and 1/60sec at ISO 100.

b) Take a frame-filling photo of the

white card/18% grey card in the

lighting for which you want to set the

CWB.

c) Go to the Custom White Balance

option in the Menu and press SET.

d) Press OK.

For Nikon cameras (On some Nikon

cameras, the method is slightly different)

a) Keep a white card or Kodak 18%

grey card ready. I suggest you set your

camera to an ‘average’ exposure setting

like f/8 and 1/60sec at ISO 100.

b) Along with the marked WB settings

(Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, etc) on your

camera, you will see letters PRE which

stand for Preset Manual. Navigate to

this PRE setting and press the WB

button till PRE start to flash. Now point

the camera to the white card/18%

grey card, fill the frame, and take a shot

When you do so, the picture will not be

recorded, but the camera will record

the colour of the light. This setting

can be stored (please refer your user

manual).

Note 1: PRE will flash only for 6

seconds. You must take the shot within

this time. If PRE stops blinking, press

the WB button again till PRE starts

blinking and repeat the procedure.

Note 2: If the camera has achieved the

correct WB, ‘Good’ will be displayed on

the top LCD panel. If the camera fails

to achieve the correct WB, ‘No good’

will be displayed. This could happen if

you have set a very fast shutter speed

On modern cameras, the AWB setting

is pretty reliable under most lighting

conditions, but not all. AWB is designed

to work within a specific range of Kelvin

temperatures. Depending on the make

and model of your camera, AWB may

work just fine between, say, 3,200K

and 7,000K. This range may take care

of most lighting situations but what if

you are photographing in a room lit by

incandescent lights (2800K) or on a high

mountain where the Kelvin temperature

could be above 8,000K? Obviously, under

such conditions, AWB will not work well

Okay, I get it. But what is this Custom

Various White Balance settings on a Canon EOS 6D

Auto White Balance selected

LEARNING

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Smart Photography January 2016