White Balance

White Balance is an automatic or manual control that adjusts the brightest part of the scene so that it appears white. Every time a digital camera takes a picture it needs to establish a 'white point.' Many digital cameras offer an auto white balance setting as well as preset white balance settings and manual white balance settings. When the camera is set to auto white balance mode, the camera decides where the white point is in the photograph. The preset modes (i.e. sunny, cloudy, fluorescent, tungsten/incandescent) are to be set each time you move to a different lighting situation. For example, one would not want to use sunny white balance mode when under tube lighting - you would want to use fluorescent white balance mode for this situation. The manual white balance mode allows you to pick a specific color temperature.

*The diagram above are approximate temperatures that will correspond to each type of light. These temperatures will vary depending on the condition. If it is a mostly sunny day with some clouds the temperature will vary slightly.

*Information from Judith Pisconeri and Light and Lens. www.pisconeri.com