So what is white balance?  There really is no such thing as white light.  White is the result of mixing all of the different colors of the spectrum.  However, these colors aren’t usually mixed evenly, so we describe white light as having different temperatures.  If the light has more blue in it, we say it is cooler, if it has more red, we say it is warmer.  For instance, typical indoor lighting is much warmer than sunlight.  If your camera’s white balance is set for “daylight” your images will look very red when taken indoors. 

One of the reasons this is a difficult concept for my students to grasp is because of the way our cameras see light differently than our eyes do.  For instance, if you look at this newspaper under different lighting conditions (daylight, incandescent, or fluorescent) the paper always looks white.  However, your camera might see the paper as blue or red.  This is because your camera image sensor sees light in absolutes.  It sees red, green, and blue light in terms of numerical quantities.  Our eyes see light in much the same way, but only a fraction of what we see actually comes from our eyes.

The fact is much of what we “see” is actually from the way our brains interpret the data from our eyes.  The reason that this newspaper looks white to you regardless of where you are reading it is because your brain has learned that newspapers are white, and makes an interpretation based on your experiences.  Your camera’s “auto white balance” setting can try to accomplish this same result, and 75% of the time will yield acceptable results.  However, the other 25% of the time when the light is the most interesting, the automatic settings on your camera will miss the mark.  This is when it is best to use your manual white balance settings.  For instance, in the accompanying photo of the Grand Canyon, I made sure to set the white balance to “daylight” in order to maintain the warmth of the setting sun.  If I had used the auto mode, the camera would have tried to make the colors more neutral, and the rocks would have appeared to be grayer.

Additional Examples

Becase space in the paper is limitted, each week I will add aditional examples and information to my blog.

Digital cameras have multiple settings for white balance.  The most important and often used are:

AWB or auto white balance - This is what I usually have my camera set on.  It works just fine about 75% of the time.

Daylight - Exactly what it says.  This is for shooting outside, or to give a warmer look to indoor photos.

Tungsten or Incandescent - Used for shooting indoors under normal lights

Flourescent - Used for shooting under flourescent lights.  Eliminates greenish cast.

Your camera might also have settings for cloudy, shade, or flash. 

In this example, the camera’s white balance was set to “daylight” which made the flourescent lights in the image appear very green. 

Although the green effect can seem interesting, the next example shows what happens when the camera’s auto white balance mode was set.  Notice how the white’s appear much more neutral.  An even more accurate color could have been acheived by manually setting the camera’s white balance to flourescent mode.

Auto white balance can help make an image appear more neutral, but that isn’t always a good thing.  The following image was captured in auto mode.  Notice how flat the image looks.  This is becuase the camera is trying to make the very intense colors appear more neutral. The image on the right was made using “daylight” mode.  Using daylight mode tricks the camera into thinking is is being used during mid day, and therefore makes the sunset appear very warm and more true the actual experience.

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1. Look to the Desert (From Summit Daily News, May 16, 2007)

For best results, follow these suggestions:

1. Call ahead to find the best spots for wildflowers.  Moab Ranger District (435) 259-7155, Arches National Park (435) 719-2299, or Canyonlands National Park (435) 719-2313
2. Photograph at sunrise.  The heat will cause flowers to close up in the afternoon.
3. Use a tripod and get low.  Getting down near ground level will give you more interesting composition.  A tripod will allow you to carefully evaluate the edges of the frame.
4. Wear sunscreen and dress appropriately.  Much like here in the mountains, the dry air causes a warm day to quickly change into a very cold night.  Be prepared for changing weather.
5. Watch your step!  Crypto biotic soil crusts abound in the desert.  Plant life depends on these crusts for survival.  It’s important to stay on established trails, in sandy washes, or on slick rock to keep from stepping on this crust.

Travelling in the early morning will provide the best light, and the best possibility of finding flowers, but don’t stop there.  Moab offers excellent opportunities for landscape and action photography.  Take your camera on a mid day bike ride along the easier (by Moab standards) Bar-M trail.  Have and late lunch at Eddie McStiff’s, and then drive to the Delicate Arch trailhead, in Arches National Park.  Make sure to get to the trailhead at least two hours before sunset and hike the moderate trail 1.5 miles to Delicate Arch for some great sunset photography.  Make sure to bring a jacket and a good flashlight because you will be hiking down in the dark.

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1. So What’s all this White Balance Suff? (From Summit Daily News, May 23, 2008)
2. Tripod Trepidations

Everyone is a photographer.  Whether we photograph with a $5,000 SLR or a simple camera phone, we are all still searching for meaning in our images.  I imagine many of you started off as I did, with a hand-me-down camera from my parents when I was a small child.  I photographed everything:  Flowers, friends, and of course the family pet.  The subjects themselves had meaning for me, but the meaning never translated through the images. 

Twenty years later something has definitely changed.  Today, I have top of the line equipment, years spent acquiring technical skills, and a career that enables me to travel to amazing places and photograph beautiful people, but none of those things help give my images meaning.  What has really made the difference is the way I think about creating images.  When I see a potential photographic subject that interests me I don’t immediately photograph it like I would have 20 years ago.  I stop and ask myself what about the subject makes it interesting.  And the answer I usually give myself has to do with some emotional response I have.  I concentrate on that emotion and make it the subject of my image. 

For instance, last year I visited the Denver Zoo.  My original desire was to make some pretty images of animals, and that is definitely how I started out.  It changed when I came to the primate exhibit and saw the gorilla shown in the accompanying image.  We stared into each other’s eyes for several minutes, during which time I completely forgot about my camera.  I was so moved by the experience, but before I could think about photographing the gorilla, I had to think about what it was that moved me.  It wasn’t that it was trapped in a cage.  In fact I was quite certain that if it had wanted to, it could have broken right through the thin chain link fence.  That is when it hit me.  The gorilla wasn’t really imprisoned by the fence at all.  He was really trapped in his own mind.  It was a reluctant acceptance of the situation that held him behind the chain link.  I became certain that if the fence was removed, he would have stayed right where he was.  And that was when I was able to create the image of him.

I hope that next time you are out photographing you take this to heart, and think carefully about the meaning behind the image.  Concentrate on the emotion that the subject evokes and not the subject itself, and you will see a huge difference in your photographs.

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1. Staying Creative