Questions tagged [white-balance]

Questions about how to choose the correct colour balance for a given scene, and how it affects photos.

Lighting tends to have differing shades under different conditions, although the human eye largely compensates. Film is balanced to behave and give accurate colour reproduction under set conditions; with digital photography, the process is done mathematically.

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Does Auto White-Balance Really Work? How?

I don't understand how the camera can work out the white-balance to use in a given scene. I could see it working if there is an obvious colour-cast (for example: under fluorescent lights). Does it compare the histograms from the different colour…
AJ Finch
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How does a camera implement different white balance modes?

My camera (Nikon D7100) has several modes for white balance. I'm wondering what happens when I chose different options. What does it do internally? Does it change intensity of components of the color after a shot is made. Or does it change…
Max
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Techniques to set custom white balance?

What technique should I be using to set a custom white balance i.e. white card, grey card, white balance lens cap etc or does it depend on the situation?
John
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Is a white sheet of paper as good as grey card?

Can I use a white sheet of paper instead of the grey card for white balance calibration? I actually tried and it works not bad at all. I know the grey card is calibrated etc, but does it really change?
Paolo
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Auto white balance shifting from cooler to warmer during photo shoot

When shooting portraits or still life images the auto white balance seems to shift image from a cooler to warmer temperature and I’m not sure what’s causing it. Both flash and natural light. Nikon D780 in auto white balance, JPEG. It happens with…
Mike 5853
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Do I always get the same colours when I set the white balance correctly?

I can set my white balance camera dial to sunlight, to overcast sky or to a tungsten lamp ensuring there's no bluish or yellowish tint and the white is really white. I know I can fine-tune these values further when developing from RAW. All these…
user681768917
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White balance color space

How were the colors for white balance chosen? Why is it specifically temperature going from blue to yellow and tint going from violet to green?
Jenia Ivanov
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How to set color temperature to get images with a strong red color cast?

In the above image, there is a very strong red light cast over the room. How can I produce a similar image? My images either look terrible and washed out, like I took them on a cell phone camera (with 4000k color temperature setting) or they just…
Brian Cohen
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How to keep right color temperature if I edit photos with night light mode turned on?

Subject. I do care about eyes (ish), so I have the "Night light" setting enabled almost always (Windows and android). But when I edit photos, I tempted to reduce color temp on them, and results looks cold for other people. How to keep the right…
Andrew
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How can I know what is ideally neutral in a picture, in order to set white balance?

According to my understanding white balance is procedure that removes effect of colorful lengthening. It makes picture like it was lightened with ideal white color light. Please, correct me if I'm wrong. To adjust color with White Balance Tool in…
vico
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Why does setting white balance in the camera prevent me from being able to change it afterwards?

Possible Duplicate: Why can I adjust the white balance of a RAW file but not a JPEG file? I thought white balance adjustments were simple color-cast adjustments applied uniformly across the image? If this is the case, then why can I not…
Nippysaurus
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Is it possible to pre-calculate white balance gains from a sample image

Let me try to explain the question in more detail. Let's suppose: I have a camera taking images in a dynamic environment (colour temperature is constantly changing) I cannot use automatic in-camera white balancing or it is not available I have…
karmalis
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White Balance - How is plastic made white? RGB(255,255,255)

Yes, it is a photography question, but it requests a chemist answer. Overall concern is about the neutral color accuracy of White Balance cards that are white. It can be a purchase and a usage question, about photographic white balance cards. OK,…
WayneF
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How would IR-assisted white balancing work?

One of the Samsung Galaxy S6's new camera feature is to use its IR-based heart-rate sensor to aid in white balancing. Some of the write-ups on tech websites briefly mention how the IR sensor can 'detect the light around' or 'if a photo is being…
h.j.k.
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What color temperture produces warmer tones?

With two sources of light: an incandescent light approximate color temperature of 3000 K, sun with an approximate color temperature of 6000 K. W Which source produces warmer tones? Consider taking a properly-exposed photograph of a white sheet…
jsldfjksd
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