Best White Balance Method

By Jim Zuckerman

photo copyright by Jim Zuckerman

I shoot all of my outdoor images with a daylight white balance. Because I shoot in Raw with my DSLR camera (as you should be doing), the color balance of the photos can be tweaked in ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) or Lightroom later, if I'm not pleased with what the daylight WB gives me.

However, I find that most of the time, I like the color. In deep shade, when I shoot under an overhang such as the corridor of arches at the Doge's Palace in San Marco Square in Venice, Italy, the pictures tend to be a bit bluish. I could choose "cloudy" WB to eliminate that, but sometimes I like a cool color cast. So, I use daylight WB and then decide how to tweak the color after-the-fact in post processing.

photo copyright by Jim Zuckerman

Assorted notes: The accompanying photos were captured during Carnival in Venice. BetterPhoto's online photography school offers many online photo workshops, including these popular ones by Jim Zuckerman: Techniques of Natural Light Photography and Perfect Digital Exposure

Comments

[Shelly Van Camp]

My Nikon doesn't have the daylight setting....just direct sunlight. Should I use that one?

[Kerry Drager]

Hi Shelly,
Good hearing from you, and yes, daylight and sunlight mean the same thing. Different camera makers use different names. Likewise for the tungsten setting - some cameras refer to that setting as incandescent. Thanks for asking!