How to Custom White Balance - Free Digital Camera Tips

If you ever had taken a picture of a beautiful winter scene and been disappointed to discover the crisp and white snow came out with a bluish tint then you should master your digital camera’s white balance settings to prevent such situations.

The sensor that analyzes the lighting conditions and colors of a scene and adjusts so the white in the picture appears white is that sought-for white balance.  This important sensor also helps to insure the other colors appear as natural as possible and though it is one of the main advantages of digital photography over tradition film. Because when you buy traditional film, you buy it with a certain lighting condition in mind and if that changes, you need to either change your film or hope you can fix any errors in post-production.

Almost all modern digital cameras allow you to use either automatic white balance or choose between several preset conditions such as full sun, cloudy day and so forth. However if you are not sure what you should choose an automatic white balance setting that will work in most conditions.

On the other hand if you wish to “warm” up a picture to enhance the color, such as for portraits or sunsets the best way to do this is set your camera’s white balance to “cloudy”. Such move should deepen the colors and add a glowing quality to portraits. It also should make a beautiful sunset even more vivid and beautiful. 

Anyway you should practice taking the same photo with different white balance settings to get a feel for the changes each setting evokes. While you are doing this you should make notes until you have a good idea of what each setting does. And consequently, you will obtain some kind of automatic sense which setting is best for your particular situation. 

The bottom line is that white balance despite its unpretentious meaning is a powerful tool after all that can help you to get excellent photos. If you really wish to get rid of sunsets or blue snow you should master this setting in full.