Things to Ask Your Photographer : A Series :
White Balance
Thought I’d start off my new site with a bit of education. Then I thought “Why not make it a series?”
Sounds like a good idea to me so here is the first in the series: Things to Ask Your Photographer, or how to be a better consumer.
I’m going to start with my favorite pet peeve and talk about white balance. White balance is all about the color of light. I’m sure you’ve noticed different colors of light. Morning sunlight, golden evening light, dim red colored light in many bars and restaurants or the cool blue of LED light. All of these affect the look of your photos, the prints and files that you’ll end up spending your money on.
Part of being a good photographer, especially if they are taking your money for their services is knowing how to control light. White balance is how photographers control the color aspect of light either in camera or in post processing.
There are many techniques for controlling white balance but your photographer needs to have one and be skilled in using it consistently. They should be able to tell you how they deal with white balance in or out of camera if you ask them.
Bad answers to your question, “How do you set and process for white balance?”, would be:
- I let the camera decide and leave it on auto.
- I let Lightroom decide and choose auto.
- White balance?
- I use a preset/action for my white balance.
White balance has a large effect on how healthy your skin looks and can accentuate underlying blues, reds, yellows in your skin tone. Getting the correct white balance for your skin in the light that it was photographed in is an important skill a photographer you hire should have.
Every lighting setup and lighting change, even a location change or the passage of time will need a different white balance. It’s not something to leave to the camera, computer or a preset or action. Each lighting situation will need it’s own attention in getting the correct white balance.
Now there can be some situations where a correct white balance can leave you looking like a smurf or a lobster. But a skilled photographer will be able to make the light amazing and your skin look natural.
Choose Your White Balance
The top photo is how the camera thought the white balance should look on a sunny summer day. The bottom photo is how I chose to correct the white balance. Notice how there is nice pinkness to the ladies combs and how the greenness of the grass has been warmed up on the bottom. The top makes me feel like there is a storm coming and the temp has dropped 20 degrees. The bottom photo has a nice summer glow to the birds and grass.
So, to sum up don’t forget to ask your photographer how they deal with white balance and make sure you’re getting the best files and prints you paid for!
