Most people distinguish good photos from bad photos based on just a handful of factors: the focus, exposure, framing, and color balance. And while the first three are pretty obvious, color balance is the most mysterious. As a result, many snapshooters pay little or no attention to it, and that's too bad—it's easy to adjust, and can have an enormous effect on your photos.
Consider these two photos, for example. One has a fairly pronounced blue cast—common in snow photography—while the other has been adjusted, and looks much better. But how does the color cast happen?
You can correct for unsightly color cast using your camera's white balance control.
It all starts with the color of the light you're shooting in. Every flavor of light—from midday sunlight to florescent lights to candlelight—has a specific color associated with it. You generally don't notice it, because our human brains automatically color correct what we see. But even though we don't usually notice it with our eyes, light really does have different color qualities. We call this "color temperature," and it's measured on the Kelvin scale. Light sources with low temperatures are called "warm," and tend to have a reddish glow. Higher temperatures have a blue cast, and are considered cool. You've no doubt seen this many times. Candlelight, for example, which clocks in around 2000 degrees Kelvin, is quite warm and lends a red glow to photos. Here are some typical photographic situations and their approximate color temperatures:
Daylight shade: 7500
Overcast: 6500
Late afternoon: 4300
Sunrise and sunset: 3000
Candlelight: 2000
That's the science behind why color shifts happen in photos. But what can we do about it? Well, most cameras are equipped with white balance controls. White balance does what it sounds like: It makes sure that white surfaces in your photos look consistently white, no matter what color, or temperature, the ambient lighting actually is. And once your camera has corrected for white, all the other colors fall in line as well.
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