• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

PhotoNaturalist - nature photography tips and tutorials

nature photography tips and tutorials

  • Home
  • Articles
  • eBooks
  • About
  • Contact

Creative White Balance

May 15, 2018 by Steve Berardi 2 Comments

Photo by Steve Berardi
Photo by Steve Berardi
White balance is something that’s often overlooked in photography. It’s what controls the color temperature of your photos: an image with a red or orange tint is considered “warm” whereas an image with more bluish colors is considered “cold.” You can adjust the white balance to make an image warmer or colder.

It’s called “white” balance because it’s often thought of as the color temperature of the white colors in your image—so a “correct” white balance would be one where the natural whites in your image are actually white and don’t have a red or blue tint. But, it’s important to remember that the white balance affects the entire image, not just the white colors.

The camera is usually pretty good at guessing the correct or most natural-looking white balance, but sometimes it’s not, and other times it’s mostly correct but you might still want to adjust the color temperature to emphasize the feeling of a photograph.

For example, one of the scenes that your camera usually has trouble with is sunrise or sunset, like in this photo I shot on the island of Nuku Hiva:

Photo by Steve Berardi

When I first saw this image, I was disappointed because I remembered the scene being much warmer with a much stronger red-orange glow that seemed to have been lost in the photograph. I was so disappointed that I initially ignored the image. Then, eight years later I was just going through old photos on a Sunday morning and saw this one again and said to myself, “wow, this is actually a pretty good photo, I just need to adjust the white balance a little bit.” So, I opened it up in Photoshop, made the entire image “warmer” and ended up with this new image:

Photo by Steve Berardi

I decided to go a little beyond what was natural, in order to emphasize the warmth of the scene. I think it’s okay to do this, as long as the effect isn’t too drastic.

So, next time you photograph a landscape at sunrise or sunset, think about the temperature of the scene. If the scene has more blue/purple colors and feels “cold,” then make sure your white balance is adjusted properly and consider making it even more “cold” to emphasize that feeling. On the other hand, if the scene has a more “warm” feeling with lots of reds and oranges, then consider making the scene a little warmer.

Get more nature photography tips in our free weekly newsletter


steveb2About the Author: Steve Berardi is a nature photographer, software engineer, and founder of PhotoNaturalist. You can usually find him hiking in the beautiful mountains and deserts of southern California.

Filed Under: Tips Tagged With: balance, color, temperature, white

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. jon sheppard says

    May 15, 2018 at 6:00 pm

    Yo Ho Steve your work is super and your training and sharing is excellent and very knowledgeable. cheers, jon

    Reply
  2. Paul says

    June 7, 2018 at 11:47 am

    I have been photographing nature for about 40 years. I am lost in this digital age and would have no clue how to process or change the white balance on a computer. I have to take whatever I get from the camera and live with it.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Before Footer

Topics

aperture bird photography birds camera close close up clouds composition depth of field ebook exposure flower focus gear histogram image landscape lens lenses light Macro moon nature nature photography photo photograph photography photonaturalist photos photoshop sharp sharpness subject sun sunrise sunset telephoto Tips tripod vision weather wild wildflower wildflowers Wildlife

Footer

Popular Articles

  • 7 tips for getting sharper photographs
  • How to use the histogram for a good exposure
  • How to resize your photos (the “sharp” way)
  • 13 tips for better wildflower photography
  • How to photograph dragonflies (free eBook!)
  • RAW vs JPEG: Who wins?
  • How to get sharp photos of birds in flight
  • What to photograph on an overcast day
  • What is a natural photograph?
  • Three elements of a great landscape
  • 11 tips for avoiding memory card problems
  • Tips for photographing shorebirds
  • What mode should you shoot in?

Categories

  • Book Reviews
  • Close-Up
  • Gear Reviews
  • Landscapes
  • Macro
  • Philosophy
  • Photoshop Tutorials
  • Tips
  • Uncategorized
  • Wildflowers
  • Wildlife

Copyright © 2023 · Wellness Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in