White balance refers to the process of removing or neutralizing color casts in your images – because at its core, white balance is about ensuring the colors in your photograph appear as they do in real life.
You see, different light sources emit light with various temperatures and/or tints. Ever noticed how a photo taken under fluorescent lighting sometimes has a blueish hue? Or how shots by candlelight can seem overly warm or yellow? That’s the effect of these different light sources on your images.
Since photographers often want to produce images that look natural, white balancing involves carefully adjusting your camera settings or editing tools to counteract these color casts. It’s about taking an image like this, full of distorted, too-blue colors:
- Sunny, which works for mid-morning and mid-afternoon sun
- Shade, which works for scenarios with heavy shade (e.g., portraits under a tree)
- Cloudy, which works for outdoor scenes featuring overcast lighting
- Flash, which works for scenes lit by standard off-camera speedlights and pop-up flashes
- Incandescent, which works for indoor scenes lit by standard warm bulbs
- Fluorescent, which works for indoor scenes lit by fluorescent bulbs