White Balance: My (slightly odd) Approach
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- Опубликовано: 13 апр 2024
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In this video I share my 'slightly odd' approach to white balance to make sure I'm capturing the world as my eye sees it. I talk through what white balance is, how it affects the colours in our images, and my reasons for a, perhaps unusual, choice.
#streetphotography #whitebalance #5500k 
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When I shot film, before the digital revolution, I would pick my film stock with a specific intention … based on the lighting conditions I was expecting. But once I started shooting digital, first with Canon, and then later with Fujifilm, I just set my WB to auto. It was a case of “set it, and forget it.” But honestly, why in the world would I leave it up to the camera (today), when in the past I always seriously considered it. Thanks for resetting my perspective. Well done!
Auto WB will also sometimes make different decisions during the course of a shoot which makes editing a batch of photos consistently so much harder!
I'm with you, Brent! Back in the film era I paid a lot of attention to color temperature. Camera auto white balance was a big change. Another big change is that so much of lighting has transitioned from 3200K tungsten to 5500K daylight LED. In the past, I had to gel windows so the daylight coming in would match the hot, tungsten lights (or vice versa), but now it's often the case that everything is daylight balanced. I do still gel windows with ND so they aren't blown out vis-a-vis the interior lighting, but I don't typically color balance these days. Anyway, like you, I sort of forgot about color temperature in the transition. Sean's video is a simple but bold wake-up call that we should be paying more attention to! As he describes, there are times when we don't want White Balance set at 5500K, like a white wedding dress. Also, with sports, I think a blue overcast day, or an orange tungsten gym, or a green-cast gym, in all those cases, I'd prefer a neutral color balance. But, exactly as he describes, for street, photojournalism, documentary, and other scenarios, it makes total sense to let the images reflect the color of the light as experienced, not wiped out by auto white. How did I not think of this before!???
@@Millie-um2bi Not even sometimes. On a sunny day, depending on if you are pointing at a sunny area or a shady area, or depending on your subject, you can watch WB shift dramatically as you pan. Recently I had my camera pointed towards a cut tree branch, some of the leaves had begun to turn brown. Depending on if I was focused on the green grass in the background or the brown leaves in the foreground (Both in sunny conditions), WB shifted from 6500 to 3500
@@ReclusiveEagle yeah see that's why I turned that shit off so fast hahaha
I just adjust it in post. I don’t worry about how it looks in the camera.
The quality of both explanations and simultaneously showing examples 🔥
It’s crazy, I’ve been shooting for 14 years. I’ve watched hundreds of RUclips videos on photography, and this is the first time I completely understood HOW white balance works. Don’t get me wrong I’ve used white balance expertly over the years to correct colors and also creatively, but that white paper with the color slider made it finally click for me. Props on the teaching skills! I appreciate it, thank you!
I know!
This!
@@freekvanootegem7462 that
You couldn’t figure it out yourself after 14 years? Everyone learns at their own pace I guess.
@@Bledder typical photographer always putting down another photographer. This is why we can’t have community.
We were so happy to have the WB auto correction that we forgot that a white paper under a lamp should be orange 😅 Thanks for the reminder, great video as always! 👍 I'll definitely experiment more with the WB settings
I have never thought of white balance this way before. Thanks for the clear explanation and offering this as food for thought. I think I'll give it a try!
Even with flash?
What about flash?
Flash anyone?
I really love it when Sean drops a new video. It’s just a bright spot in my week.
Bruh, you need to get out more. Don't get me wrong, Tucker's vids are great...but a bright spot?
@@Daniel_Ilyich maybe keep your opinions to yourself? 🤷🏼♂️
Thanks mate.
@@StoicJason Occasionally.
…but is it a 5500K bright spot?
After 50 years of photography, hobby only, I realized the deep truth of how we see and yes, film was as it was. Digital wants to make it better, what is already perfect. Thank you.
Yes!
Beautiful creation!
Not surprisingly as I'm merely an amateur and Sean is one the best there is, I completely subscribe to what he says around minute 9. Perfect white balance robs ambiance but strictly staying at 5500K tends to exaggerate colour-casts the moment the lighting strays in either direction. Now obviously its a matter of personal preference if you want to keep it like that but I too tend to pull back a bit in post or if I remember, in camera.
One thing, Sean says RAW has a ton of latitude. He's oversimplifying for our benefit. RAW doesn't actually give a hoot about your white balance setting, that is applied afterwards during RAW conversion so you can put it anywhere you like and it shouldn't affect image quality in the slightest.
A bit more information that might interest some - First, daylight temperature depends greatly on where you are shooting. Generally the farther from the equator the further light from the sun has to travel through our atmosphere and this tends to absorb blue light, resulting in natural light at midday that is quite warm. Thus daylight in (say) Birmingham is a good deal warmer in tone that it is in Chennai (latitudes 52 north and 13 north respectively). The midpoint daylight setting in Chennai is not 5500K but 6400K. Shall I ramble on? This at first seems counterintuitive: why is the light in the tropics cool and in the arctic warm? Well perhaps simply because there were misnamed. A blue flame is hotter than a red-orange flame so whilst, if applied correctly, blues should have been called hot and reds cool, it turns out our brains start to break at that point. Because since we lived in caves we've associated a flickering orange fire with warmth and many a proto-human has probably singed his fur on a glowing red ember. Secondly, the interesting bit about daylight colour temperature is the effect it has on human culture. Because blue light is kind of cold and desaturating, can even look slightly metallic, tropical cultures love bright and saturated colours. You see it in the clothes, in the art and in the architectural decoration. And some may notice that the the same pink, green, turquoise and gold saree that looks quite opulent in Colombo looks frankly a bit garish when worn in New York, whilst tourists fresh off the plane from Malmo landing in Bangkok look somewhat wan and anaemic until they start to develop a bit of a tan.
Sorry for going on for so long. Colour fascinates me. :)
Edit: Just a footnote - I forgot to mention however that I slightly disagree with the bit around minute 12, that our eyes are daylight white balanced. First - daylight where? If I live all my life in Lagos (latitude 6N) it would be quite a handicap to have my eyes biologically set to 5500K. Secondly, most computers and phones you may have noticed have a night light setting to ease eye strain. This is because if you are in a tungsten lit room and someone hands you a sheet of white paper - you see a sheet of white paper. You do not see a sheet of orange paper, your brain (not your eyes) has already made the adjustment for you*. So here's a tip to help those of you who work late at your computers and suffer from eye strain. Hold a white piece of paper next to your monitor and then lower the temperature on your monitor until the screen and the paper look about the same. Second tip, reduce the brightness until that looks about the same too. Your eyes will thank you and as long as you are not doing colour critical work* you will soon forget that you have the night light setting on.
*however if they actually handed you a sheet of orange paper your brain might still see it as white. Because it matches the colour of the light, that's the point at which our brain can get fooled. For colour critical work therefore you need balanced lighting or if you know the lighting that will be used by your viewers you should work in similar light. Maybach and Lexus for example have light booths in their main showrooms where they can park the car and change the ambient light to match the light where you live. This way you can see what it will look like when you get it home.
I think if you shoot into the sun with auto white balance at Afternoon when the sun is exactly in the middle of the sky, you would probably get a more accurate number. for me its around 5100k which doesnt make sense but alright
Old guy here and I use white balance creatively. Just used, what pleases the image. But I never got the “how stuff works” part, which left me always wanting to “really understand”. That strip thingy did it for me, brilliant ! 😀
After watching this video, I realized I've never fully understood white balance in digital photography. This made all the pieces I've tried to learn come together for me. Thank you for being the incredible communicator you are, Sean!
Sean I've been doing this too! It's good to see others use WB this way.
After starting photography and learning about WB I pretty quickly discovered that id shooting in uncompressed RAW I could just leave it in one spot and that the in-camera WB doesn't change the data collected, it just embeds a WB setting that your editing software will pickup and set the settings to automatically. You can get the exact same result if you set it in post as you can if you set it in camera!
Once I learnt this I decided to leave it at 5500k for the sake of consistency. Always having the same starting WB has given me a consistent reference to understand what temperature light sources are and how my camera sees them. It's allowed me to become aware of how my brain compensates for WB changes when I'm just looking at the world and has trained me to understand temperatures of light sources so much better than I would have if I set WB in camera!
I would encourage others to try this way of doing WB too, even if it's only for a couple months as a learning experience.
An alternative, of course, is to leave the camera on auto WB and instead have Lightroom apply a specific temperature when importing. Then the images will look the same after imported, "be consistent", but you still have the camera's auto values stored in the RAW and can be used if needed.
Note also, that WB is not stored in the RAW as a Kelvin number. That is why the kelvin-setting in the camera will not yield the similar number showing in Lightroom.
@@realthoprivate also a good option yes!
First new info from RUclips about photography in ages for me. Thank you Sean.
The depth of your explanation and your visual props are what make you such a great communicator. The video length also hits the sweet spot. Thanks.
The watercolor on paper is great and gets the idea across without needing a bunch of motion graphics. Cleverly done.
Our job as photogs is to create, either in our style or the style desired by the client. For me, the bottom line is WB can be adjusted in post so I don't get too worried about setting in camera, except when I need to represent the actual color as it was during the shoot. So, like Sean, I prefer to stick with the basic 5500K unless there is a need for a specific setting.
Love this channel, always a fair, balanced and thoughtful approach to our craft... and Sean just seems like a darn decent human being!
Thanks so much Charles.
This is the absolute best white balance video I’ve come across. You sir are a master teacher. The simplification of a seemingly complex topic? Wow. Thank you. And your work is an inspiration 💗
I’ve always set my camera on ‘daylight’ just because I was too lazy to always adjust my settings. And didn’t want auto because I never want my camera to make my decisions.
Being a landscape / nature photographer, it seems to work out well for me. Thanks for explaining it!!
In 38 years as a full time pro, I don' think I have ever used Auto White balance. I work in exactly the same way you do, I leave it set to 5600K. The only time I change it is if I have a colour critical job that needs to render truly accurate colours. In that case I use an X-Rite Colour Checker to create custom colour profiles. I've nothing against using auto, its just not what I do. I worked with film for so long, when I changed to digital white balance wasn't really something I thought about. I just used the camera as if it were loaded with daylight balanced film.
Great video Sean, I wish more people created content like yours, Thank you.
Maybe its the fact you learned to shoot with daylight balanced film so it just became natural. I leave it in auto, and make camera white balance shift slightly turned to amber.
Honestly canon auto wb works good for me, but I want to start shooting at manual because it gives richer colors when set correctly. I will try to keep it at 5500 for street photography, and try to implement that knowledge in my portrait and car shots
"But raw files have a ton of latitude" - Not super important here, but WB settings or auto-WB do not affect the raw file at all, data captured is the same regardless. It will affect what is loaded into your processing application though.
I saw this yesterday and went out for a quick shoot last night. I’m very thankful because I like seeing the bright colors that the daylight wb brought. More experimentation is due. Thanks and God bless you.
Your way of managing white balance isn't odd. I do it the same way and for the same reason.
When I started photography shooting wildlife I used auto white balance and never really thought about it. One day an experienced photographer suggested me to set the camera to a fixed white balance for consistency between the shots and easier editing, which I tried. This made me discover the joy of capturing a scene the way my eyes see it and I never got back to auto.
Thanks for letting others know about that joy!
My understanding of white balance was poorly lacking, but I did not know why, until now. Your video is a great example of taking an idea that appeared on the periphery (conversation with a friend) and making it into something that will resonate with many people. That is the art of it.
I can't wait to try this out, really good advice!
Good video! Very well explained and argumented, well done!
I have never thought about that! Thank you so much for this video! You are the best!❤
That's the best explanation I've heard. Thank you for taking the time to make this video.
Same here, always has useful tips. Thanks Sean!
I'm going to have to try this. Thanks Sean!
Great explanation! Thank you
Thank you for this video. I learned something today!
Thanks Sean, this is something I was playing with and you have solidified it, really appreciate your videos!
Excellent video Sean, very helpful and informative. Much appreciated.
Excellent explanation! Ty!
Great video Sean - simply and brilliantly explained!
Thank you so much for this brilliant explanation
Thank you so much for sharing this.. Will be definitely trying it out soon. ❤❤❤🎉🎉
Will try it out. Thanks for sharing yr thoughts
This is amazing….
Thanks for sharing this knowledge.
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Incredibly helpful. Thank you Sean! Cheers from Chicago.
A really useful and clear video for everyone Sean. Thank You.
You’re amazing ❤
Thank You!!! Very helpful, I am grateful
very well explained, Sean. Thank you
I’ve been applying this advice since this video dropped and I swear my photography has improved DRAMATICALLY
Eye and mind opener this, great work sean
Brilliant and balanced. Your for and against arguments are well made and easy to understand. Thank you Sean ❤
Thank you so much for this video. I have come to a good understanding of highlights and shadows in your previous video, and now with this video one more puzzle piece is found. Thanks!!
One of your best videos. Thanks for sharing
I just saw this video, but I already know, this will improve my photography.
Thank You.
That makes so much sense. I wish someone would have told me this sooner. Thank you for sharing!
Thankyou. Thankyou. Thankyou. You have no idea how much this has helped me :)
Thank you Sean. This video is very useful for me.
The best explanation on this subject. I now get it!! Thank you Sean😁
Great video. Very informative. Thanks!
Sean, the concepts you share are very refreshing and transcend photography. Thank you for sharing your mindset.
Love this approach
This is the most informative clearly explained video I’ve seen on RUclips for as long as I can remember. Thank you very much. Subscribed.
Fantastic video! I never thought of it this way, I learned so. Thank you!
Brilliant advice, thank you Sean
Such a wonderful teacher. Thank you.
This bought back memories of shooting interiors on film, nightmare with gels and filters.
Great way of explaining this Sean.
Your channel is a gem. Learned soo much from you
That was SO very useful, really clear and made me think about WB in a new way. Thank you
thanks for very nice visual examples! made so much sense to me. helpful!
Excellent!
나의 고정 관념을 깨우치게 만들어준 훌륭한 강의에 감사 드립니다. 자동 화이트 밸런스만 사용하던
저에게 큰 교육이 되었습니다!
I found that this presentation very enlightening, thank you.
Thank you, Sean. Really helpful.
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Presentation and explanation is so nice!
I will definitely try this out on my GR’s, as it is always a struggle to get consistent WB. Thank you for making this video!
Fascinating Sean. I think that I'll give this a go. Thank you.
Brilliant video. This is inspiring to now experiment with in my photography. Thank you Sean!
Thank you for a clear explanation
Wow! Great video! I never thought about WB that way - makes total sense. Thank you!
Well done. Thank you.
Thanks Sean, totally very enlightening view on WB. I knew about it but wasn't always aware to use it.
Another great video Sean. I now have a better understanding of white balance. Thank you.
Always very insightful Sean and it all makes sense now. Always love your content. Cheers mate.
Wow... Makes total sense. I will apply this approach going forward. Thanks Sean.
Sean, I can't thank you enough for all the great information that is helping me advance on my journey to level up my photography.
What a marvellous way of teaching a basic technique in a simple way for understanding. It’s always a pleasure to watch your videos Sean! Thanks for sharing
Thank you a lot, this has been probably the best explanation of what balance is and how it works in camera and, most importantly, the different scenarios and the effect of choosing one setting vs the other. Greatly appreciated.
Brilliant explanation!
This makes so much more sense to me! Thanks Sean.
just stumbled across your videos, glad I landed here!
Excellent video!
Excellent point about WB, Sean - can’t believe I’ve never really thought it through! Thanks for doing it for me. 🙏
Great video. Refreshing approach
This was the best video on white balance I have seen. The shifting of video wb while playing was an excellent touch.
Your explanations are very clear and easy to understand.
Outstanding! Thank you!
What a great explanation and video! Best cover of white balance I’ve seen…thanks for sharing!
superb video, wonderful explanation. thank you.
Thanks Sean! I’m always learning from your videos. I appreciate your clarity and perspective on subjects that are not always simple to grasp.
Once again, a really clear and useful lesson to be learned and applied.
Fantastic. I think that’s the most I’ve ever learned about photography from a single video
So interesting… as always 🖤
Thanks Sean another really clear and pragmatic explanation that I will be able to use to reduce the need to put the perceived colour back in to get the atmosphere back in.
As always… inspiring and brings reflection moments!
Wow i did not expect to be convinced but you put this across so well sean well done