21 Controlling White Balance

When you are photographing a sunset, you want the light in the photograph to be rich and warm, just like reality. The camera has no idea, though, that you’re trying to capture a sunset and will automatically correct the warm light to appear like normal daylight, causing your image to be cold and clinical instead of warm and romantic. Fortunately, there are a couple of ways to set the white balance manually. You can either select a programmed setting in the camera’s menu (the usual symbols include a light bulb, a fluorescent lamp, a sun, or a lightning bolt and a cloud), or you can adjust the white balance to the color temperature of the ambient light. To do this, hold a neutral, white piece of paper in front of the camera. Make sure the li....