White Balance

The white balance control on digital cameras can be used to adjust shooting parameters to suit the prevailing colour temperature of the light. It is relatively easy to set an appropriate white balance for most normal scenes. Standard modes include sunny, shade, cloudy or hazy, flash, fluorescent, tungsten and auto. Each setting implies a degree of compromise, but errors of less than about 250K are unlikely to be noticed.

Many photographers are tempted to leave their cameras in automatic white balance mode, but judicious selection of other apparently incorrect settings can be useful for creative purposes. If daylight fill-in flash is used, white balance should still normally be based upon ambient light. When flash is used indoors, it is usually best to select the designated flash setting.