Datasheet
105
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures
Microsoft Digital Image Standard User’s Manual
Setting the White Balance
Surprisingly, digital cameras do not automatically know what colors are your
picture. Instead, your camera must figure out which color in a scene is white,
and use that information to color the rest of the picture. This is called setting
the white balance. To calculate the white balance, the camera assumes the light
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est spot in the picture is white, and adjusts the other colors accordingly. Under
most circumstances, this automatic function should prevent an off-color cast in
your photos.
However, in some lighting conditions, the camera fails to correctly set the white
balance. If you’re taking pictures indoors, for example, incandescent lights
give off a yellowish or reddish glow. This color is not really visible to the naked
eye, but often shows up in indoor pictures. To counteract this problem, most
digital cameras have preprogrammed color balance settings that compensate for
different kinds of light. Typical settings include cloudy, shaded, incandescent,
flash, fluorescent, and sunny. These settings compensate for the different colors
of light likely to be present in those conditions, and should produce pictures
that require little or no color correction. Read your camera’s manual to find out
about specific white balance settings it offers.
With film cameras, there is no way the camera itself can compensate for dif
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ferent lighting conditions. But there are two ways you can compensate for the
colored light:
• Use film designed for specific lighting situations. Tungsten-balanced
films, for example, help to neutralize the color of tungsten or halogen
illumination.
• Use a filter on your camera lens. For example, if you’re using day
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light-balanced film but want to take pictures indoors, you can use a
blue-colored filter to absorb the overriding yellows and reds of the indoor
incandescent lights.
Setting the white
balance manually
Some digital cameras
offer manual white
balance control. This
feature allows you to
set the white balance
by focusing on a pure
white object, such as a
piece of paper, and then
locking down the white
balance before you take
the photo.