Key Takeaways

  • Understanding white balance is crucial for taking amazing photos. It determines the temperature and color tone of your images.
  • Auto white balance mode can be helpful for beginners, but manual adjustments using the Kelvin color meter provide more control.
  • Different lighting situations require different white balance settings, such as using warmer tones for golden hour and cooler tones for snowy landscapes. Post-production editing can also be done in Adobe Lightroom.

Understanding white balance is essential if you want to take amazing pictures. Getting the right tone will make it much easier to edit colors later, and you'll also ensure that your images look more realistic. But how exactly can you define white balance in photography? Keep reading to discover everything that you need to learn.

What Is White Balance?

White balance is a term used to determine the "temperature" of your pictures. Or, in simple terms, how blue or yellow the whites in your photo look. If you've ever noticed that interior pictures can sometimes look very yellow, that's often because of white balance.

To show you what we're talking about, here's a photo with the wrong white balance:

Lens on table with bad white balance

And here's the same photo with the correct white balance:

Lens on table with correct white balance

Notice how the first photo looks very orange, with an unnatural-looking silver on the bottom of the lens mount. While this photo could do with some other corrections, it has still been improved just by changing the white balance.

You can get creative with white balance in photography. For example, when editing golden hour photos in Lightroom, you may want to experiment with using a warmer tone. But if you're new to photography, aim to ensure that your whites, silvers, and similar colors look as they should before trying new things.

Is Auto White Balance Mode Worth Using?

When you buy your first camera, you'll notice that you can set your white balance to auto. If you're taking photos with automatic white balance, your camera decides what white balance setting to use. This is the case regardless of whether your camera mode. If you're outdoors, most cameras can get this right. Sometimes, interior photos or complex scenes can confuse the camera—and it may not set the correct white balance.

If you're new to white balance in photography (or just generally new to taking pictures), auto white balance will help you understand how the feature works in different lighting situations. You can further increase your knowledge by learning some tips to help you get the perfect white balance in your photos.

White Balance: Color by Kelvin

Once you've used auto white balance for a while, you'll be ready to manually adjust the feature. The Kelvin color meter is a great starting point; I still use this every time I take photos, despite having over seven years of photography experience.

When you use the Kelvin meter, remember that some cameras offer more control than others. For example, my first few cameras only let me adjust the number in hundreds (e.g., 5,700, 5,600). My current one, on the other hand, lets me go up and down in tens (5,590, 5,580). The correct Kelvin to use can also vary for each manufacturer—so you'll need to experiment a little.

To help you get more of an accurate white balance in your photography, we'll break down the different Kelvin number ranges for different scenarios that you may encounter as a photographer. Note that you may sometimes need to delve out of these ranges, but they're a good starting point nonetheless.

1. Snowy Landscapes

Photo of a Snowy Mountain Landscape During the Day

You need to consider several aspects of winter photography, and your white balance is one of the most important factors. Have you ever been out to take photos on a snowy day and noticed that the colors don't look quite right? Maybe the tone is too blue, for example? If so, the wrong white balance almost certainly caused that problem.

Snowy landscapes are one scenario where you should consider using an alternative to auto white balance. Your camera can sometimes get confused and make the snow look more blue. Instead, use a Kelvin number of around 6,500-8,500.

2. Golden Hour

photo of a city at golden hour

The soft lighting and beautiful colors in golden hour make just before sunrise and sunset a popular time for photography. Many photographers make the mistake of bumping up their white balance to intensify the warm tone, but taking this too far can make the colors in your picture look messy. So, you should actually drop the Kelvin meter slightly compared to other situations.

Aim for around 2,000-4,000 on the Kelvin meter for golden hour pictures. Once you've edited your pictures, consider using these golden hour captions on social media.

3. Sunny Days

Woman Running Through Flower Field on Sunny Day

Shooting in sunny weather poses several lighting challenges, but you can still capture amazing photos when the sun's high in the sky. Besides understanding and implementing the Sunny 16 rule, choosing the right white balance Kelvin number will also make the colors look better in your image.

Somewhere in the middle of the Kelvin range usually works for sunny days. Aim for something between 5,000 and 6,000. In some situations (such as when your picture has a lot of blues), you might need to increase the number further.

4. Night Photography

Man walking along a sidewalk during nighttime

While much of the world is asleep at night, you'll find photography opportunities aplenty after hours. For example, if you're visiting or live in a northerly latitude, you can potentially photograph the Northern Lights. Meanwhile, those in big cities can capture skylines and much more when it's dark.

The correct Kelvin meter to use for night photography varies significantly depending on the situation. But in many cases, 2,000-4,000 is a good range to aim for.

5. Overcast and Rainy Days

photo of a city on a rainy day

If you've ever taken photos on overcast, rainy, and foggy days, you might have noticed that your pictures look quite blue if you don't use the right white balance. And when that happens, it can be quite difficult to change in post-production. As a general rule of thumb, aim for a Kelvin number between 6,000 and 8,000 for these kinds of lighting situations.

Since fog is very difficult to photograph in, consider reading these tips on how to take photos in misty and foggy weather.

6. Indoor and Food Photography

food served in 4 bowls

Indoor photography is one of the most difficult situations to take pictures in, and, of course, interiors vary quite significantly. But for most indoor situations, you'll want to reduce the number on your Kelvin meter. Start with 1,500-3,000 and go from there.

For food photography, you'll need to consider whether you're indoors or outside. On top of that, you also have to think about the colors of the food. The best way to approach this is by simply ensuring that everything looks as it did in person (and in the specific lighting conditions). You can learn how to elevate your food photography game for further guidance.

Can I Change the White Balance in Post-Production?

Getting an accurate white balance in photography is best done from the camera. However, you can edit your white balance in Adobe Lightroom.

In Lightroom, go to WB (under the camera profile section). Here, you can move the temperature and tint sliders in whichever direction you want.

Edit the White Balance in Lightroom Via the Sliders

When you expand the dropdown menu, you can choose auto white balance and also pick from numerous presets.

Customize Lightroom White Balance Settings

All the Essential Information About White Balance in Photography

Knowing the definition of white balance in photography will make getting the right colors in your pictures much easier. It's one of the first skills you can learn, and you can use the Kelvin meter in your camera—along with auto white balance—to achieve your desired results.

In other cases, using the white balance presets and/or your post-production software will also enable you to make your images stand out. You might need to break the Kelvin rules occasionally, but what you've learned today is a solid base to build from.