Title: READ: Color Filter & White balance
Course: Digital Photography

Use the correct coloring

Color Filter & White balance

You should always use the correct coloring and white balance for your photograph. Photographs are all about getting the colors the photographer wants. This is achieved by setting the correct color settings and correct white balance to get the creative look you are wanting.
- Set the correct White Balance (cloudy, sunny, florescent, etc.)
- Set the correct colors to use (normal, vivid, black and white, sepia, cyanotype, etc.)

White balance is the setting on your camera that adjusts the color in your images to compensate for the light conditions you are shooting in. For example shooting inside with florescent light vs. indecent lights vs. bright sun will produce different colors and you can adjust your camera to compensate for that. Most cameras now even have the ability for you to manually choose the white balance by measuring something white in the conditions you are shooting in. This will give you the true colors the objects hold in your photograph.

Go to THIS website to watch a quick clip about what white balance is and how it affects your camera. Make sure you understand the different white balance settings that a camera has.

Coloring/Color filters can be used to change the tint of a photo to completely only using a set of colors you choose. Example black and white coloring will only use shades of black and white whereas vivid will make you colors look brighter and stand out more. Color filters can be either internal where you just change a setting on your camera to adjust your sensor to use specific colors or it can be external. An external filter fits on your cameras lens and changes what colors or light goes into the camera's lens.

These settings can be used incorrectly to produce very creative lighting effects and coloration effects in your photos. For example lets say there is a flower in a forest you want to take a picture of. So you turn your flash on then set you exposure compensation and flash compensation down to make your subject have the correct exposure but underexpose the background. Now set your white balance to shadow. Can you imagine what this photo would look like? The flower will be lit up like a ray of sunlight hitting it.

There are many little tricks like this you can get from playing with the white balance and color options. Try them out when taking photo and see what happens.

image sources:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/LensFilter-001.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Metrostation-Sofia-University-white-balance-collage.jpg