Following on from my previous photography tip “Adjusting the Burst Rate” I am now back  with my Third photography tip on setting your camera up, This is part of the 10 settings that professional photographers use..

Adjusting your white balance.

Our eyes are very good at judging what is white under different light sources, however digital cameras often have great difficulty with auto white balance (AWB)

To help us in those special situations without having to go through the trouble of manually setting the white balance every time, cameras provide preset WB settings such as, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Cloudy, Sunny, etc. Using preset WB can improve on a picture, especially under indoors lighting.

We really need to add the white balance for the scene, if it is incandescent lighting then we need to change it in our setting to incandescent lighting, it actually cools the photos giving it a crisp sharp finish by adding blue to the shot.

If we are under fluorescent lighting we need to change to add some warmth into our shots by adding some orange and red tones.

In digital photography its much easier to change as in the old days of film to change the colour of the film we had to add a coloured filter, nowadays its just the touch of a button.

If you shoot in the Raw format you can add the White balance later on in the digital darkroom in a program such as Photoshop.

So in summary at most times AWB will be fine but if you want truly professional shots then you need to adjust the white balance to one of the presets to fix up the colour cast, if you want the ultimate control over your colour then you need to shoot in raw mode.

Best of luck with your photos

David Pix

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Read more photography tips from David Pix

Setting Your Diopter

My first tip is setting your Diopter. The diopter is located on your viewfinder, I’ll just explain why this is so important, if you can imagine being at an event, we look through the viewfinder rather than have a live view of the event we are photographing, and the reason behind this is simple, if we have a live view and we go into the sun you will not have a true image of how your photo will turn out, meaning we wont be able to see the a true image of what we are photographing.

Adjusting The Burst Rate/Mode

Following on from my previous photography tip “Setting Your Diopter” I am now back  with my second photography tip on setting your camera up, This is part of the 10 settings that professional photographers use..

Adjusting the burst rate/mode

Professionals use the burst mode to make sure that the probability of a good photo is increased, especially when shooting sports.

About The Author:

David Pix

David Pix teaches photography to a range of students from beginners to advanced daily, in a real classroom. He has also put together a successful course to enable people to learn from home & at their own pace, and is written to encompass all levels. Just a few of his qualifications include - Associate Degree of Graphic Design (majoring Photography) ,Advanced Diploma of Graphic Design, Master class cinematography course (Certificate). Visit his Website