Incorrect white balance is one of the most common causes of photos that look off. Here is how color temperature works and how to get white balance right every time.
Color temperature is measured in Kelvin (K) and describes the warmth or coolness of a light source. Lower Kelvin values are warmer (more orange/yellow) and higher values are cooler (more blue). Common reference points:
White balance adjusts the camera's color processing to render a neutral white under whatever lighting conditions you are in. If your white balance is set correctly, white objects look white. If it is wrong, whites look orange (too low a WB setting for warm light) or blue (too high a WB setting for cool light).
Most cameras include presets for common lighting conditions:
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Review my real quote for $29 →AWB is reliable for outdoor shooting in consistent lighting. It becomes less reliable under mixed lighting (e.g., tungsten lamps mixed with daylight from windows) or under strongly colored artificial light. In these situations, setting a manual WB or custom WB produces more consistent results.
Photograph a gray card or white piece of paper under the actual light in your scene. Then use your camera's custom WB function to designate that frame as the reference. The camera will adjust all subsequent shots to render that card as neutral gray/white. This is the most accurate method for tricky lighting situations.
If you shoot RAW, white balance is applied in post-processing and can be changed non-destructively with zero quality loss. AWB is perfectly acceptable for RAW shooters — you can correct it later. If you shoot JPEG, the white balance is baked into the file and getting it right in camera matters much more.
If you shoot RAW, AWB is fine — you can adjust white balance freely in post with no quality loss. If you shoot JPEG, manual WB or a preset gives you more consistent, accurate results. For indoor shoots with mixed or tricky lighting, a custom white balance is the most reliable approach regardless of format.
The orange cast comes from tungsten or incandescent bulbs, which have a color temperature around 3200K. If your white balance is set to Daylight (5500K), the camera is not compensating for the warm light and the orange shows through. Set your WB to Tungsten or use a custom WB to neutralize it.
For direct sun at midday, the Daylight or Sunny preset (5500K) is correct. In open shade, the Shade preset (7000-8000K) adds warmth to counteract the blue cast. On overcast days, the Cloudy preset (6000-6500K) is appropriate. Many portrait photographers add 200-500K of warmth above the baseline for a more flattering skin tone.
The most reliable method is to photograph a gray card at the start of each location or lighting condition with every camera, then sync the white balance in post using that frame as a reference. In Lightroom, you can copy white balance settings from one image and sync them across all images from the same camera at the same location.
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