Pro White Balance Tip to Fix Beginner's Greatest Challenge!

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

💥QUESTION: Which White Balance setting do you use in camera?

[@jhmnieuwenhuis]

Auto

[@scottmiller9621]

Custom white balance using gray card.

[@mariusvaiciulis5072]

it's auto. i just see no reason to mess around that setting. maybe with jpeg out of camera, that would be a completely different story.

[@DaveBerthiaume]

Always use auto and worry about it in post. One less thing to have to think about in the field.

[@scothowe539]

I’ve always used auto then use temp slider to adjust to my liking. I also have a little point and shoot that I had converted to infrared. Totally different story for that. I use a custom white balance taken from green grass.

[@vzshadow1]

When using the color picker, any time you get the same three numbers for the three channels it's a good spot to choose.

[@lesath7883]

But if you pick a spot with all 3 channels con the same level, then you are picking the same color balance that you have in the picture.

[@basilbcf]

Something I sometimes do in scenes that have large areas that are very different is to use masking (like linear gradient) and apply white balance to specific areas rather than applying one white balance to the entire scene. Don't do this al the time, but in some situations I find it can really add some punch to an image.

[@drmathochist06]

The sails make a good example of not using a known-white because you DO want a color cast, in this case yellowish. In forest shots, I find that I often want some greenish cast because that's how it feels. Even using an 18% grey card would get it "wrong". My solution is usually to use the known-white with the picker, and then manually bump the yellow-blue and magenta-green sliders to get the cast that feels right from that point.

[@Kuzumby]

I have struggled getting great white balance for years. I've used all sorts of tools, paper, domes, cards. I constantly struggled with the color picker. Your technique is amazing, with a color calibrated monitor I feel like i can finally get a great balanced tone. Thank you!

[@ravenfallsphotography6254]

In the past, I've done the same…but cranked Vibrance to max instead. The results were genuinely psychedelic - but sure showed up any color cast immediately.

[@MrCrochunter]

I generally use the dropper if I find the white balance to seem a little off. I also wanted to thank you for all your videos but especially this type of videos. I have been incorporating a lot of your methods into my workflow and I feel that the quality of my work and final images has improved a lot. Thank you for sharing your experience.

[@lphilpot01]

In some limited situations such as macro or other "nearby" subject matter there can be a fifth method -- Shooting a color checker (or even grey card) and then balancing on that. But when you're shooting a mountain seven miles away, the color checker or grey card gets too small to see after you've stretched your arm seven miles... 🙂At any rate, as you said "technical" white balance needs to be done first, before "artistic" color shifts are made.

[@juergenbaumann8817]

While leaving the camera on auto WB (Nikon) - shooting a color checker with several neutral gray points will be beneficial - as you can quickly warm up or cool down your photo with the 'correct' WB and Tint combination. It brings you very quick in the right ball park and take it from there. And as a benefit you can use what your camera auto WB delivers. When ever possible, that is my most preferred approach. In my opinion that is not a limited scenario - you just have to make sure, that the same quality of light hits your gray card / color checker as your main subject or scene.

[@markbaumgartner1821]

Thanks!

[@13MoonsOverMayhem]

Dude, THANK YOU! I'm shooting in JPEG right now to save space, but these tips are working for me, too! I paused the video part way through to go try it and ended up re-editing a bunch of photos for hours and they look so much better! I did come back and finish the video, lol. Seriously, this is immensely helpful, I appreciate so much that you're willing to share.

[@nerdnam]

I think the saturation trick works because what you want with white balance (and the reason your brain does it) is to be able to see the most different colors.

[@karyleianawildernesscapes]

My cameras stay at my custom WB [5000k] 98% of the time. For myself, I've found that to be the most "neutral" for majority of scenes & a good place to start when I do edit. Only time I personally use AUTO WB is for Underwater. For Astro, I'll use 5400K-5500K, depends on the scene, if there's Light pollution of some kind (& what color it is), but the reasoning for a "neutral-warm" WB is that stars have a warmer color in them. & when people choose cooler WBs, they effectively take away alot of the natural colors in the stars & often it leaves a very odd-looking blue/cyan tint to the sky, which is NOT natural looking. The other reason for a set WB (vs Auto) in Astro is typically people will stack their images for cleaner files, but if your WB shifts, many stacking softwares WON'T stack the files bc the settings aren't all identical.

[@WillNewcomb]

So helpful! Thank you!

[@BarrySchirm]

When using the eye dropper tool, I have found it is best to get the three values (RGB) on the small grid that displays as you hover over a point as close together as possible. With a true neutral grey, the three values will be the same.

[@animahon]

One thing that I always find hard, is to rest you eyes after watching a highly vibrant/saturated picture. It often makes me over adjusting things later on.. Amazing work btw :)

[@andydelphoto]

Good stuff. For tricky scenes I have found a lot of success using the Arias method of yanking the temp wayyy to the left or right and then slowly working it back and forth towards a temp that looks good to me, then doing the same with tint. It's similar to the full saturation method. Seeing everything completely out of whack makes the right colors more apparent to the nekid eye.

[@terrycavanaugh4961]

Thank you, thank you, Thank you Mark! I cranked up Lightroom after watching this video and attacked a couple of my more problematic pictures. Your technique brought them into the most accurate white balance far faster than I could have cleaned them up by hand. Thanks again!

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Amazing to hear - music to my ears, thanks for letting me know!

[@stephenschmid492]

Thank you, Mark, good tip! I will have to try that. I've noticed that when manually adjusting the Temperature slider in a photo with many colors (e.g. a landscape at sunset) the point that is best is when you can see the maximum number of different colors.

[@malcolmfoster6266]

Hey Mark, I have been shooting real estate photography full time for over four years now and my BIGGEST struggle has been the correct white balance. I was working on a shoot while watching this video and now I no longer have a problem. Used your method real time, right away. Your saturation solution is absolutely brilliant!!! Thank you so much for putting this out there. Cheers!

[@ianbrowne9304]

some great tip for a hard subject as there is no perfect answer and "perfect" today will different tomorrow , or next week or next month . Even one's mood seem make a difference 8:34 try vibrancy slider as it's not so full on 9:26 try the arrow keys for fine slider adjustment try a few virtual copies for different WB adjustment tests. Tip for the less experienced ; don't rush your WB/editing . It doesn't matter when cyberspace sees your "masterpiece" . Edit >put it away for a few days >re-edit >put it away again to give you eyes and mind a break. You might / will be amazed to what you missed. try adding a wb selector spot like a piece of white/grey card into the subject . Make sure it's in the main light source for most of the subject --- make sure it doesn't blow out if white. Or photograph (never shoot it; please ;) ) the card under the main light source >take the WB reading from that file and copy to photo . Yes ; will likely not be perfect Trick question to make everyone think : what colour is white? Or blue ? Or green ? To get the answer visit the local paint shop . There are lot of blues , green and whites there ;) Apparently we can not perfectly or even closely remember the colour tones we saw when photographing the subject (again ; please don't shoot it ;) ) You have done well Mark since first experimenting in KZbin 👋👋 Sorry --- I'm bored 😂

[@rayganrambles]

It's neat how the white balance had an effect on the exposure too! It brightened up your Bali photo quite a bit.

[@WilliamOchs-j6i]

Mark, you are the best on you tube at explaining photo editing - thank you

[@GiovanniBausC]

Usually I start with the „daylight“ setting in LR or C1 but I also shoot more and more with the camera on AWB to have this as kind of a second opinion. In any case, the idea of pulling up the saturation slider to max to help determine the desired adjustments is a very good one which I‘ll surely adopt.

[@troymclean9301]

Thank you Mark! Saving this one for future reference.

[@bukcity9790]

I was actually just thinking yesterday afternoon about needing to search for a Mark Denney video on White Balance. Thank you so much for sharing!

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Perfect timing!

[@davidmill7289]

Really useful. Thanks Mark.

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Glad you enjoyed it David!

[@kqschwarz]

The reason clicking on the side of the boat worked better than the sail is NOT because it is “more neutral”. A sail that is white in color is at neutral as it gets. The reason the sail failed to produce the “correct” white balance is because the “correct” white balance for this photo is warmer than neutral because the sun was setting and the natural light was “warm”. The white balance tool sets whatever you pick to neutral, not the warmer light that was actually present at the time of the photo. The reason the side of the boat worked a bit better than the sail is the side of the boat was in shadow, whereas the sails were trans illuminated by the warm setting sun light. Therefore, neutralizing the shadow light still preserved the warmer tone that was present in the sails and anything else that was directly illuminated by the setting sun. Love your videos. All the best

[@HenriqueSilva-hk2mv]

A big difficulty I have is actually finding the most correct point possible for WB. Once again, he is a great help, with his knowledge and sharing of the same, to resolve this issue. Without a doubt, the forms that you presented help a lot and make it much easier to find the most correct point of the WB. Thank you for your help and teaching.

[@jremi]

Very useful! I also struggled with white balance and it makes a lot of sense that the "correct" white balance is not necessarily what works best for a particular photo. Thank you!

[@YrjoPuska777]

You forgot to mention changing white balance with tone curves instead of white balance tool, but that definitely is not for beginners. But with it, you can change white balance to be different in different brightnesses, for example keep it pure white on highlights, but add warmth to mid tones and maybe even cooler to dark areas if that suits the image.

[@NYskyHI]

Thanks for the super helpful tips. Can Grey cards be used as a tool for white balance during composition?

[@davidbuurma9309]

Mark and Nick…my dream photo teaching team!

[@jhmnieuwenhuis]

Excellent tip. Thanks!

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thanks a million!

[@ramonnunez915]

I just color balanced a scene using the technique you demonstrated for the sail boat, it worked like a charm on my image. I am glad I saw your video. Thank you very mucho.

[@hotflashfoto]

Green grass is a good substitute for 18% gray when it isn't easy to find... I really appreciate this video! I've always struggled with adjusting WB, too, so this is so powerful for me. Thank you so much!

[@verseone1111]

thanks a bunch sir, this is so helpful, always find it hard to do white balance on a photo without "white" on it. As a beginner this is absolutely helping me, thank you

[@Papa_Sagi]

great trick. I picked some my old picture and tried your method. it works brilliant to have consistency from picture to picture. Thanks!

[@photosbyadamclarke]

Great tips Mark! In applying these techniques, I find that I have to walk away from the image after moving the saturation slider back to neutral, to give my eyes a few minutes to adjust again, before finishing it off. I found your technique particularly useful in very colorful shots. Thank you!

[@timking1964]

Thanks Mark. A helpful video, and nice and gently presented too (as always). This may have already been raised in the hundreds of positive comments, but as you increase saturation, it’s often easy to see where colour channels separate in the histogram (we could see it on your screen!). It seems to me that part of achieving a good white balance is to bring those peaks closer together…

[@christinewalliss456]

What a great video, did some final adjustments to some of my photos that i am collating for a book, " black and white high key". What a difference, thank you

[@jukkarauhala9778]

This is great video. I tried your instructions on some of my old photos that I haven't been happy with. Now I made them look a much better and more natural. The problem is that now I would like to edit all my old pictures again:) . Thanks a lot Mark

[@iwemanic]

Mark, really appreciate your post processing vids. They have helped me immeasurably.

[@markglenday7291]

Hi Mark thanks for sharing this video, I never seen your technique before as far as pushing the saturation up to 100%. I will try your technique and see how I go.

[@supong_al_creation]

Thank you Mark you've been the best when it comes to editing tutorial

[@michaelhayward6097]

Excellent tutorial - you have helped me out with fixing my landscape vacation pics -- thank you

[@vaclavpotucek9060]

Hi Mark, thank you for introducing this aproach. I must admit it was pretty inspiring!

[@rlau68]

Thanks for the detailed pointers Mark! Always appreciate your insight and photos 👍

[@markodell5466]

Excellent video. Adjusting white balance has always been one of my biggest challenges!

[@donaldbernhardt]

You should feel proud of yourself. I've been applying your white balance technique on underwater photos and the result is stunning. Auto camera and auto LR just work poorly on underwater photos. I've always struggled greatly getting white balance anything close to even acceptable. With your 100% saturation technique, I can quickly make adjustments and the results are VERY consistent from photo to photo which tells me the method is quite valid. The photos look as I always hoped for but seldom achieved. Thanks for your fantastic videos. They're much appreciated and be aware they're resulting in real changes to your subscriber's photo editing capabilities.

[@Mister_EL.]

Good tips. Helped me improve my WB adjustment quite a bit...

[@simonpayne7994]

This seems to be quite good advice. Temporally bumping up the saturation prior to fiddling around with the white balance makes life that much easier. Good idea!

[@Festvangelist]

Thanks for sharing. The post processing is excellent at manipulating your out of camera image to your satisfaction. I have to admit this is where many images go from good to not as good because each photographer has preferences on what the image should look like. Include me … I have my opinions on color and balance that other viewers may really find less appealing. Mark I have to be honest even some of your examples I would not place in my finished image file. I understand the point of your video is how manipulate the Lightroom software can really impact your original file and some easy tips on helping us through that great job. At the end you have to trust your eyes.

[@dallaswright3577]

Another good video for the reason I watch your channel- very down to earth and straight forward.

[@nottoosalty]

Thank you! I'm new to photography and editing, and white balance is something i've had trouble understanding.

[@martinlennon4673]

Like your white balance workflow. I’ll use it. Thanks 👍

[@nerdcastles]

Gotta love that view of Sol Duc Falls. Your shot looks so great.

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thank ya!

[@peteralfredhess]

Thank you! I am loving this approach. I always evaluate tone by turning saturating to -100 (or tap v for monochrome), so the idea of turning sat up to 100 to evaluate white balance is beautifully intuitive. Great video!

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Happy to hear you enjoyed it!

[@BobG-eh5fc]

Thanks for a great tutorial!!! WB is always an art and you explained it well.

[@lplazaj]

Great job on the explanation of your workflow, you break down the particulars of the color casts to be considered so one can make good choices about which tool or tools to use and in what order to achieve visually pleasing results. What do you think about using the Tone Curve tool to control color cast? Each channel has its own color specialty along the tonal spectrum for more precise control.

[@kristopherjwolff]

Great video as always. I love the tip of going to 100% saturation first... This is going to be very helpful... I still struggle with (and I'm looking for a video about) how to even know what I'm looking for. For example, in the video you say things like "clearly it's too green" and i don't even know how to see that

[@paragontim]

Great tips, Mark - thanks for sharing!

[@TheRaymonddube]

Thanks so much for these tips. Very helpful. Where is that wonderful waterfall?

[@CluelessYoutuber]

I’m glad the process I use for WB is what you shared! I often boost both Saturation and Vibrance and balance from there, then adjust individual colors from the mixer 😁

[@evaeriksson9950]

Will definitely try that tip! I have always found white balance editing to be quite challenging!

[@terricarpenter1798]

Thank you for this video. I've been struggling with white balance for years. I really enjoy your videos. Thank you so much for sharing.

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Glad you enjoyed it Terri!

[@sjedouglas]

That was a good watch. For the most part, I tend to do what you suggested was unusual by adjusting the sliders by eye till most of the scene looks good, then I go in and make localised adjustments to the colours in certain areas until I get the photo looking exactly how I want it. However, there are some photos where I feel I can never get it quite right so I'll definitely be using the tips in this video.

[@williampetersen2899]

Mark, I'm loving this "Saturation Slider White Balnce" trick! A great idea that I'm definitely going to try! I also like to use WB as a local adjustment, especially on skies, water and fog in shade.

[@jeffnewman8261]

Thanks for this video Mark. I struggle with white balance too, and am anxious to try your method. I've been told that you shouldn't adjust white balance until after you corrected your exposure.

[@SinaFarhat]

That was excellent! :) I was once asked to digitize false colour infrared film photos and finding a "correct" white balance on those photos was a mess!

[@aygie]

Really enjoyed the video but had to shout out to the iPod classic! Love seeing people still rocking them 🤘🏻

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thanks my friend!

[@HenriqueSilva-hk2mv]

Another excellent video. A calibrated monitor is important and fundamental. My question is if a color checker is important or not, to define, in HSL/Color, Hu, saturation, Luminance. thank you very much

[@BobG-eh5fc]

Thanks for a great workflow!

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Happy to do it Bob!

[@brucedelorme5026]

As usual with your instructional, you lay it out sply but proficiently. I love your lightroom and photoshop vlogs.

[@JFW5358]

I leave my camera on AWB and then use the same methods as you to set white balance but I would think you make it more difficult for yourself by having the coloured background lighting in your room.

[@leelindemann7729]

I noticed the prints over your shoulder. I’d be interested in seeing how you’ve displayed your own work throughout your house -sizes, matting, frame choices, how you grouped them on the walls, choice of photos as a theme, etc. Their just pixels til we bring them to life. Best wishes-

[@mikebartow9415]

Set camera (Z9) to Auto WB. I have used the eye dropper and the temp slider but never thought about changing saturation then readjust the temp. THANKS!

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Glad it was helpful!

[@swissheartydogs]

Dear Mark, great topic. Always check and set my WB to start and focus my mind on the forthcoming photos. And again when editing. Crucial.

[@SpankyMcJedi]

I've been struggling with nailing a process for this for years. Thanks for this one!

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Always happy to do it!

[@MiguelRamos-up5tf]

Thanks, this is a tricky topic and this helps settle my own ideas. I also increase saturation, but my starting point is different. I gave up both on using Auto in camera and on picking a white object. I think that's what maybe a portrait photographer wants to neutralize light. Me, I want to capture the color of the moment. If the light is orange, I want it to stay orange. So, I now always set camera to daylight and that's my starting point

[@johnpollock6996]

Great video Mark. I had never seen anyone use the Saturation 100 and back down method. I will definitely try it. Judging from the cast in your office, it certainly looks like you have perfected the Carolina Blue balance!

[@lesath7883]

Thank you for the video. Very useful.

[@jchua13]

*Omo* the saturation trick is sooo useful ~ so glad I'm subscribed 😂

[@chrisrinaldi5936]

Very helpful Mark. I’ll give it a try.

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Happy to hear it!

[@billz4795]

Again thanks for your help. Question - I was "told" try finding what IS white (🎉not blown out )and give it a try with the white balance dropper. Any thoughts?

[@34Media]

good tips as always well explained too , you shoudl of been a teacher you have a knack of getting things across in a way i can easily understand cheers mate

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thanks so much!

[@sb1493]

I personally believe that white balance is in the eyes of the beholder. I think it's absolutely critical regarding people's skin tones. Photoshop Elements has a feature that addresses this very issue. However, I don't see this included in Lightroom or Photoshop - at least, I haven't found it there. That actually targets just the skin tones and gives the editor choices to choose the color that is as true to the skin of the person in question. I wish Lightroom and or Photoshop would add that option.

[@VolumetricDesign]

Great tutorial!

[@timcooperfish]

For the ultimate color balance, I use Dan Margulas' method. Somewhat more tedious but it does not assume the color shifts are equal across all points on the curves.

[@georgehatzipantelis4642]

very informative Mark

[@davidtripp4221]

Great video! I can't wait to try your technique out on some of my photos.

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thanks David!

[@annmelnichuk3399]

Thank you Mark! I always forget the saturation trick. I generally use sliders to get the histogram aligned: that becomes my "neutral". Then I use the sliders some more to set the mood.

[@davidligon6088]

Another great tip for an area I struggle with. Thank you for your work on these videos.

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Great to hear you enjoyed it David!

[@menachemsadeh8603]

I use another trick that I wish to share. When I need an exact white balance, I add somewhere in the image a linear gradient and reduce the saturation to zero. Then all the values with white balance selector are equal,. I change the exosure if needed. Then and it is vey easy to find a point within the linear gradient with 46, 46, 46. (18% gray) Then I delete the mask of the linear gradient and the image is balanced.

[@aljawad]

My approach is to shoot with AWB + RAW and start every scene with a shot of the ColorChecker Passport. Later in post I let the software adjust the white balance and fine tune the result to tast.

[@mallory-knox]

Thank you, do you have any tips for white balance on mobile / iPhone photography ?

[@michelekutner4229]

Fantastic waterfall

[@MisterE67]

This is a very helpful tutorial about white balance. I've always left white balance alone, or "tweaked" it to suit the look I wanted. Since I've been using your system I've found things in my photographs that I haven't seen before. Just wanted to clarify one thing. Am I correct that you view the white balance as the "baseline" and colour grading as tweaking or finding a "look"?

[@BenSussmanpro]

Thanks, I watched your entire presentation & the process is basically what I do, but I like how you laid it all out . However, I rarely ever rely on the eyedropper, especially in cloudy conditions because it automatically over-warms the image. I usually try to focus on what a particular patch in the image should look like (eg, your sail mast example). Also, if people are present (like at an event shoot), I balance for skin and quit immediately. Great, I like all your videos, but wish I had the ability to travel to these amazing places😊

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thanks so much for checking out the videos Ben!

[@gossedejong9248]

brilliant, thank you!!

[@CrayonboxAviationAdventures]

The key comment you made: “that’s the colour of something in the photo, not the colour of the light”. Thanks for your sharing of techniques.