White balance is the process of removing unrealistic colour casts as a result of cameras placed in certain light. This process is designed so that objects which appear white through a person's eye are rendered white in your photo or video / film. Like lights that can be bought at home cameras white balance has to take into account the colour "temperature" of a light source. A temperature refers to the relative warmth or coolness of white light. Unlike a camera our eyes are very good at judging what is white under different light sources, but digital cameras often have great difficulty with auto white balance. As a result camera shots can instantly can lose continuity from colour casts produced by the auto white balancing. For example cameras can create unsightly blue, orange, or even green colour casts.
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How do you white balance?
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In order to correct a cameras white balance or set it to your liking your must obtain a white surface that can be used a definition for the camera. By placing in this example, a piece of paper, in front of the camera lens and manually adjusting the cameras light exposure you can adjust the cast produced in the recording. However shooting in different locations, times and weather this will have to be redefined each time. In addition, three directional lighting should be used to help negate any factors that will cause continuity or quality issues.
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Below is a step by step guide to white balance a camera:
white balancing
White balancing does not always have to fully define the colour white according to the human eye. In the examples above false definitions of white balance can result in atmospheric effects.