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Lesson 2: Using the Camera
White Balance
White Balance is the final basic property we will discuss this week.
Light comes in a variety of flavors. Sunlight is different from a fluorescent light or the lamp in your bedroom. We’ve all seen a rainbow and perhaps you have some understanding of how they are made. White light from the sun is made up of a mixture of colors, the colors of the rainbow. The lamp in your room is made up of a different mix, more yellows, reds and orange than the sun.
Our camera needs to know how to record different kinds of light or the color of your photo will not be accurate. White Balance is setting the camera to properly interpret the color of the light that hits the sensor.
For most of our needs the auto white balance setting (AWB) does a good job. When the light is unusual—mixed kinds of light for example or a dramatic sunset—Lightroom Mobile allows you to set a specific white balance.
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The same situation, photographed with the Lightroom app using different White Balance settings. In Figure 2.8, the camera is adjusted for the color of the lamp, so the outdoors is very blue. In Figure 2.9, the outdoor white balance on the camera makes the lamp look very warm. Which is right? That’s up to you, and what you decide is important to the scene. By taking control in the app you can control the outcome.