Achieving Natural Color (White Balance) - Olympus CAMEDIA E-20N Reference Manual

Achieving Natural Color (White Balance)

The source of incident light on the subject affects color. For example, the same sheet of
white paper held under sunlight may appear tinged with red when held under an
incandescent light. Because the human eye adapts to the colors of source light, it
perceives the sheet as white in both cases. White balance adjustment attempts to
reproduce colors naturally so images are not affected by surrounding light. With a
camera that uses film, you could purchase film suited for reproducing color under
different light sources and adapt to shooting conditions by using filters. Similarly, with a
digital camera you have the option of adjusting the white balance.
There are three ways to adjust white balance with this camera.
Auto white balance
The camera automatically determines the amount of white light and adjusts the color balance. Auto
white balancing is sufficient for most conditions, but if there is no near white color in the picture,
colors that are not originally white may appear white in the image and the white balance of the
image may not be correct. Also, auto white balancing may not have the desired effect when shooting
under white fluorescent or other fluorescent lights. In such a case, use a white surface and quick
reference white balance to achieve the correct white balance, or use preset white balance to select
a color temperature for the incident light to achieve the correct white balance.
Quick reference (one touch) white balance
You select an object like a white wall or a piece of white paper to be used as the white base to
balance color in your picture before shooting. Just point the camera at a sheet of white paper and
press the quick reference (one touch) white balance button to set the white base for balancing
color in the picture. The setting that you capture is saved as a "preset" white balance setting and
recorded in the camera's color temperature selections.
Preset white balance
You select a color temperature setting appropriate for the light source. For example, use preset
white balancing when you want to reproduce more red in a picture of a sunset, or capture a warmer
artistic effect under artificial lighting. By experimenting with different preset white balancing settings,
you can achieve a variety of pleasing color effects in your pictures.
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