May 7

Have a look at the two pictures below. Notice how the first image has a slightly yellow or warm cast to it, while the second photo is cooler - and a better likeness of the pure white jug. The only change that I made was to the white balance setting on my camera.

The white balance setting on your camera is there to ensure that you do not have an incorrect colour cast; so that any object that is white in person is also rendered white in the photo. In the old days of film, this was done with different filters that attached on the lens of the camera.

With the first image, the white balance was set to shade On the day this was taken, the sky was overcast, not very bright outside, so the shade setting wasn't a horrible choice. But because I was not happy with the colour of the picture, I changed the setting to cloudy. I feel that it makes a much better image, because the colours in the image are truer to the objects in person.

To change the white balance on my camera, a Nikon, I need to go into the tools menu, but every camera is different. If you are unhappy with the colour of your photo, reread your manual, it will point you in the right direction.

* white balance set to shade

*white balance set to cloudy