Auto white balance (AWB) works for some scenarios. Night photography is not one of them. Here are five concrete reasons for digging the AWB – and how to do so can immediately improve your night photography game.
During the day, your camera performs a good job of estimating an accurate white balance. During the night, it struggles. Night photography is an area where it is better to set manual white balance. Sure, you can change your white balance in post-processing later. But here are the five reasons why you should set it manually.
1. Exact image in LCD
As mentioned, the camera makes its best estimate in AWB. But “Best Gess” is not quite good. If you want accuracy, do not move tones. You want to decide and do not allow your camera to do so.
The best way is to set it yourself. If you are shooting under a hot sodium vapor-lit street or cool moonlight, you want vibe to come into your photo and make a better decision in the area. You must be one to decide whether your night sky is blue in neutral black/gray or tone or not.
Setting the white balance manually matches you with the actual light temperature of the view – and maintains your vision as to what the photo should be intact. This is correct in the next point …
2. Your histogram will give you a huge hug (really not …)
Your WB determines what your JPG preview looks. Your histogram is also based on your WB. The incompatibility makes AWB, throwing it, which makes it difficult to judge the exposure correctly. You want to know if you are crushing the shadow or overexposing, are you not? Set that WB manually, and you will have a good, consistent histogram for the whole evening.
3. Stability key is
Night photography often involves several shots: panorama, light painting, or long exposure mixture. The AWB color can move the tone from the frame to the frame, allowing you to fix the discrepancies later. This is why you manually lock your WB.
4. Get the exact color with your light
If you are giving light to the view with LED flashlight, panel, or RGB lights, exact color cases? Many of these lights are tuned for a specific white balance, such as 4,000 K. If your camera is manually set at the same Calvin color temperature, your white will look really white – and your other colors will also be true.
It is particularly helpful when using RGB lights where color accuracy actually matters. Tune your white balance in your light. Simple your life and improve your light.
5. Easy, more accurate editing later
Manual WB gives you a consistent basis to start your work. This means easy editing and more accurate color improvement when you start your post-processing. With AWB, you can spend extra time to fix strange changes and match tones in images.
Bottom line
Auto white balance may look like a time-year. However, it can throw a monkey wrench in your night photography workflow. Switch to manual WB by setting Calvin temperature. You can match the Calvin temperature in both your light and your camera to get a true white from your light.
Alternatively, I often use 3,800 K for my several night photos using a flashlight with 4,000 K. Because of this, white light will look a little warm, something that I often like.
However, you should choose the color temperature that your vision feels best. Regardless, it is great with that stability and accuracy in viewing, histogram, lighting and post-processing. Whatever makes our photography easier and better is a win.
