White balance is the most mis-understood and ignored adjustments with amateur photographers, however it is relatively easy to adjust in the Kodak v705 digital camera.

Understanding white balance is important for real estate photographers and stagers, especially for indoor room shots. How often have we seen yellowish pictures?

Adjusting white balance is a technique of removing unrealistic color casts, so that objects which appear white in person are portrayed white in your photo. Proper camera white balance needs to take into account the color temperature of the light source, which means the warmth or coolness of white light. Our eyes are very good at inferring what is white under different light sources, however digital cameras have difficulty with auto white balance. Incorrect white balance can create unsightly blue, yellow, or green color casts, which are unrealistic and particularly damaging to photographs. Adjusting white balance in traditional film photography required attaching different cast-removing filters, depending on the lighting conditions, however with digital cameras this is no longer required. Understanding digital white balance can help you avoid color casts created by your camera's Auto White Balance, thereby improving your photos under a wider range of lighting conditions.

Here are some pictures of my living room.

Taken with Auto White Balance

Taken with Daylight Setting 

Taken with Tungsten Setting

Taken with Flourescent Setting

Taken with Open Shade Setting

There was plenty of Daylight coming in the windows so this setting produced the best results.  The "AUTO" setting gave a blue tint to the white walls and also washed out the beige curtains. If this was at night with the lamps on the Tungsten setting would give the best results as the Daylight and "Auto" would have a yellowish glow.

I will not go into the technicalities of color temperature and will just list them for different lighting conditions.

Candlelight 1000-2000 K

Tungsten Bulb (household variety) 2500-3500 K

Sunset/Sunrise (clear sky) 3000-4000 K

Fluorescent Lamps 4000-5000 K

Electronic Flash 5000-5500 K

Daylight with Clear Sky (sun overhead) 5000-6500 K

Moderately Overcast Sky 6500-8000 K

Shade or Heavily Overcast Sky 9000-10000 K

The Kodak v705 is set in it's default mode for Auto White Balance, however it provides ways for you to adjust white balance for the following conditions: Daylight (clear sunny sky), Tungsten (most home lighting and lamps), Fluorescent (found in kitchens and baths; also energy saving light bulbs), Open Shade (shaded areas or overcast days. Adjustments for Candlelight and Sunset/Sunrise conditions are provided on the Kodak v705, however in a different menu.

To set the white balance on auto and the first four conditions mentioned above on the Kodak v705, turn on the camera and push the Menu button on the back of the camera. Use the up and down scroll button until you come to the White Balance screen. Push the scroll button to select the white balance menu. Scroll up or down to select your option and then press the button to make your selection. You are now ready to take your pictures. Push the shutter button half way to clear the screen. It will maintain the selected white balance for all your pictures until you change it or shut down your camera. Upon starting it again it sets itself at the default "AUTO" setting.

Adjustment for candlelight and sunrise/sunsets is done differently. Turn on your camera and keep the white balance setting on "AUTO".

Press the Camera|SCN button on the top of the camera twice to get to the picture mode menu. There are 22 different settings. I will discuss this in a later tutorial. However the second and third last settings are these two modes. Scroll left or right with the scroll button and then push this button to make your selection.

Try your indoor room shots with a couple of white balance settings to see what is the most pleasing and true rendition.

Here are other articles and tutorials that may be of interest to you:

Real Estate Room Photography Made Simple!

Simple Way to Resize Pictures to Post to the MLS or to Send to Clients

Photoshop Elements Tutorial I - Correcting White Balance

Kodak v705 Tutorial II - Sharpness

Kodak v705 Tutorial III - ISO Speed

Kodak v705 Tutorial IV - Picture Modes

Kodak v705 Tutorial V - Color Modes

Kodak v705 Tutorial VI - Exposure Compensation

Kodak v705 Tutorial VII - Flash Photography

Kodak v705 Tutorial VIII - Picture Size

Mike Stankewich, Huntington Beach, California

www.MikeStankewich.com

www.RealEstate4HuntingtonBeach.com