Assessment 1, Activity 2 - White Balance

The purpose of this assessment is to extend familiarity with the DSLR camera and its controls. In particular to develop understanding of white balance and how the settings relate to colour in different ambient light conditions.

Images 1-3 were taken indoors, using a tripod, on aperture priority setting in a naturally well-lit room.

IMAGE 1:  Indoor, WB tungsten, 18-35mm, ISO 100, f/5.6, 0"4sec

IMAGE 2: Indoor, WB daylight, 18-35mm, ISO 100, f/5.6, 0"4sec

IMAGE 3: Indoor, WB auto, 18-35mm, ISO 100, f/5.6, 0"4sec

Images 4-6 were taken outdoors, using a tripod, on aperture priority setting in a naturally well lit area.

IMAGE 4: Outdoors, WB tungsten, 18-35mm, ISO 100, F/5.6, 1/60sec

                                   

IMAGE 5: Outdoors, WB daylight, 18-35mm, ISO 100, F/5.6, 1/60sec

IMAGE 6: Outdoors, WB auto, 18-35mm, ISO 100, F/5.6, 1/60sec

Findings:
The white balance setting "tungsten" (images 1 & 4) tends to make the images both indoors and outdoors look like they have been taken under unnatural lighting. It gives the image a blue tinge and gives them a cooler appearance.

The daylight setting (images 2 & 5) worked very well in capturing the true colours of the image both indoors and outdoors as both were shot in natural light. The images have a warmer hue to them than that of the images captured using tungsten.

The two images captured using the auto white balance setting (images 3 & 6) did not differ greatly from the "daylight" setting, only making minor adjustments. The warm colours, such as the orange of the wood, are slightly deeper, both indoors and outdoors. I also noticed the black appears slightly lighter when shot with auto WB outdoors, however the black appears darker when shot on auto indoors. The whites in the background appear brighter in both.

However, overall I believe the daylight WB setting would be sufficient for both the indoor and outdoor images as the auto setting only made minor adjustments in both cases.