Different types of light shine with different colors. For example, tungsten lights are redder or warmer than fluorescent lights. While your eye does an amazing job of adjusting automatically to different types of light so that colors always look correct, your camera doesn't fair so well. Your camera has to be calibrated to the type of light that you're shooting in. If it's not, color is going to appear wrong. This process is called White Balancing. The idea is that you calibrate the camera so that white appears correct. Because white contains all other colors, if you can get white looking good, then you get all the other colors for free.
By default, your camera is set to Auto White Balance. With Auto White Balance the camera will attempt to continuously white balance itself on the fly as you shoot. There is no external control on the camera for changing white balance. This is, I think, partly Canon's confidence in their auto white balance mechanism. To change white balance, you go into the menu and go over to the second shooting menu and scroll down to White Balance. You can see right now that I am set to AWB; that's Auto White Balance. That's the camera's default. If you haven't changed white balance and you want to be on auto, you don't have to do anything.
It will probably just be there. I can open it up though, and there is my full White Balance menu. Now, it may seem like it's a bit of a drag to have to come all the way into the menu to change white balance, but I want you to notice something about menu behavior. I am going to close the menu and now maybe I go off and I do some shooting. When I come back into the menu, it's exactly where I left off. So, what's great about this is... let's say I normally shoot on Auto White Balance, I go into a fluorescently lit room and decide that I don't trust my Auto White Balance, so I change over to Fluorescent, and I do my shooting.
Then I leave and go back out into daylight and I want to just switch back to Auto, all I have to do is just pop into here--I am already on White Balance-- I can switch it back to the Auto White Balance. But the menu page is also smart enough that--I am going to go out of the menu-- when I come back in, it still comes to where I left off, but each page of the menu system also remembers what you were last on. So when I go to the second page, I'm already at white balance setting. So, though white balance is buried in the menu, because of menu behavior it's pretty easy to get to white balance if it's something you use regularly. And as you will see later, there's a way that you can stick it in a custom menu.
You'll probably find that you can stick with auto white balance for most of your shots. Where it will start to let you down though is in shady light or situations with mixed lighting--say, sunlight streaming into a fluorescently lit room. In those instances you'll need to change to a different white balance setting.
Author
Released
10/28/2011- What is an SLR?
- Attaching a lens to a camera
- Deciding how many batteries and media cards are needed
- Setting Auto mode
- Changing ISO
- Changing image format and size
- Manually selecting a focus point
- Correcting exposure while shooting
- Controlling white balance
- Using a driver and self-timer
- Auto exposure bracketing
- Selecting a picture style
- Using Live View
- Shooting video
- Using custom functions, such as ISO expansion and mirror lockup
- Cleaning the camera and sensor
Skill Level Beginner
Duration
Views
Related Courses
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Introduction
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Welcome1m 20s
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What is an SLR?3m 55s
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Using this course1m 53s
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1. Getting to Know Your Canon SLR
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Basic camera anatomy2m 43s
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Batteries and media cards2m 17s
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Powering up1m 53s
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Setting the date and time1m 41s
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Setting the language1m 10s
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Formatting the media card2m 26s
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Holding the camera2m 43s
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2. Shooting in Auto Mode
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Setting Auto mode3m 30s
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The viewfinder display4m 40s
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Autofocus basics1m 24s
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Lens controls1m 27s
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Flash in Auto mode1m 28s
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Image review1m 54s
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Image playback3m 21s
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3. Shooting in Program Mode
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Exposure compensation2m 40s
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The Unlock button1m 37s
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Metering revisited1m 21s
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Changing ISO2m 58s
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Program shift2m 41s
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Image format and size4m 33s
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Creative Auto mode2m 48s
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The Info button2m 33s
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Level47s
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The Quick Control button3m 22s
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4. Controlling Autofocus
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Focus modes1m 51s
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Manual focus2m 30s
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5. Controlling White Balance
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Using white balance presets2m 28s
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6. Using Drive Mode and the Self-Timer
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Drive mode2m 37s
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The self-timer2m 16s
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Remote control and Bulb mode2m 25s
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7. Using Exposure Control Options
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Exposure lock1m 19s
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Aperture Priority mode2m 49s
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Depth-of-field preview2m 15s
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Shutter Priority mode1m 58s
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Manual mode2m 32s
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Auto exposure bracketing3m 6s
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The auto lighting optimizer1m 41s
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8. More Playback Options
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Metadata display2m 33s
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LCD brightness1m 10s
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Rotation1m 58s
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Rating images2m 34s
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Applying creative filters1m 58s
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File numbering options2m 48s
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Creating folders50s
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Copyright information1m 56s
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9. Shooting with Scene Modes
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What is a scene mode?1m 8s
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Scene modes and image format3m 12s
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10. Shooting with Flash
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Fill flash1m 25s
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Flash exposure compensation1m 37s
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Red-eye reduction1m 5s
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Night Portrait scene mode1m 58s
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11. Shooting with Picture Styles
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Picture styles defined2m 7s
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Selecting a picture style1m 24s
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12. Using Live View
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Activating Live View4m 16s
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Focusing in Live View5m 20s
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Aspect ratio2m 21s
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Live View's drawbacks2m 5s
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Other Live View options2m 31s
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13. Shooting Video
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Focusing and menu options3m 17s
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Exposure control2m 16s
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Movie playback2m 30s
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14. Customizing Menus and Functions
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Custom modes4m 3s
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Custom menu1m 57s
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15. Using Custom Functions
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What are custom functions?1m 27s
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Exposure level increments1m 11s
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ISO expansion1m 19s
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Safety shift1m 38s
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Highlight tone priority1m 50s
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AF-assist beam firing1m 8s
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Mirror lockup1m 2s
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The AF and Metering buttons2m 21s
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16. Caring for Your Camera
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Camera and sensor cleaning1m 35s
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Battery info1m 12s
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Firmware updates1m 43s
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Conclusion
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Goodbye22s
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Video: Adjusting white balance automatically