White Balance- note to self

 Today in my photography class I learned a cool thing about cameras. I guess they see in gray. You have to adjust your camera to see in the colors you are seeing. So I adjusted my exposure to the "gray card" I had around which was my dashboard in my car. It was pretty close to a mid tone gray color. I went in and set my white balance to the gray of the dash, which is the photo above. You don't actually have to take a photo to set your exposure, I just did. Once your exposure settings are adjusted to your white balance your camera will read the light more accurately.

 One photo is with the cameras auto white balance setting.There is a WB button on the back of the camera you can use to pick from their auto settings. If you want to customize your WB you need to go in through the menu screen and scroll through to White Balance Custom set. You take a photo of the gray card 18% or a mid-tone gray object with no shadows or highlights on it. You then go to the White Balance Custom and choose the photo of the gray card as your custom setting. Then you have to remember to set your White Balance to the custom setting. Also, when you change locations you have to remember to put it back onto an auto setting or re-set your white balance or your photos will come out tinted in strange colors like mine did in carter's birthday party photos. The first two photos the kids all look like there is a blue filter over their faces. Anyway I noticed and switched it back to auto white balance and then they looked normal again. phew. The other photo is after I had used my custom white balance. If you want your snow to look more like snow and less like a dull gray blanket you need to set your white balance to account for the gray  which your camera sees.