colourbalanced

Colourbalanced is an adjective describing an image, video, or display whose colours have been adjusted so that they appear natural and without an unintentional colour cast. In practice, colour balancing consists of two related activities: achieving a correct white balance at capture, and performing colour correction in post‑production to align the image with a chosen reference.

White balance corrects the scene’s colour temperature so white and neutral grey objects render as true whites. This is commonly accomplished with presets (auto, daylight, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent) or with a neutral reference such as a grey card or colour checker. The goal is neutral whites across the scene, preserving natural skin tones and overall mood.

Colour correction and grading adjust the balance among the red, green, and blue channels and map the image to a standard colour space. This may involve neutralising colour casts, matching multiple shots for consistency, and creative grading to achieve a desired look. Tools include histograms and objective scopes (e.g., vectorscope, waveform) and software such as photo and video editors.

Colour management extends colour balancing across devices. Calibrated monitors, ICC profiles, and consistent working spaces (sRGB, Rec. 709, or DCI‑P3) help ensure that colours remain balanced when viewed, printed, or broadcast. Achieving colour balance is especially challenging under mixed lighting and in scenes with strong environmental hues.

Different media impose different standards, but the central aim remains: to reproduce colours faithfully or in a controlled manner, so that the image conveys the intended scene without unwanted colour bias.