valkotasapainolle

Valkotasapaino, often referred to as white balance in English, is a crucial setting in photography and videography that ensures accurate color reproduction under different lighting conditions. The human eye naturally adjusts to the color temperature of light sources, perceiving white objects as white regardless of whether the light is warm and yellow like incandescent bulbs, or cool and blue like shade. Digital cameras, however, do not possess this innate ability and require explicit instruction to correctly interpret colors.

When a camera is set to the wrong white balance, colors can appear unnatural. For example, under warm incandescent lighting, a white object might look yellowish or orange. Conversely, under cool fluorescent lighting, it might appear bluish. The white balance setting instructs the camera to compensate for the color cast of the light source, so that white objects are rendered as white, and consequently, all other colors appear more natural and true to life.

Most digital cameras offer automatic white balance (AWB) which attempts to determine the correct setting based on the scene. While often effective, AWB can sometimes be fooled by dominant colors in a scene or unusual lighting. Therefore, many cameras also provide preset white balance options like "daylight," "cloudy," "tungsten," "fluorescent," and "flash." For precise control, manual white balance allows the photographer to set it by photographing a neutral gray or white object under the specific lighting conditions. This ensures the most accurate color rendition.