Judging Colour Temperature 2

Exercise: Judging Colour Temperature 2

For the second part of this exercise, a similar series of photographs were required. As with first part I was required to take three photographs, one at around the middle of the day in direct sunlight, one in shadow and one at sunset. For each of these three photographs, I was to take three versions at different WB settings, Sunny, cloudy and auto. 

Would varying the WB setting create a better looking photograph depending on the time of day and lighting conditions?

This photograph was taken around 6pm shortly before sunset, the camera was set to sunny WB which gave a setting of 5000k. 

The next photograph was taken shortly after the first, so the same time of day, same lighting conditions. This time the WB was set to shade, giving a value of 7200k. As you can see, it gives a warmer, more orange tint to the photograph. 

The third photograph, again taken at the same time with the WB set to auto, giving a value of 4200k. A much cooler look to the photograph. 








As these photographs were taken near to sunset, the second photograph was the one that most represents sunset.

This photograph was taken in direct sunlight at around 1pm, with the camera set to a WB setting of sunny, at 5000k.

With the camera set to auto WB, the same photograph was taken at the same time with the same lighting conditions. The camera has selected a WB value of 4700k, very close to the cameras preset sunny WB setting of 5000k.

With the WB set to cloudy, which gave a value of 7200k, the photograph shows an orange tint.

As you can see from the kelvin scale it shows 7200k as overcast daylight. As the photograph was taken in direct sunlight near to the middle of the day, it shows that this setting is incorrect for these lighting conditions. 












Of the three photographs taken in direct sunlight the automatic white balance setting of 4700k resulted in the best colour reproduction of the actual stone colour of the monument at the time of shooting. 

The same monument as the previous set of photographs, however taken from a different side, a side that was in shade, and also by the time these photographs were taken the sky had cloudy over, giving an overcast sky. 

This photograph was taken at a WB setting of sunny. 

This photograph was taken with auto WB selected, which gave a value of 4300k. 

This has produced a photograph that is very close to the actual colours at the time of shooting. I was expecting a value in the region of 6000k, the value of overcast daylight. 

With shade WB selected I was expecting to see a true reproduction of the colours that were present at the time of shooting. However the orange tint suggest that this setting is incorrect. 















In conclusion the results of the final three photographs are not what I expected. The auto WB setting recorded a value of 4300k, a value found normally with noon daylight and not with shade and overcast conditions.This must be due in part to the fact the time of day and the monument was not in as much shade as I had first thought. 

The auto setting once again shows that the camera is fantastic at assessing the changes in the lighting conditions, however the control that the WB setting has on the overall feel of the final photograph shows that this is a valuable tool to the photographer.