Beware the so-called perfect white balance

Tuesday 11 August 2026, 22:44 by Nando Harmsen | 944 views | 1 comment

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

White balance makes sure that white is rendered as white. That is why it is called white balance. If white is white, the colours should be correct. Reality is very different. White is rarely truly white. Many photographers have a tendency to aim for the perfect white balance. But what is perfect? Is it when something that is white is actually rendered as white in the photo? Is reality really that perfect? I regularly see photos where the white balance has been set so that white must also look white. In the process, all the other colours have become unbalanced. Green is no longer green, or red gets a magenta cast. I saw this recently with a squirrel. The animal's fur had taken on a strange colour. The photographer must have thought that the green tint in the photo needed correcting. Even though the whole forest was full of green leaves.

White balance based on the white chest hairs of this squirrel. It gives the forest a cold, unnatural colour.

This is the correct white balance, allowing the colours of the forest to come into their own. It is true that the squirrel has a colour cast, but that is what the light in the forest is like. The colour of the world around us is not perfectly 'white' balanced. Light is always coloured. Because of fresh young leaves, the tint of shadows or the warm colours of a sunset. White is therefore rarely white. In a forest it is more likely to have a green tint. Shadows have a blue tint and the orange sunset gives the world a warm glow. Anything that is white reflects those colours.

A white-tailed eagle with two hooded crows during the blue hour. It is easy to correct, but then you remove more than just the blue tint. You also remove the atmosphere. Don't be afraid of colours in a photo. Let colours express the atmosphere, instead of obsessively trying to make white white. Respect the golden tint of the golden hour or the blue of twilight. There are situations where the colours do need to be calibrated. For reproductions, product photography or property photography. Then it serves a purpose. Apart from that, give colours room and don't correct them, or only correct them to a limited extent. I always photograph with the white balance set to daylight. Sunshine, or a colour temperature of around 5200K. Then white really is white in the middle of the day, with a clear sky and the sun shining, as it should be.

Let the colours exist and don't correct them to the 'perfect' white balance With the colour temperature set to 5200K, or daylight white balance, the world takes on the atmosphere of the moment. Warm colours at sunset or sunrise, cool colours in the twilight. Or the bluish tint in the shade. Try it out for yourself. But never feel obliged to do it this way. Choose what you think looks best, that is and always will be the most important thing. If you want atmosphere in your photos, let go of that 'perfect' white balance.

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