Real World Digital Photography, 2nd edition

White Balance

The white balance setting tells your camera what type of light (for example, tungsten, fluorescent, daylight, flash, and so on) is the primary source of illumination for the scene. We covered the technical aspects of choosing a white balance, as well as the scientific background behind color temperature, in Chapter 6, but because this chapter deals with seeing the light, and because the color characteristics of light are something that affects the look of the image, we'll revisit it here so we can view it from a different perspective.

At the most basic level, the white balance setting determines how the camera interprets the light in a scene as it relates to color balance. All digital cameras offer an Auto White Balance option, ...