Tutorials Video

White Balance Done Right

Beginner · ~20 min

Overview

White balance is the setting between the exposure triangle and colour grading that nobody quite explains: get it wrong at the point of shooting, and no amount of grading fully fixes it cleanly. This guide covers presets, manual Kelvin, and grey cards, and the specific problem of mixed lighting sources.

What You Need

Any camera with white balance control (most phones and cameras have at least presets)
A grey card or white sheet of paper for custom white balance
The site's Color Temperature Reference for Kelvin values by light source

Steps

Understand what white balance is correcting for

Every light source has a colour temperature (measured in Kelvin), candlelight is warm/orange, daylight is neutral, overcast sky is cool/blue. White balance tells the camera what colour temperature to treat as "neutral white" so everything else renders naturally rather than with an orange or blue cast.

Use presets for quick, predictable setups

Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, and Fluorescent presets are tuned to typical values for those conditions and work well when your lighting genuinely matches one of them, fast and usually accurate enough for straightforward single-source setups.

Use manual Kelvin for precision

Set an exact Kelvin value (check the Color Temperature Reference for your specific light source) when a preset doesn't quite match your actual lighting. This is especially useful for LED panels with a stated colour temperature rating.

Use a grey card for a perfect custom white balance

Hold a grey card (or a plain white sheet of paper) in your key light and use your camera's custom/manual white balance function to sample it directly. This gives the most accurate possible result for your exact lighting, no guessing required.

Fix or avoid mixed lighting

A room lit by both daylight through a window and warm tungsten lamps creates two different colour casts in the same shot that white balance alone can't fully fix: either match all sources to the same colour temperature (gel your lights, or close the blinds) or accept and creatively grade the mix later.

Pro Tips

Never rely on auto white balance for anything you plan to cut between shots. It can shift subtly between takes, creating a visible colour jump in the edit.
Shooting in log format gives you more flexibility to correct white balance in post than standard Rec.709, but getting it close in-camera still saves significant grading time.
Recheck white balance any time lighting changes (time of day, a cloud passing, a lamp being turned on) rather than assuming your initial setting still applies.

Knowledge Base

Presets vs. Kelvin vs. Grey Card, Compared

Presets: Fastest, good enough for straightforward single-source lighting that matches a standard condition.
Manual Kelvin: More precise, ideal when you know your exact light source's rated colour temperature.
Grey card: Most accurate, accounts for your specific lighting and any colour cast from walls or surfaces reflecting onto your subject.

Why Getting It Right In-Camera Still Matters in the Log/Grading Era

Even with log footage's extra flexibility, extreme white balance errors (like accidentally leaving Tungsten preset active while shooting outdoors) can push a channel toward clipping or introduce colour casts that are difficult to fully recover cleanly. A reasonably accurate in-camera white balance still saves real time and quality in the grade.

Mixed Lighting Is the Hardest Real-World Case

A common talking-head problem: daylight through a window (cool) mixing with a warm desk lamp or overhead light. The cleanest fix is physically matching sources, closing blinds and using only artificial light, or using daylight-balanced bulbs and gels to match window light, rather than trying to average the two in white balance.

Where This Fits

This guide covers one specific part of colour and grading. The wider picture, grading in Resolve from a technically correct starting point through building a look that holds up across a sequence, is in Color Grading in DaVinci Resolve, which frames the discipline as a whole and links out to the detailed guides underneath it, including this one. If you are starting from scratch rather than solving a specific problem, read that first and come back here.

FAQ

Q: Can I fix white balance entirely in post if I get it wrong on set?
A: Within reason, especially shooting log, but extreme errors, particularly ones that push a colour channel toward clipping, can't be fully recovered. Getting reasonably close in-camera is still worth the effort.

Q: Why does my skin tone look slightly orange or blue even after setting white balance?
A: Likely a mixed lighting situation, or a colour cast bouncing off a nearby wall or surface. Check what's actually lighting your subject, not just your main light source.