Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Step Seven:
Now that you've learned those two ways
to adjust your white balance (the preset
alone, and then the preset with Temp and
Tint slider tweaks), I want to show you my
personal favorite way, and the way I think
you'll usually get the best, most accurate
results, and that is to use the White Balance
Selector tool (it's that huge eyedropper
on the top-left side of the White Balance
section). First, choose
As Shot
from the
White Balance pop-up menu, so we're start-
ing from scratch with this. Now click on the
tool to get it, then click it on something in
your photo that's supposed to be light gray
(that's right—don't click on something
white—look for something light gray.
Video cameras white balance on solid
white, but digital still cameras need to
white balance on a light gray instead). In
the example shown here, I clicked on the
background, and just clicking once with
this tool set the right white balance for
me (you can see the Temp is now set to
5000, and the Tint to -4, which added a
tiny bit of green to balance things out).
Step Eight:
Before we go any further, that big pixelated
grid that appears while you're using the
White Balance Selector tool is supposed
to magnify the area your cursor is over to
help you find a neutral gray area. To me,
it just gets in the way, and if it drives you
crazy (like it does me), you can get rid of it
by turning off the Show Loupe checkbox
down in the toolbar (I've circled it here in
red, because my guess is you'll be searching
for that checkbox pretty quickly). Now
you get just the eyedropper (as shown in
Step Seven), without the huge annoying
pixel Loupe (which I'm sure is fine for some
people, so if that's you, replace “annoying”
with the term “helpful”).
Continued
