One of the beautiful things about digital cameras is the ability to see the image you’ve just captured without a time delay. Instead of shooting a whole roll of film and finding out later that your photos are over or under exposed, we have the luxury of adjusting the camera settings or trying again right on the spot.
I have an older point-and-shoot camera that still takes amazing photos. One of the things I love most about my camera is how it adjusts the white balance automatically. Of course, there’s also a button for adjusting the light, but in many situations the auto function works fabulously and I don’t have to do anything else.
When you take a photo with a digital camera in auto mode, your camera’s computer is making an educated guess on what you want. It tries to find neutral colors and tweak the whole photo so that the neutral object is truer white. Often the camera is doing what our eyes naturally do—-color correct. But what if the auto function doesn’t accomplish what you desire? This is where adjusting comes in handy.
Say your photo is a little darker than you think it should be. The same works for photos that are washed out to begin with. All you have to do is look for the +/- button on your camera, and start playing. By adjusting or fine tuning with this button, you’re telling your camera how to adjust the exposure of your shot. This is the part that is kind of fun. Since there’s no right or wrong with getting your photos to turn out how you want them, simply adjust a little, and try a shot until your photos are the color you want them. This adjustment can’t correct all your photo’s color issues if the image’s color is way off, but it’s a great way to tweak the hues if your photo’s color is just slightly off.
Other ways to adjust color include some of the modes on your camera (like indoor, shade, sun, and snow), but we’ll talk about those in another post. Until then, experiment with your camera, and see how much better your photos turn out.