CREATIVE COLOUR CASTS

Intentionally setting the wrong white balance can produce more evocative results than a ‘correct’ colour temperature

Turn up the heat

The Auto White Balance setting will interpret the warm glow of a sunset or sunrise as a scene that has a strong orange colour cast, and it will typically cool things down to the point where it looks a bit insipid. Choosing the Daylight preset can restore some of the warmth, but selecting Cloudy or Shade will give a much stronger result.

You can go even stronger by changing the Kelvin (K) value manually, but it’s worth activating the Live View display to preview the effect as it’s easy to go over the top.

Add mood to landscapes

Images can look a bit drab when they’re shot on an overcast day, or at twilight when the sun is below the horizon. The AWB or Daylight settings might give more accurate results, but images can still end up looking a bit flat, grey and uninspiring.

One surprising trick to lifting this type of shot is to set the Fluorescent preset. Although it’s tailored to artificial indoors light, the coolness this setting adds to images shot in daylight can lead to more evocative results. Images that have more muted tones work particularly well.

Get a moonlight feel

Used sparingly, the Tungsten or Incandescent preset can give a night-time flavour to shots taken in daylight. Avoid using it in very bright conditions though, as the effect looks false. It gives a more obvious blue cast than the Fluorescent preset, so it tends to work well with images shot at twilight.

It’s also a good technique to try with silhouettes shot against the sky – the strong blue cast can really enhance the mood. Don’t forget, if you shoot raw files, you can try the Tungsten setting without permanently affecting the image.