White balance vs color balance

Lukasz Szeflinski

• June 03, 2019 07:32

Probably stupid question but is it me or you can basically achieve simillar effect using white balance slider and color wheels? Can someone point to maybe some deeper information regarding the differences?

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  Ian Wilson

  Moderator

  • June 03, 2019 07:52

  

  You can achieve the same result to some extent but
  
  - if you want to set the WB for instance to get something neutral in your image to be neutral grey, it is easiest to use the WB tool. Also you can use the presets such as Sunny, Cloudy, etc.
  
  - you can get a much greater range of adjustment using the WB tool - try moving the Kelvin slider all the way from one end of the scale to the other and you will see a much more extensive colour change than you can achieve with the colour balance tool.
  
  - on the other hand, sometimes the master wheel on the colour balance tool is easier to use because you can pull it in any direction, but to achieve the same result with the WB tool requires a lot of trial and error juggling the kelvin and tint sliders
  
  - with the colour balance tool you can more easily affect just some parts of the brightness range, for example you can warm up the shadows and cool down the highlights.
  
  Ian

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  Jim MSP

  • June 04, 2019 12:44

  I tend to use both whenever I have some shadows in the photo.
  I'll start by setting a global wb , then I'll add a layer over the shadows, and then "fine tune" the wb by using the color balance wheel. I can use the wheel a lot more efficiently than I can the wb tool when I am adjusting this secondary wb by eye.

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