Capture One Tutorial.
Adjust white balance with Capture One.

White balance neutralises the dominant colours caused by the light source itself. The light we consider to be neutral is daylight, in the middle of the day. In relation to this reference, incandescent bulbs (of which there are still some) have a strong orange cast. The same applies to candlelight. Conversely, natural light in the shade is strongly bluish. In real-life situations, our eyes instinctively compensate for these tones, but this is not the case when we look at a photograph.

The aim of white balance is therefore to ensure that the colours in the image are rendered accurately and, above all, that the neutral tones (such as white, grey and black) are free of any coloured hues.

Note that, in fashion photography, where color reproduction is essential, the white balance is not sufficient, and must be supplemented by a color balance, produced with a color chart.

White balance adjustment is based on two parameters:

• The color temperature, expressed in degrees Kelvin. With the particularity that the tones commonly called "warm tones" have a lower temperature than those we usually call cold tones. Thus the light of a candle, warm light, if located around 2000°K, whereas the light of a cloudy sky or in the shade of a canopy (bluish light therefore cold) is rather between 6000°K and 7000°K.
• A hint correction.

White balance can be set as soon as the picture is taken. All cameras offer predefined values corresponding to known light sources (incandescent bulb, flash, daylight, shadow, etc.). It is also possible to calibrate the camera's white balance by photographing a greyscale chart, but you need to remember to do this at the start of the session.

But white balance can easily be adjusted in post-processing, and this adjustment, applied directly to a RAW file, is not destructive, and gives results that are just as good as an adjustment made when taking the shot. Here's how to adjust white balance with Capture One.

Here we're going to look at the case where an element of neutral colour appears in the image. In the studio, this is very often the case when white, grey or black backgrounds are used. These backgrounds have no dominant colour. In other cases, we'll assume that the photographer has been far-sighted, and has taken a photo of a greyscale during the session.

1

Click on Color tab.

3

Pick White Balance

Choose from the list one of the proposed light sources (tungsten, daylight, cloudy, etc.) or click the picker.

5

Diffuse this setting on all the photos of the session:

Copy settings to adjustments clipboard

Start by copying the setting using the button on the title bar of the 'White balance' tool.

Toggle between edit primary and edit all selected variants

Select all the photos in the browser (CTRL+A), and make sure the Multiple selection button is activated. This button is usually on the toolbar, rather on the right of the screen.

Apply adjustments to all selected variants

Apply white balance to all selected photos. This button is located on the toolbar.
In principle the button used to copy the settings should also work to apply the settings, but its operation is capricious.

Also to know...

• Always remember to adjust the white balance, even if the photo seems correct. By clicking on the gray chart, you will see that there was probably a small correction to be made.
• A gray card can be purchased for a small fee at any photographic supply store. There are lots of kinds: cardboard, fabric, with gradients, with white and black, etc.