Which K Are You?

Other than using optical filters, White balance is the primary means of controlling color in a digital camera. Normal, Vivid and Neutral color settings control the saturation level of color, but white balance controls the hue or color cast of the image. Cameras which allow you to set the color temperature by degrees Kelvin and the tint by increments of magenta and green offer the most control. The color model of digital cameras is based on L*a*b* color, which uses two opponent color channels, one corresponding to temperature and the other to tint.

When you open a raw image in Adobe Camera Raw, the temperature and tint values shown are those with which the image was captured based on the camera’s settings. They’re displayed whenever “As Shot” is selected in the menu. But the menu’s other white balance settings, Tungsten, Fluorsescent, Daylight, Flash, Cloudy and Shade are Adobe’s interpretation of these values. They’re not your camera’s.

White balance values are not an agreed upon standard, nor an exact science, but they’re generally similar. Tungsten or incandescent are generally in the upper range of the 2000K band, approximately 2700-3000K. Daylight falls in the lower half of the 5000K band, around 5000-5500K. Variations of daylight include Cloudy and Shade, which are somewhat higher in temperature, or bluer. Ironically, colors which are higher in temperature are referred to as cooler because they are more blue. Warmer colors shift toward the yellow end of the spectrum and are lower in temperature.

So if you shoot in camera raw and want to change the white balance values to those you would have set directly in the camera, you need to adjust the temperature and tint values accordingly. To find these values, take consecutive test exposures with each white balance setting, and open them up in Adobe Camera Raw to determine the “As Shot” values for each. If you forget which order you took them in, the Exif metatdata will tell you which setting you used.

I have done this for each of my cameras so you can see the variation between brands, and even models within the same brand.

White Balance Values

Adobe Camera Raw
2850 Tungsten
3800K M21 Fluorescent
5500K M10 Daylight
5500K Flash
6500K M10 M10 Cloudy
7500K M10 Shade

Nikon D90
2950K G3 Tungsten
3250K M14 White Fluorescent
5100K G6 Fine Weather
6400K G5 Flash
5650K G9 Cloudy Weather
7250K Shade

Fujifilm X10
2950K M5 Incandescent
4500K M59 Fluorescent 3
5000K M16 Underwater
5100K M12 Fine
5150K M28 Fluorescent 2
5550K M5 Shade
6550K M24 Fluorescent 1

Nikon D50
3050K G7 Incandescent
4100K M23 Cool White Fluorescent
5350K G16 Fine Weather
6050K G6 Flash
6200K G14 Cloudy Weather
8000K G3 Shade

For example, I were to shoot an indoor scene in Raw format using the D90 with the daylight white balance (5100K, G6), I can open it up in Adobe Camera Raw and change the temperature to 2950K and the tint to G3 (tungsten) it will look exactly as it would if I had shot with tungsten in the first place.

The best way to get the white balance perfect from the start is to create a custom white balance setting using the ambient lighting conditions and a white balance card or lens cap. This is essential when shooting JPEG, as adjusting the white balance during post processing is not nearly as accurate or foolproof. But, it’s still useful.

The post-processing equivalent of this method it to use the white balance tool to sample from the same object you would have with a custom white balance perform in-camera. It will yield similar, but not exact results.