The 1 Day Light Experiment
I decided to try an experiment and see how many different kinds of “light” color I ran into in a typical day. Auto White Balance(AWB) is a camera feature many of us take for granted nowadays (especially if you shoot RAW and simply choose one later). Before digital photography though AWB wasn’t a possible feature, you had to be conscious about what kind of light you were shooting in. So I spent a day taking photos of all the different light sources I ran into with my phone set on “daylight” white balance only. Here's all the different light I ran into.
It was interesting just how dramatic of a difference the lighting you have available just walking throughout your day. I ran into warm light cast through my living room windows, to warm incandescent, to even green tinted window light. Some of these locations have tones I think I would have liked to use in photos, and leaving my camera on auto would have meant missing out on them. So remember, even though there may be a "correct" white balance, it may not always be the right artistic choice.
I’m curious to hear your thoughts. When you flip through instagram and you see a friend in a beautiful exotic location, how do you react to it compared to a photo they take in an obscure restaurant (or any innocuous unidentifiable location)?