Wednesday, May 13, 2009

White Balance and 1 Corinthians 10:13

1 Cor 10:13 says "No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it." (The Message Bible)

You must be wondering what that verse has to do with white balance. I have always been less than satisfied with the white balance setting on my cameras. A higher-end camera does a better job at ensuring that the colour that appears in your photograph looks as natural as possible. However, even then, it does not always do it right. Colour temperature changes throughout the day and under different conditions such as direct light versus reflected light. No matter how advanced the camera is, it fails to set the correct WB (white balance) all the time. For a long time, I thought I was the only one among the more serious photographers who is so flustered by WB. I had harboured a bit of disappointment with my D90 because it did not always give me the correct WB. The doubts were always a lingering thought that sometimes spoil an otherwise perfectly good photoshoot. That was until now. I've learned that WB problem is common to all photographers. In fact my quick internet search yielded a lot of discussions among photographers on this topic and the different approaches used to address this. It has even been mentioned as a problem that takes up a most of a photographer's time in post processing (correcting a picture after it is taken).

All of a sudden, a great burden has been lifted off me. I view my DSLR in a much more positive light now, and I do not see WB as an issue anymore. It is just part and parcel of photography and I know how to handle it like everyone else. It is comforting to know that "no white balance problem has come my way except such as is common to everyone else", to paraphrase the bible verse above a little.

Now I can appreciate 1 Cor 10:13 better. As soon as I realize that any of the great problems I face is common to everybody, the burden is no longer as heavy. It is the same way I feel about the camera's white balance.

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