The Danger of following Photographers on Social Media

Don’t believe everything you see and hear on social media

My students will tell you this is a pet peeve of mine. The management of White Balance (color temp) in photography. I fully admit to it! It drives me NUTS to see images posted to social media by photographers who have larger following who don’t follow the basic components of photography by managing their white balance, especially in urban areas.

  • Photo Before White Balance Adjustment
  • Image After White Balance Adjustment
Sample images above. The first one right out of the camera, and the second one adjusted for White Balance using a color temperature filter.
Image adjusted for White Balance and edited for blacks and shadows in the foreground. Ready to post or print.

Before I go on, I want to let you know that the intent of this article is to help you (the serious student of photography) improve your photography.   No matter who you are.   Whether you are a student of mine, a follower of mine, a photo influencer, or found me organically.

That being said, I’m concerned that photographers with nice sized social media followings are dangerously influencing the opinions of the beginners, novices and vulnerable by posting images that have not been corrected for white balance.  I see it post after post, a beautiful shot strangely tinted yellow or blue.

Sure, we all take some “artistic license”.  I’ll place some stars in an image to add some pizazz, or add a more clear image of the moon to help with impact.  BUT, to blindly ignore the management of White Balance in a bunch of images, and then post them asking your following which ones they like when you haven’t taken White Balance into account is irresponsible.     Most of you are either ignorant to managing white balance (and that’s ok) in urban areas, or you just don’t care to deal with it.

You might be a newbie, or never took a class or a workshop where the instructor stressed it.  If that’s the case, shame on the instructor!

Or, you could be considered to be a good photographer and have a nice social media following.  That doesn’t mean you’re doing it right!  It’s time to use that nice social media following to teach, help and inform your following on simple photographic technique, White Balance management.

ABOVE you will see several images I took on Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza during Christmas Season.  The image on the left is right out of the camera.  You will notice it is a bit dark (that’s no big deal), but extremely influenced with a yellow tint.  That’s White Balance, or how the camera measures color temperature.  The image on the right has been corrected for the yellow tint using a simple filter.

The Big Danger

The big danger here is the undisciplined influence of a person who is recognized in social media as being a “good” or “accomplished” photographer not paying attention to the simplest components of photography, White Balance.  My hope is that you, the reader here will take this to heart and take the simple steps to making your photos better.

How to manage white balance in photography

Follow these steps

It’s really pretty simple, follow these steps:

  • Shoot with Auto White Balance on
  • Compose and create your photo as you see it
  • Take a White Balance sample image using a filter called ExpoDisc.
  • Import your image using Lightroom or Adobe Bridge
  • Select the sample image, using the eyedropper tool, click in the inside of the image to sample the white balance.
  • With that image selected, then select your main image or images (you can sync the white balance sample to multiple images).  Sync the images checking the White Balance checkbox.
  • Once synced, edit your image as you see fit.
Above you will see the image on the left, the dark one is the white balance sample. The middle one shows the white balance setting before adjustment, the third one is the setting after adjustment.
Here’s the Lightroom sync box.

In Closing & My commitment

In closing, I ask you to consider following the basic mechanics and components of photography. THEN edit like crazy if you wish! Add stars, or moons, or unicorns etc as you wish.

Also, if I ever post an image in which you want to know how or why I treated it a certain way, just ask me. Send me an email or a personal message on Facebook or IG etc. I’ll answer it up front and honestly.