Shooting under artificial light brings a few concerns for composition. Artificial light may look white to the eye but not to the sensors in our cameras, colour film suffered from the same issues. Setting white balance to the lighting is important if we want to maintain a natural or neutral balance. Different light sources have different “white” values.

• If you are shooting under tungsten light – yellow-orange cast
• Shooting under “White” or “Natural” colour LEDs – slightly warm cast
• Shooting under fluorescent “bright white” – blueish cast
• Shooting under fluorescent “warm white” – yellow cast

If you are shooting JPG, make sure you dial in the white balance for the light you are working with. If you shoot RAW, you can fix white balance in post – most of the time.

If a flash is used, the white balance is best at daylight setting.

Indoor scene with good white balance, colours look natural, whites are white.

Effect of shooting under tungsten, or “warm,” lighting with daylight white balance.

Effect of shooting under fluorescent white lighting with daylight white balance.