How to Adjust White Balance in Photoshop

In this short tutorial, I’ll be showing you how to adjust white balance in Photoshop. Getting to know how to quickly and accurately adjust white balance in Photoshop will be a big help any and every time you’re working with a RAW image.

What You’ll Learn in This Tutorial on How to Adjust White Balance in Photoshop

What is white balance?
How to use white balance presets in Photoshop
How to fix white balance in Photoshop

Let’s jump into the tutorial and get started on adjusting white balance in Photoshop.

1. What Is White Balance?

When we talk about white balance, we’re referring to the colour temperature of an image. Every light source has a colour, and these colours affect our impression of whatever is present in the scene.

We understand these colour variations by measuring the degrees of Kelvin. You can think of a Kelvin degree as being like the temperature outside, but flipped on its head. The lower the Kelvin degree, the warmer the light source, and the higher the Kelvin degree, the cooler the light source.

White Balance is the tool we use to change an image’s colour temperature, and we do this by actually changing the Kelvin degrees of an image.

If that sounds complicated, I promise it isn’t! Let’s jump into the tutorial so we can see just how simple and intuitive it is to adjust white balance in Photoshop. For this demonstration, I’ll be using my own photos. You can use any image you have in hand.

2. How to Use Photoshop’s White Balance Presets

The most common way we’d use a white balance adjustment in Photoshop is with a RAW photo. When you open a RAW photo in Photoshop, it will automatically open Adobe Camera Raw. Alternatively, you can open Camera Raw from Photoshop and apply this to any image by going to Filter > Camera Raw Filter.

Camera Raw menu in Adobe Photoshop

You’ll find the white balance adjustment as the first adjustment at the top of the Basic menu inside Camera Raw.

By default, Photoshop will apply whatever white balance setting was chosen in camera, and displays this as As Shot. One of the many great things about shooting a RAW photo is the ability to change the white balance in post-production, without any negative impact on the image quality.

To change the white balance, we could use the Temperature and Tint sliders, but a great way to start out is to use the built-in presets. Click on the White balance drop-down menu to access the built-in presets.

White Balance Presets in Adobe Camera Raw

These presets offer us the most commonly used white balance settings. Applying one of these presets is as simple as clicking on the appropriate setting, and the white balance will shift.

In my photo, the subject is lit almost exclusively by the window light in the scene, which means I’ll choose the Daylight preset.

Daylight White Balance selected

Just like that, the colours in the image are so much more balanced and natural-looking. Be sure to play around with the different presets to see how they affect the colours in your image, and make the most appropriate choice for your specific image.

3. How to Fix White Balance in Photoshop

If you’re not necessarily working with a RAW photo, or none of the presets are working for you, creating a Custom White Balance will be your solution to fixing white balance in Photoshop. You can either select Custom from the White balance drop-down menu or simply drag either of the sliders, and you’ll automatically be on a custom selection.

Normally, when we use white balance, we’re trying to get the colours in the image to a neutral-looking place, so when we talk about fixing white balance, these are the most common problems and their solutions:

If your image is too blue, drag the Temperature slider to the Right (a higher Kelvin number).
If your image is too red, drag the Temperature slider to the Left (a lower Kelvin number).
If your image is too green, drag the Tint slider to the Right.
If your image is too pink, drag the Tint slider to the Left.

Take this next image as an example: a picture of a woman on a beach. The presets that I could choose from here are Auto and Daylight, but neither looked quite right to me, so I needed to dial in a custom white balance. The easiest way is to simply click and drag the sliders around until you see the changes you’re looking for.

LEFT: As Shot White Balance — RIGHT: Auto White Balance

LEFT: Daylight White Balance — RIGHT: Custom White Balance

Daylight was definitely the best looking of the presets, but still a bit too pink for my liking, so a custom white balance is the best choice for this image in order to hone in the white balance to the right neutrality.

Try It Out!

You can see just how easy it is to change the white balance of an image. Ultimately, every different lighting scenario will require a unique white balance, so play around with the presets and custom sliders until you get something that looks good to your eye.

What You'll Learn in This Tutorial on How to Adjust White Balance in Photoshop

What is white balance?
How to use white balance presets in Photoshop
How to fix white balance in Photoshop

Let's jump into the tutorial and get started on adjusting white balance in Photoshop.

1. What Is White Balance?

When we talk about white balance, we're referring to the colour temperature of an image. Every light source has a colour, and these colours affect our impression of whatever is present in the scene.

White Balance is the tool we use to change an image's colour temperature, and we do this by actually changing the Kelvin degrees of an image.

If that sounds complicated, I promise it isn't! Let's jump into the tutorial so we can see just how simple and intuitive it is to adjust white balance in Photoshop. For this demonstration, I'll be using my own photos. You can use any image you have in hand.

2. How to Use Photoshop's White Balance Presets

The most common way we'd use a white balance adjustment in Photoshop is with a RAW photo. When you open a RAW photo in Photoshop, it will automatically open Adobe Camera Raw. Alternatively, you can open Camera Raw from Photoshop and apply this to any image by going to Filter > Camera Raw Filter.

You'll find the white balance adjustment as the first adjustment at the top of the Basic menu inside Camera Raw.

White Balance Adjustment in Adobe Camera Raw

White Balance Presets in Adobe Camera Raw

These presets offer us the most commonly used white balance settings. Applying one of these presets is as simple as clicking on the appropriate setting, and the white balance will shift.

In my photo, the subject is lit almost exclusively by the window light in the scene, which means I'll choose the Daylight preset.

Daylight White Balance selected in Adobe Camera Raw — Daylight White Balance selected

3. How to Fix White Balance in Photoshop

If you're not necessarily working with a RAW photo, or none of the presets are working for you, creating a Custom White Balance will be your solution to fixing white balance in Photoshop. You can either select Custom from the White balance drop-down menu or simply drag either of the sliders, and you'll automatically be on a custom selection.

Normally, when we use white balance, we're trying to get the colours in the image to a neutral-looking place, so when we talk about fixing white balance, these are the most common problems and their solutions:

If your image is too blue, drag the Temperature slider to the Right (a higher Kelvin number).
If your image is too red, drag the Temperature slider to the Left (a lower Kelvin number).
If your image is too green, drag the Tint slider to the Right.
If your image is too pink, drag the Tint slider to the Left.

As Shot White Balance vs Auto White Balance Settings in Camera Raw — LEFT: **As Shot** White Balance — RIGHT: **Auto** White Balance

Daylight White Balance vs Custom White Balance in Camera Raw — LEFT: **Daylight** White Balance — RIGHT: **Custom** White Balance

What You'll Learn in This Tutorial on How to Adjust White Balance in Photoshop

1. What Is White Balance?

2. How to Use Photoshop's White Balance Presets

3. How to Fix White Balance in Photoshop

Try It Out!

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