Source:www.jimippolito.com

White balance is important because if it isn't set correctly your pictures will not have the right colors.

This is not an exotic setting that requires advanced knowledge of digital cameras and photography, but rather a simple adjustment that is accessible in any number of ways, depending on your specific camera model.

Most of the problems occur when shooting artificially illuminated areas indoors without flash, particularly when fluorescent lighting is used. If the area is small your flash may overcome the lighting, but if it is a sizable area then light falloff may occur and you'll have uneven illumination, ore the house lights may simply overpower the flash anyway.

Be advised that white balance can be thrown off outdoors as well, such as on overcast days.

This is not a problem specific to digital cameras by the way, film cameras suffer from it as well, and corrections are made by using warming or cooling filters.

Yes, you will have to take out your dreaded camera manual and determine how to bring up that option, but on many cameras there is a dedicated button right at hand.

Once again, the beauty of digital shines through in that you can take a test shot, make the adjustment, take another test shot, and compare them on the spot. Of course you can always take several and compare them later, at home on your computer.

Frankly, I find that the "auto white balance" setting, on digital cameras that have it, is usually accurate enough to compensate, but sometimes an over ride is necessary, so why not try it when conditions warrant.

Here's the link to an excellent article and tutorial, with very good incorrect/correct picture examples.

Now don't let the article, which is thorough, and a bit technical, intimidate you. There's probably all the info you need in your camera's owner's manual, and again, play around with your camera's settings on test subjects and see what works best for you.

I took today's picture on Monday, while out shooting video for one of my other blogs, PlayTime Las Vegas.

The location is Fremont Street, in Downtown Las Vegas, and it was about 9am. I like early morning because the harsh light provides high contrast.

As usual on these trips, to cut down on weight, I used my Pentax RS430, 4.3 mega-pixel digital camera. I set the contrast setting to "high", and used the manual mode so I could select a small lens opening to ensure maximum depth of field. That enables the nearby and distant objects to remain in focus.

For a refresher on "depth of field" check back on this posting.

Have fun; take lots of pictures!