Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

@disqus_bEf7d0PSH1:disqus This is the confusion right here: do we away have to manually adjust the exposure to get the correct true color?

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

@disqus_bEf7d0PSH1:disqus This is the confusion right here: do we away have to manually adjust the exposure to get the correct true color?

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

@disqus_bEf7d0PSH1:disqus This is the confusion right here: do we away have to manually adjust the exposure to get the correct true color?

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

@disqus_bEf7d0PSH1:disqus This is the confusion right here: do we away have to manually adjust the exposure to get the correct true color?

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

@disqus_bEf7d0PSH1:disqus This is the confusion right here: do we away have to manually adjust the exposure to get the correct true color?

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

@disqus_bEf7d0PSH1:disqus This is the confusion right here: do we away have to manually adjust the exposure to get the correct true color?

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

@disqus_bEf7d0PSH1:disqus This is the confusion right here: do we away have to manually adjust the exposure to get the correct true color?

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

@disqus_bEf7d0PSH1:disqus This is the confusion right here: do we away have to manually adjust the exposure to get the correct true color?

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

@disqus_bEf7d0PSH1:disqus This is the confusion right here: do we away have to manually adjust the exposure to get the correct true color?

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

@disqus_bEf7d0PSH1:disqus This is the confusion right here: do we away have to manually adjust the exposure to get the correct true color?

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

@disqus_bEf7d0PSH1:disqus This is the confusion right here: do we away have to manually adjust the exposure to get the correct true color?

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

@disqus_bEf7d0PSH1:disqus This is the confusion right here: do we away have to manually adjust the exposure to get the correct true color?

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

@disqus_bEf7d0PSH1:disqus This is the confusion right here: do we away have to manually adjust the exposure to get the correct true color?

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/

Exposure and color are NOT controlled by the same thing. Exposure is controlled by Exposure Compensation or by adjusting your shutter speed or aperture in Manual Mode. Changing the exposure will NOT affect the color of the image/subject.

Color is controlled by setting the White Balance. Changing the White Balance will NOT make your image darker or light. Auto white balance attempts to correct for color casts – but sometimes it does a good job, other times it can be fooled. If your subject is heavily green like a forest or grassy area – AWB will add too much pink to compensate. If you’re shooting a sunset AWB will actually try to “correct” out all the warn yellows and pinks in the sky and your colors will be drab as a result. So while it does a good job most of the time – it’s not perfect.

Your example of the counter top is EXACTLY what AWB is designed to do. It looked at the counter top and saw a tint – so it removed it for you to make it more neutral. That’s what it does – that’s its job. If you want the accurate color choose one of the the WB presets like daylight or shade depending on the lighting conditions. Or do a custom one using the white paper first. Lay it on the counter and do your test shot – set the custom WB to that image and the camera to the custom WB (PRE on Nikon) setting. Then shoot the counter again and the color will be correct.

As for the spike in the middle that is exposure and your camera meter reading the scene and adjusting it to medium grey – see the histogram article – that explains why and how to solve it. Basically the camera doesn’t know the counter is black or darker grey.

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/white-balance/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/3-tips-for-creating-spectacular-sunset-photos/

https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/the-difference-between-reflective-and-incident-metering-and-how-they-work/