How to Get the Perfect White Balance in Photography

Although DSLRs provide more control over white balance, it is not entirely impossible to get it right with a smartphone. In this post, I want to go deeper into some effective techniques I apply in improving white balance in my smartphone photography.

1 Changing the Filter

I'm using an iPhone, and I often use filters to get a better white balance. Warmer or cooler options help me adjust to the right light or aim at even more creative styles, depending on the case.

Some filters warm up the image to neutralize cool blue tones, while others cool down an over-warm image. If you're really interested in how white balance works, then I encourage you to check out this really great tutorial.

2 Trust the White Balance in My iPhone

The easiest way to achieve a great white balance while editing on your smartphone is to simply let your device do it for you. Generally speaking, even the older iPhones do a pretty good job with auto-white balance.

If you're in situations where auto white balance doesn't do so well, that's quite all right—things are quite easy to change manually in the Photos app. For Android users: Trusting the device's initial assessment before making any manual tweaks.

3 Changing the Temperature in Post-Production

Beyond the Photos app, dedicated editing apps have granular controls for white balance and temperature. One of my personal favorites is Lightroom, which makes the cost of a Photography Plan more than worth it, even if you never use the desktop version.

Although VSCO can do the job if you really want a free alternative, make sure you tweak the temperature and the tint to get the right color palette. Another bonus with color grading tools is that you can really take your smartphone photos to a professional level.

4 Use of a Third Party App

While the iPhone Camera app won't offer manual white balance control, third-party apps can fill that hole. KEV is a really useful tool for getting the right white balance. So is ProCam.

While these apps almost always come with at least a small cost for full functionality, the results are well worth it for the serious smartphone shooter looking for exacting color control in their images.

5 Bonus: Try Adjusting Your Phone's White Balance

While iPhones lack manual white balance settings, most other phones provide this option for customization. Mastering how one works with the white balance settings can drastically improve the color accuracy of the images.

In general, based on my experience with a mirrorless camera, here is what I would set:

Daylight: 5,400 - 5,800 Kelvin

Sunrise / Sunset: above 6,000 Kelvin

Night: 3,800 - 4,200 Kelvin

Keep in mind that these are starting points, and often shifting white balance allows getting desired artistic effects.

Other than the camera settings, there could be a host of techniques to balance white on your smartphone. These may include trying various filters or even downloading other apps. For most cases, the Auto White Balance feature of the smartphones can be more than enough.