Perfecting your drone photography skills can take time. Once you’ve mastered the basics: flying your drone, framing your shots, and refining your image composition chops, you can work toward becoming an expert on camera settings. In order to create realistic-looking, great images or video, you’ll need to ensure your white balance is in check. White balance is a camera control that adjusts the sensitivity to match the natural colors of light. The way light is colored can vary based on the location. For example, outside photos will have cooler, bluer light, while indoor light is warmer and redder. White balance adjusts the colors captured by the camera, in order to make sure the final image is what the natural human eye would see.
There are typically two versions of white balance: auto and manual. These are pretty self explanatory – auto uses presets to save time and effort, and the user-controlled manual takes more expertise but allows for a more exact grasp on the function.
Different drones may vary in how their white balance works, but the auto and manual settings are generally common across different platforms. In drones like the DJI Mavic Air, the manual white balance is controlled using a slider where the white balance has to be set in Kelvins, the temperature light is measured in. If you’re looking to use this, you’ll need to know which Kelvin temperature corresponds to what type of light.
Meanwhile, the auto function will determine what your white balance should be for you. It works best for still photography, where there won’t be change and variance in the light. With video, the settings can change as the drone’s path changes, which can lead to uneven footage. When shooting video, it’s highly recommended you use the manual setting.
So, if you need to know what Kelvins (K) corresponds to what type of light, here’s a basic guide to help you:
- Daylight = 55000K
- Cloudy = 6500K
- Shady = 7500K
- Normal Indoor Light = 3000K
- Fluorescent indoor lighting = 4000K
If you’re looking for a more specific guide, take a glance at the graph on the side. Overall, this will be a great starting point for white balance video – where manually controlling the white balance is essential for smooth, perfect footage.
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We’d love to hear from you if you want to learn more about the benefits of aerial drone photography for the real estate industry. If you’re interested in obtaining your Part 107 Commercial Drone License or other drone training courses, please contact us at Dronegenuity today! We offer professional aerial photography services, performed by FAA licensed drone operators for customers of all sizes. All of the work that we do is completely customized and we make the process simple and convenient.
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