…but I am here to help you sort it out.

I hear a lot of beginning (and some advanced) students who confuse white balance with exposure.

This confusion is not surprising, since both have something to do with “this picture of a white wall, say, is not white enough”, and they both occur together very often.

So here’s the summary:

• White balance is about the colour (it ought to perhaps be called “colour balance”).
• Exposure is about the brightness.

So ask yourself what you mean when you say “that white surface is not white enough”!

• If it looks too yellow, say, then it is white balance you need to adjust (the WB setting on your camera).
• If it looks too dark, it is exposure (the +/- setting, “exposure compensation”).

And of course since they occur together,you may well have to do both. Get the colour right first, then the exposure.

Confusion lessened?