Nokia N9 – Same picture, different White Balance

These pictures feature the same thing with a different “white balance”. Notice the color in each picture. So what is white balance? And why is there a different color in each picture?

Cambridge Colors, a learning community for photographers, defines white balance as follows:

“White balance (WB) is the process of removing unrealistic color casts, so that objects which appear white in person are rendered white in your photo. Proper camera white balance has to take into account the “color temperature” of a light source, which refers to the relative warmth or coolness of white light. Our eyes are very good at judging what is white under different light sources, but digital cameras often have great difficulty with auto white balance (AWB) — and can create unsightly blue, orange, or even green color casts. Understanding digital white balance can help you avoid these color casts, thereby improving your photos under a wider range of lighting conditions.”

There are 5 pictures in this set. They were all taken with the following settings:

• Scene: automatic
• Flash: off
• Colour filter: off
• Light sensivity: Automatic
• Aspect ratio: 16:9
• Resolution: high 7 mpx
• Face detection: off
• Only the white balance changes in each photo.

Nokia N9 offers 5 different options for white balance:

• Automatic
• Sunny
• Cloudy
• Fluorescent
• Incandescent

This is how these options appear on the screen of Nokia N9:

Nokia N9 – Same picture, different “scene”

I am sure you are probably wondering why all the above pictures, viewed as small thumbnails, appear similar. Well, they look similar as small thumbnails, but they are totally different when viewed in a slideshow. To view them as a slideshow please click on any picture. To view subsequent pictures, click on the arrows on the left or on the right.

Each picture is taken in a different “scene”. Nokia N9 offers 6 scenes:

• Automatic
• Macro
• Landscape
• Portrait
• Night
• Sports

Each scene is used for a different setting. Usually the automatic scene allows the camera to study the environment of the picture and to choose the right settings.

An interesting feature is the Macro mode. The element in the foreground is in sharp focus, but the background is blurred.

On the other hand, for the landscape mode, the element in the foreground is blurred but everything in the background is in sharp focus.

This is how the  ”scene” mode appears  in Nokia N9:

Nokia N9 – Same picture, different colour filters

These pictures represent the same scene shot with different colour filters. There are two sets of pictures. With Nokia N9, one can easily choose to shoot a photo in:

- colour filter: off (first picture and seventh picture)

- Sepia (second picture and 8th picture)

- Black and White (third picture and 9th picture)

- Vivid (forth picture and 10th). This picture is almost similar to the first one. The only difference is the accentuated colors.

- Negative (fifth picture and 11th picture)

- Solarise (last picture).

Each colour filter is different and the user can experiment with the one he/she wants depending on what his/her preferences.

Enjoy

Zeina Gabriel