White Balance Guide
$10USDDigital download · PDF guide · Nothing physical is shipped
Read the colour of light. Lock manual white balance, match cameras across a multicam shoot, and stop fixing colour drift in post.
Overview
Every light source has a colour. Candlelight is orange, overcast sky is blue, fluorescent tubes go green. Your eyes adjust automatically, so a white wall looks white anywhere. Your camera won't do that unless you tell it to. White balance is how you tell the camera what 'white' looks like under your specific lighting.
Get it right and colours look natural, skin tones look healthy, and footage from every angle matches in the edit. Get it wrong and everything skews too orange or too blue, and it is very hard to fully fix in post. White balance isn't a creative decision; it's the technical foundation that lets your creative decisions succeed.
What's Inside
- Colour temperature and the Kelvin scale, from 2500K tungsten to 10000K open shade
- Auto vs Manual white balance, and why professionals lock it in
- The five-step manual white balance workflow, set before you hit record
- Handling mixed lighting: remove, match with gels, or prioritise skin tones
- Custom white balance with a grey card for exact accuracy
- A quick Kelvin reference for every common lighting condition
Format & Access
- A digital one-page PDF reference, built clean and written tight. This is a guide, not a physical product
- Instant download link emailed the moment you pay
- Saved to your dashboard for re-download anytime
- Designed to print and pin to the wall
Delivery
Your download link is emailed instantly and also saved to your MD MEDIA dashboard. Sign in with the email you used at checkout to grab it again whenever you need it.
- Aug 30, 2026
Finally understand white balance
This cleared up years of confusion. The Kelvin scale explanation and the grey card workflow changed how I shoot. Every camera setup is consistent now.
- Aug 18, 2026
Professional reference
Laminated mine and it lives in my camera bag. The mixed lighting fixes alone saved me hours on my last shoot.
- Jul 22, 2026
Clear and practical
Excellent guide. Covers the fundamentals well. The custom white balance section with a grey card is exactly what I needed.
Questions, answered
What am I actually buying?
A PDF guide on the subject on this page: a one-page on-set reference for the library guides, and a longer multi-page guide for the Complete Camera Guide. Nothing physical is sent.
Is the Full Library cheaper than buying guides one at a time?
Yes. The Full Library gets every library guide in one payment for less than buying them separately, and the discount is applied automatically at checkout when every library guide is in the cart. The Complete Camera Guide is a standalone product and isn't part of that bundle.
Can I print them?
Yes. They're laid out to print and pin up, and most people keep them on their phone for set as well.
How do I get the files after I pay?
Delivery is instant. As soon as the payment goes through you get a confirmation email, and the download is saved to your dashboard: sign in with the same email you used at checkout, open your purchases and download from there. You can come back and download it again any time.
Do you ship anything?
No. Everything here is a digital download: nothing physical is posted and no delivery address is needed.
Can I get a refund?
Because the files are delivered instantly and can't be returned once downloaded, there are no refunds for change of mind. If a file is faulty, won't open, or is materially different from what's described, email sales@mdmmarketing.com.au and it will be replaced or refunded.
Can I share the files with a friend or my team?
Your purchase is a personal, non-transferable licence for your own projects, including paid client work. The files, download links and account access can't be resold, shared or redistributed.
I paid but nothing arrived. What now?
First check the spam or promotions folder for the confirmation email, then sign in to the dashboard with the exact email you entered at checkout: the download is there even if the email is delayed. Still stuck? Email sales@mdmmarketing.com.au with the email you paid with and it will be sorted.
Featured work
Shot and graded in house. The same grade you get in the pack.
