Here are two examples that apply to both White Balance and color temperature.
First, remember that color temperature refers to the color of the light. That usually means it's either warm light, cool light, or somewhere neutral. White balance refers to the correction made to the image - either in camera with the white balance setting or during raw processing. - to make the image look neutral.
But we don't always want our images to look color neutral. Sometimes we prefer a color cast - either warm or cool - to add to the feel of the scene.
Here is one example of cool light. The ice is not really blue, right? Everyone knows that ice is nothing but frozen water and water has no color. But the light is blue. This was taken in the shade on a blue sky morning and the only light that is "falling" on the scene is reflected blue light. So the ice takes on the color of the light. I could use a White Balance adjustment to remove the blue, but I like it better with the blue. It feels cold!
Now conversely, here is an example of a "warm" image. The light is warm because it is early morning and the light is much warmer at sunrise and sunset. Again, I like the warm feel to this image so I did not make a White Balance adjustment to remove it. I like the warm feel.
Discussion
1 repliesFirst, remember that color temperature refers to the color of the light. That usually means it's either warm light, cool light, or somewhere neutral. White balance refers to the correction made to the image - either in camera with the white balance setting or during raw processing. - to make the image look neutral.
But we don't always want our images to look color neutral. Sometimes we prefer a color cast - either warm or cool - to add to the feel of the scene.
Here is one example of cool light. The ice is not really blue, right? Everyone knows that ice is nothing but frozen water and water has no color. But the light is blue. This was taken in the shade on a blue sky morning and the only light that is "falling" on the scene is reflected blue light. So the ice takes on the color of the light. I could use a White Balance adjustment to remove the blue, but I like it better with the blue. It feels cold!