Match the Light
Every light source has its own color. A household bulb glows warm and orange; open shade and overcast skies go cool and blue; midday sun is roughly neutral. Your eyes quietly correct for all of it — a white shirt looks white to you everywhere — but the camera has to be told what "white" is. That instruction is the white balance.
Left on Auto White Balance (AWB), the camera guesses, and usually guesses well. But strong-colored light trips it up: photos under warm indoor bulbs come out orange, shots in deep shade come out blue. The fix is to stop guessing and match the light — pick the preset named for the light you're in: Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, Tungsten (warm indoor bulbs), or Fluorescent.
The quickest way to check you've matched it: photograph something you know is white or neutral grey, and switch presets until it looks neutral on screen.
Leave your exposure however you like — this is about color, not brightness. Find the white-balance setting and switch it off Auto (AWB) to the preset matching your light: Daylight outdoors, Cloudy or Shade in open shade, Tungsten under warm bulbs. Frame something white or grey and change the preset until it looks neutral.
Whites look white and skin looks natural — not soaked in orange or drained to blue — because you matched the white balance to the light you were standing in. Still off? Try the neighboring preset, or nudge it warmer with Cloudy or Shade.
The assignment
Find a shot coming out too orange or too blue, then fix the color by switching your white balance off Auto to the preset that matches your light.
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