Adjust your white balance!

1) Adjust your white balance!!!  Whether you  have a point and shoot or a dslr, you should adjust your white balance.  The steps for doing this are different for each camera, but it's not tough! 

You can find out how to adjust yours by looking in your manual, doing a google search, searching for videos for your camera on youtube, or stopping by where you bought the camera or even a local camera store like Ritz Photo or Kits Camera and just asking them to show you.  I have used all of those resources at one time or another.

Don't worry about doing any manual settings, just keep it simple.  Most homes have incandescent lighting, so choose that setting if you are inside.  Some buildings such as offices and stores have fluorescent lighting so choose that setting under those conditions.  If you are in the sun choose the direct sunlight setting.  There should also be settings for shade and/or overcast conditions.

Doing this will ensure your picture doesn't have a wierd tint to it.  You will get nice, natural colors.

Here are some examples:

In the first picture I had forgotten to set my white balance.  Notice there is way too much pink and yellow in that picture.  If you let your camera adjust the white balance itself like many people do, you will often get a yellow tint to pictures taken inside.

Once again I had forgotten to adjust the white balance in the first picture and it is much too cold, with too much green and blue in the picture. 

Bottom line, if you look at other people's pictures and wonder why the colors are prettier and more natural than your own, adjust your white balance before you take a picture!  Once you figure out how to do it you'll see it only takes a couple seconds.

I hope you guys will let me know if any of this is unclear or still leaves you with questions about white balance.