看專家的討論吧。下面是Dr Roger N Clark對關於如何設置白平衡的問題的回答。他的夜空顏色專文（鏈接在最底下）是怕星空照片的必讀好文。事實上他的所有專文都是必讀好文。

rnclark • Senior Member • Posts: 2,312

Re: Proper White Balance for AP

In reply to OutsideTheMatrix • Apr 11, 2016

4

OutsideTheMatrix wrote:

Hi, I've been searching around the web for the proper white balance to use for AP and I've been seeing different solutions:

1. Daylight White Balance- 5300K

Best if you want natural color and stars where you can see color that matches what people with normal vision see.

2. Tungsten White Balance- 3000K (to neutralize light pollution and sky glow)

Great if you want everything to look blue (the night sky is not blue) (unnatural)

3. Fluorescent White Balance- 4000K (to neutralize moonlight)

Great if you want mostly blue (unnatural)

4. Custom White Balance taken off a dark part of the sky (to get rid of light pollution or sky glow)

White balance is a multiply. Light pollution is added light which should be subtracted. Any site that says use white balance to reduce light pollution doesn't understand the physics and in my opinion should be avoided. It results in variable white balance with scene intensity. This is all to common on the internet. See:

http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/nightsky-natural-color-vs-bad-post-processing/

5. Manual White Balance and set color temperature to 3900K

Again bias everything to blue and unnatural.

6. Auto White Balance (also helps with LP, but is "hit or miss")

Gives every scene a different white balance. Forget about doing a mosaic.

I know with RAW we don't have to worry about WB, but I want to save a JPG alongside and be able to review it on the LCD- so which of the above is the best WB to use for light polluted skies? I want A-type stars to appear white, not G type stars since according to this table, A type stars should be white.

http://oneminuteastronomer.com/708/star-colors-explained/

That table indicates that white stars have a surface temp of 7500K, whereas daylight WB is around 5300K; does this mean that if I use Tungsten WB I will get A-type stars to appear white? (5300-3000=2300+5300=7600K).

The sun is 5995 K (best fit outside the atmosphere) and solar type stars appear yellow-white to the eye.  The above site is using above the atmosphere colors.

The 5300 K (daylight) is a correction for atmospheric transmission. So daylight white balance is best in my opinion. See my 6-part series on color in the night sky:

http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/color.of.the.night.sky/