Using white balance as a color grading tool can shift the entire mood of a landscape in minutes. When you stop treating white balance as a simple correction and start using it with masks, you gain precise control over how color moves across the frame.
Coming to you from Gareth Evans with Park Cameras, this practical video walks through editing a seaside sunset using localized white balance adjustments instead of a single global shift. The image already carries natural contrast, cooler blue tones on the left and warm sunset light on the right. Rather than flattening that contrast with one temperature slider, Evans leans into it. He begins with a 16x9 crop to emphasize the horizontal flow, then corrects the horizon using the Transform tool. Basic adjustments follow: a slight lift in exposure, added contrast, a touch of vibrance, and some clarity and texture. These are controlled moves, setting the stage without overpowering the scene.
The key shift happens inside the Masking panel. Linear gradients are applied from the bottom and top to subtly darken the foreground and tame the sky. A radial gradient lifts the center, guiding the eye without obvious halos or artificial glow. Then white balance becomes a brush rather than a global fix. A gradient from the right warms the sky further and adds a hint of magenta, reinforcing the sunset. From the left, another gradient cools the blues, pushing them slightly toward teal. The frame now carries intentional color separation, not an accident of changing light. That separation creates depth and tension across a flat seascape.
Evans does not stop at temperature and tint. He moves into the Color Mixer to refine specific hues, nudging oranges toward a richer burnt tone and pulling yellows closer to unify the warm side. Blues shift slightly toward teal for a cinematic contrast. Calibration adjustments to the red and blue primaries quietly reinforce the palette. Then things escalate with adaptive sky presets. Applying the Golden Hour adaptive preset only to the right side through an intersected mask intensifies the warmth where the sun would naturally hit. A balancing cool mask is added to the left. At one point, he admits it may be too colorful and dials the mask amounts back to around 39%. That restraint keeps the edit dramatic but not cartoonish.
There is also a moment of self-check that matters. He toggles before and after views and questions the saturation. Dropping global saturation slightly shows how quickly an image can tip from bold to excessive. He also removes small boats using the Remove tool with generative AI, creating a cleaner, more serene frame. Even here, the decision is presented as optional, not mandatory. The scene becomes sea, weather, and light, with storm clouds and rain visible in the distance, color contrast doing most of the storytelling. You see how white balance, when applied locally, shapes mood as much as exposure shapes brightness. The video continues deeper into fine-tuning masks and evaluating color with fresh eyes after stepping away from the screen. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Evans.
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