When to change white balance, while shooting or during post-processing?

Photographing has become a lot easier than what it used to be when digital cameras were not there. Today, we can click as many picture as we want and later delete all the unwanted pictures. This was not possible earlier. One of the most advantageous thing about digital photography is that we don't have to use 'white-cards', 'cast-removing filters' to get accurate colors anymore. Like professional photographers if you shoot in RAW, you can post edit your pictures and then convert them to any white balance. Simply because the original picture remains intact without any edits. The white balance information is only saved as a reference. So, as long as you shoot in RAW, you can simply ignore the white balance setting. However, if you are shooting in jpeg or any other format, then you must take care of the white balance.

Shooting in RAW gives you an added advantage to shoot in any WB mode. Setting the white Balance at 'auto' means that your camera will set it automatically for you depending on the available light. It will try best to make sure that it captures correct colors as well. However, if your camera is unable to do the job perfectly, then you can change it while post processing your pictures (if shooting in RAW). So if your camera is set to shoot in RAW, simply set it to Auto White Balance and you are good to go.

What if you don't shoot in RAW? Well, in that case, you'll have to learn how to set and adjust white balance on your camera. In most situation you can rely on your camera's 'Auto' white balance, but don't make it a general practice. If you learn about white balance and color temperatures, you'll definitely improve and become a better photographer. Because, there will be many instances when your camera will not select a correct white balance for you, this is when you need to manually change it.