Don't worry if you're the sort of person who can't even boil water — we're going to cook up some creative images using very basic ingredients.

In the kitchen

Regardless of your culinary skills, the kitchen is a great place to practice using the white balance settings on your DSLR. Look around and you'll probably find a few white objects to work with: eggs, sugar, flour, or rice, for example. What about a composition using white china or pottery? Since your subject in this case will be white, think about some background options that will add interest to the frame — a colorful plate, a painted tray, a wooden desk or cutting board, or maybe a tile countertop.

Tip #1: Don't lose the contours

White objects can easily merge in an image and lose their outlines. To avoid this problem, be careful with your exposure, and try moving the objects or the light source around to create shadows between the white items. This will help reveal their forms and separate them from each other.

Tip #2: Use exposure compensation

Because your camera perceives white objects as "bright", it will most likely underexpose the shot in Auto mode. So, you may want to set a positive exposure compensation, or switch over to Manual mode.

Tip #3: Don't mix light sources

Go ahead and experiment with different types of light sources, but don't mix artificial and natural sources, or incandescent lamps with flash. You'll end up with multiple color temperatures going at once and you won't be able to set the white balance accurately.