Best white balance for night shots in the city?

[padrepaul77]

Hi gang,

I use a Canon Powershot sx10 IS. I shot a picture of downtown Minneapolis once last winter, and it was nice, save for the slightly green apperance of the lights off of the ice in the river. I did not toy with the white balance, so I'm wondering if I should have set it for "fluorescent"? There is also a "fluorescent h" setting (I'm guessing that means "high"). Does this compensate then for the fluorescent lighting that is in some streetlights?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[musicaleCA]

What it does is add magenta to the image (relative to daylight). This compensates for the green hue found in many fluorescent lights. While this will also give the rest of the image a magenta tint, it is usually preferable to the puke green lights of the city.