If you’re anything like me, most of the time you don’t even think about white balance. Set your camera to auto, shoot away … and the results are exactly what you expect. Sometimes your camera gets the white balance wrong, and that’s OK because DxO, or ACDSee, or whatever you use to tweak your photos can easily fix the error in just a couple of clicks.

But what about when your camera gets it wrong?

The first version of this image is straight out of camera. The white balance is objectively wrong. There’s a yellow cast that knocks the whole colour balance off, and yet the photo works. The image feels old, as befits the subject, and the romance of the golden hue accentuates the feeling of lost grandeur.

With the white balance corrected, the second version of the same photos just feels dull. More accurate, maybe, but totally lacking any sense of romance or history.

The subject of this photo is the old Tea House in the estate at Newhailes House, East Lothian. I’ve photographed it many times, but I’ve never replicated the magic that I captured with an old Olympus PM1 and Samyang fisheye lens.

Newhailes House is owned by the National Trust for Scotland. There’s a charge for parking, and a further charge to visit the house, but the grounds are free to explore. Why not take the bus instead? LRT buses 26, 44, 113 and 124 all stop just a 5-10 minute walk from the main entrance.