White balance is when you change the settings on your camera make an object that appears white in real life to also appear white on camera depending in the lighting of your setting. White balance can be used under all different lightnings when things don't appear as they do in real life, for example in fluorescent, incandescent or shaded light.  White balance can also be used as an artistic effect to change the colours of objects, for example a white piece of paper can be turned blue or yellow.