Tint in photography most precisely refers to the green-to-magenta axis of white balance, the second adjustment that works alongside color temperature. Where temperature corrects the blue-to-orange (cool-to-warm) balance of an image, tint corrects the perpendicular green-to-magenta balance, and both together are needed to reach truly neutral color.
The tint control matters because many light sources are not neutral on the green-magenta axis. Older fluorescent tubes cast a strong green, some LED panels push slightly green or magenta, and mixed lighting can leave a residual cast that no amount of temperature adjustment alone will fix. Pulling the tint slider toward magenta cancels a green cast, and pulling it toward green cancels a magenta one.
In a raw editor the tint slider sits directly beneath the temperature slider, measured in arbitrary units rather than the kelvin scale used for color temperature. The fastest way to set both correctly is the white balance eyedropper: clicking it on a neutral grey reference, such as a gray card, sets temperature and tint at once so that neutral surfaces read without any color cast.
Tint is also used creatively rather than only correctively. A deliberate push toward warm magenta can enhance a sunset, and subtle tinting of the highlights and shadows for mood overlaps with color grading and split toning. Used this way, a small tint shift changes the emotional temperature of an image without obviously looking like a color error.
The key idea to remember is that accurate color needs two axes, not one. Photographers who only adjust warmth and ignore tint often end up with images that still look subtly green or magenta, particularly under artificial light, so checking the tint is part of getting clean, believable color.
Green and magenta casts are more common than people expect. Fluorescent tubes and some LEDs lean green, sunlight filtered through a leafy canopy turns skin sickly green, and water gives underwater shots a green-blue cast. Because temperature cannot touch the green-magenta axis, ignoring tint leaves these images subtly off no matter how warm or cool you make them. The reliable workflow is to set temperature and tint together from a neutral reference, then trust your eyes on skin tones, which reveal a green or magenta error instantly. In mixed lighting where two sources differ on the green-magenta axis, no single tint value corrects both, so the deeper fix is gelling one source to match the other before you shoot.