If your goal is to manipulate color balance, as suggested in the article, that requires understanding a bit about the color of light. I actually discuss it a in one section of my book Photography Basics. Think of the color spectrum as going from red to white to blue. Tungsten light is orange — toward the red end of the spectrum. To correct for it (move the recorded color temperature closer to the middle), your camera adds blue — from the opposite end of the spectrum. If you had a light source with a blue cast, your camera would add orange or red. It always pulls from the opposite end of the spectrum with the goal of “neutralizing” the color so it falls in the middle. That’s a very oversimplified explanation but hopefully it gives you something to build on.

The most expensive camera doesn’t necessarily take better photos than a cheaper one. Cameras don’t make photos, people do. Making a photo neither begins nor ends with the camera exposure; that’s only one step in the creative process. There’s room for creativity in post-processing too. Ansel Adams was famously quoted comparing his photo making to music, saying, “The negative is the score; the print is the performance.”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/big_mouth/2522466394/
Blue sky used as a reference value.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/big_mouth/2527877418/
A white rock used as reference value.