Photo: Abby Ferguson
Have you ever noticed that sometimes your photographs turn out oddly blue or orange? This common situation has made countless beginner and enthusiast photographers scratch their heads in frustration. Luckily, it has an easily addressable cause: white balance issues related to the color of light in your scene. In this article, we'll cover why your photos might be drastically shifted to one color or another and how to fix it.
Why can colors go awry?
Light at sunset can be intensely golden in color, but that may not be something you want to get rid of.
Photo: Mitchell Clark
All light sources have different colors, which appear as color casts. That's even true of natural light, with the color of light shifting throughout the day. For example, late evening light (i.e., golden hour) looks quite orange and warm, while midday sun looks much more neutral and just before sunrise or just after sunset can be quite blue (aptly named blue hour). We often refer to the color of light as warm (golden hour) or cool (blue hour), and it can also have a tint that can lean either green or magenta.
A lot of artificial lights have even more extreme color casts. Incandescent bulbs, for example, are very warm with a strong orange color cast. Fluorescent lights can result in an unattractive green tint. More commonly these days, you've likely noticed that LED light bulbs come in various types of white, such as daylight, soft white, bright white and more.
Our brains instinctively adjust to diverse types of lighting (usually), but cameras can struggle to do the same. When that's the case, you may end up with images with strong color casts. Sometimes that's useful (such as showing the warm glow of golden hour), but other times, it can be quite unpleasant and distracting. When you see extremely orange or blue tints in your photos, it's a sign that your camera's white balance setting is struggling to determine the correct color of the scene.
What is white balance?
White balance can also be used to refer to the colors in an image. In this case, the white balance is a little on the warm side, but it's within a reasonable level.
Photo: Abby Ferguson
Put simply, white balance is a camera setting that corrects the colors in photographs by adjusting for the color of light in a scene. To do this, the camera aims to interpret the scene, trying to work out what the color(s) of the objects are and how the light may be influencing them. It will then attempt to compensate for color casts to produce more natural colors in the final image.
This process works best if your photograph contains something neutral (such as white or gray, which is why it's called white balance), as otherwise your camera may have difficulty working out what the colors should look like.
How to manage white balance in-camera
Image: coolvectormaker / iStock / Getty Images Plus via Getty Images
Your camera is, by default, set to an automatic white balance setting. The automatic setting typically works quite well; however, as you've noticed, that isn't always the case. Sometimes, more manual adjustment is necessary.
Beyond the auto white balance, cameras also provide presets for specific types of light. For example, most cameras offer settings for tungsten, incandescent light, fluorescent light and flash. You'll also notice natural light-related presets, including daylight, shade and cloudy. These presets won't be foolproof, but can at least get you closer to a correct white balance in tricky situations or when your camera isn't quite getting things right on auto.
Camera manufacturers are also increasingly adding Auto White, Auto Warm or Auto Cool settings. These are ideal for situations where you want to preserve some of the color cast to keep the original mood, such as at golden hour or around a campfire.
There are more advanced techniques for situations that call for highly precise white balance, but that's a topic for another day. For now, don't be afraid to try out the different presets to determine which one best fits a given situation. Below, you'll see some specific examples for managing orange and blue photos.
Fixing blue photos
On the left: This lamp produces a very warm light (though not as warm as the example below), but on auto white balance, it looks a bit too neutral for my liking.
On the right: Setting the white balance to Tungsten produces a much too blue image.
Photo: Abby Ferguson
If your photograph has a strong blue tint, it's likely because you are working in the shade or under overcast skies, and your camera isn't appropriately adjusting to the cooler light color. Changing your camera to the cloudy or shade settings should warm the photo up to provide a more accurate (and generally more attractive) white balance.
Alternatively, a strong blue tint could be the result of your camera overadjusting for warm light. You may need to take manual control in such instances, choosing a preset that keeps some of the warmth. Or, just as with orange photos, it could be that your white balance was accidentally set to something wrong. In that case, your camera is compensating for warmer light that doesn't actually exist in the scene, turning things blue. In that case, switching your white balance back to auto or another appropriate setting will help you achieve a better white balance.
Fixing yellow or orange photos
For this photo, my camera's white balance was set to Cloudy, which isn't appropriate for the scene and produced an excessively orange photo.
Photo: Abby Ferguson
Photos that are too yellow or orange usually happen when you're taking photographs inside. If that's what you're experiencing, it's likely that the room you are in has incandescent bulbs or warm LEDs, which emit an orangish color. Switching your camera to the incandescent setting should get you closer to a correct color.
Overly orange or yellow photos could also be the result of accidentally or unknowingly changing your white balance to a setting meant for bluer lighting conditions. If you aren't shooting in incandescent light or with warm LEDs and are still getting overly warm photos, double-check what your white balance settings are and change to auto or an appropriate setting if it's not there.
How to manage white balance with editing
On the left is a corrected version of the orange photo above. It was corrected from the jpeg file and, as a result, has some odd colors, especially in the highlights. On the right is the correction on the Raw file, left slightly warm to retain some of the color of the light.
Photo: Abby Ferguson
If you've already taken the photos and aren't in a situation to retake them, you may not be out of luck. There are ways to adjust white balance in editing programs as well. Most editing apps will feature temperature and tint sliders, allowing you to change how warm or cool (temperature) and pink or green (tint) your photos are. Some will, like your camera, have an auto white balance setting that attempts to even out the color temperature and tint as best it can. However, that won't always work very well.
Some editing programs also feature an eyedropper tool that allows you to point to something that should be white or neutral gray in the photograph, and the software will adjust the white balance based on that. If the presets aren't cutting it, but you can't figure out what it should be with the sliders, the white balance dropper can be a very useful tool, provided you have something neutral. Sometimes, you just have to move the sliders to get something that looks right to your eye.
When fixing white balance in editing, there is one caveat: JPEG files will have a somewhat limited ability to fully correct white balance. You can correct white balance within reason, but if it is substantially wrong, you may run into color issues that can't be fixed all the way. Raw files, on the other hand, contain file information before white balance has been applied, giving you more flexibility to adjust when editing.
Learn to notice the color of light
I took this photo almost entirely because of the warm light and shadows. Starting to notice the color and quality of light will help you use it to your advantage.
Photo: Abby Ferguson
Photography is all about light, and recognizing the role that light's color plays in your images is an important factor that you'll learn to manage. At first, you may simply be trying to fix unwanted color casts. But learning to think about light (and its color) from a creative perspective is also critical to developing your photography. After all, it can be a very useful tool in conveying moods and vibes. Once you understand why white balance can go wrong and how to adjust it, you can then use it intentionally to craft powerful images and even develop your own style.
