# Colour In Pics Going To Orange



## samswatch (Dec 3, 2007)

I am hoping someone can explain this to me in plain english. I tend not to use a flash as I find it too harsh, so instead I turn up the ISO and leave the white balance -0.3 (all this on a nikon d50 with a 50mm lense). However, the picture then comes out with a lot of orange tones (and looks ok and warm) but its not as stark. Why does this happen?


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## PaulBoy (Dec 2, 2007)

Hi - Is this orange tinge when using natural light outside or indoors when there are lights on etc? - Anyhoo you should be able to correct it in your graphic package with white balance settings tho' might be worth checking in camera settings for WB & elsewhere that something else isn't set that you didn't mean to (?)

Paul


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## Beelzebrush (Dec 7, 2009)

If you are shooting under incandescant lighting, or halogen etc. it tends to leave a colour cast ie orange if the white balance isn't set up correctly for the lighting. I used to have a D50 and it's really easy to set up the white balance and covered in the instruction manual.

Lighting wise, you would probably be better off shooting outdoors on an overcast day.

If you choose to shoot indoors, invest in a good daylight bulb (I use these for shooting indoor - Bulbs - the colour temperature of the lights is 5500k but you'd be ok with anything between 5000-5500k

It's still possible to use flash, but if it's the onboard camera flash you'll need to diffuse it to eliminate the harsh glare(a bit of tracing paper etc.).


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## Who. Me? (Jan 12, 2007)

Does your camera have an 'auto white balance' feature?

My Sony A200 has that feature. You set up the camera to photograph the object and place a piece of clean, plain, white paper in front of it, then 'photograph' it with the auto white balance feature on.

It then sets the white balance for the specific environment in which you're taking the photo.

An orange cast is probably due to tungsten lighting (household light bulb), but could just as easily be daylight bouncing off of a coloured surface such as a painted wall, carpet, furniture etc or even be due to the time of day that you're taking the photo.

Light sources are often referred to in terms of their 'colour temperature' (usually in Kelvin). 'Colder' colours are reds and oranges (1000K) like you'd get from tungsten light bulbs. 'Hotter' colours are blues (>10000K) like a Northern blue sky.

If you're shooting under daylight, the colour temperature of that daylight will change throughout the day and depending on the orientation of the source.

Images will 'bleach' when the sun is at its highest (there is more blue light in the mix) and will appear redder at sunset and sunrise. If I remember my school physics, this is because the bluer wavelengths are absorbed by the atmosphere and particles in the air and re-radiated as redder wavelengths. The distance light travels through the atmosphere increases either side of midday, so there is more opportunity for the bluer wavelengths to get absorbed and re-radiated as redder wavelengths.

Light will also appear colder/bluer if coming in through a North-facing window etc (which is a reason why artists and graphical designers often chose north-facing studios and offices).

The only way to correct for the ever-changing colours perfectly, would be to set the white balance for each session.

But I'm not a photographer and there are some on here, so they can probably give you a better explanation.

I'm guessing your problem is either tungsten lighting, or you've got a big block of red or orange colour somewhere in the room.


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## samswatch (Dec 3, 2007)

Thanks for that I know have a better understanding of what is going on. It only tends to happen indoors when I am taking pics of the toddler and baby. It not that its unattractive its not as clear as shooting in daylight.

I have a flashgun and may try experimenting with that.

With the D50 I like have a -0.3 on the white balances as the tones are crisper I feel. I tend not to use the auto balance and run a wide open aperture.


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## Tom Radford (Apr 28, 2009)

White balance is certainly the orange bit of the problem, but the reason the images may not be so crisp is because you have turned the ISO up. The D50 is good upto about ISO 400, but it will start to loose detail and introduce noise above that, especially inside with minimal light. You would have to get the exposure spot on, and even then the image will still lack the detail of an ISO 200 or 100 picture.

A bounced flash will sort out all the problems, put the ISO back to the standard lowest setting, sort out the white balance and you'll be sorted.


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## Beelzebrush (Dec 7, 2009)

I think the ISO on a D50 starts at 200. If you have a flash unit, bounce the flash of a ceiling or a wall rather than have it pointed at the subject.

Obviously, the type of lens will also dictate how you photograph something.

The only other problem you may encounter, unless you are using a tripod or something else to steady the camera, is the exposure time for shooting indoors. Try setting the camera to 'aperture priority' and dialling in the largest aperture (smallest f setting) - this will make more use of the available light at a shorter shutter time.

The Nikon D50 is a really good camera (especially since it has an AF motor - so you have a wider choice of lens to use)


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## Guest (Dec 22, 2009)

You could shoot some pics in RAW format and adjust the white balance sliders to see if that helps. Obviously you will need Nikon software (or Adobe Photoshop/Elements etc) to read the RAW files.


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## samswatch (Dec 3, 2007)

I will try the flash gun thing. I really don't have the time to do RAW stuff with two kids under two.

As a separate note which nikons now have internal motors in case I want to upgrade?

thanks

sam


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## Tom Radford (Apr 28, 2009)

Of the latest batch, the D90 upwards. But there have been a couple of generations between the D50 and now.

The D80, D200 do aswel as the older D70.


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

Try and use the auto white balance setting, its pretty good on the Nikons, I take shots in anything from flash, high rendering fluis, daylight fluis, sodium vapour, tungsten and good old fashioned star light.....it gets 90% correct and for the few that need a tweak its easy in Nikon RAW software in post process.

Oh yeah, I leave it on auto not because I am lazy....well OK that might have a slight bearing on it but mainly its because with most of my shots the lighting is always a ******* mixture and out of my control, damn clever this new fangled digimithingyphotostuff.


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## samswatch (Dec 3, 2007)

Many thanks for all the input

sam


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