Yellow Glow

One of the most common problems in indoor photography is yellow. Have you ever wondered why your indoor pictures look terribly yellow?

Cameras "see" or show, more colors from light than our eyes do. Probably because our eyes compensate automatically. Most common indoor tungsten lights give that yellow cast to everything.

There are a couple ways to avoid it. The easiest is to set your white balance setting to the lightbulb. If you aren't sure how to set your white balance, consult your owners manual. Most cameras have a button with WB on it, or it might be in the menu under white balance.

Let's talk a minute about the fully automatic setting. I'd estimate that 80% of my customers never take their camera out of fully automatic. That's fine if it is producing pictures that meet your needs. But I frequently hear statements like, "Why are my pictures coming out yellow, I had it on the fully automatic setting?" Remember that in fully automatic mode the camera is assessing the situation and guessing at what you want. It may not even set the settings the same way twice for the same situation. Every person has different opinions of what makes a great picture. The camera's guess may align with your desires, or it might miss the boat. There may be times when you need to turn that knob out of fully automatic and set a setting like White Balance to get the best outcome. So if you look for the white balance setting and can't find it, it might be because you are in fully automatic and in fully automatic the settings are set for you so it doesn't give you many choices. Try putting it in the P, AV, TV, or M mode and then look for your white balance setting. P = Program, AV or A = aperature priority (you set the aperature and the camera selects the speed), TV or S = Speed priority (you set the speed and the camera sets the aperature), and M = Manual (you set everything)

Don't let all the mode choices overwhelm you. Just try learning one thing at a time, like how to set the white balance to the lightbulb for indoor shots.

Another way to reduce the yellow effect is by using the flash. Flash does slow your camera down though while it waits for the flash to warm up.

The final way to prevent the yellow effect is with a filter. Single Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras, that allow you to change lenses, have threads on the front of the lens that lets you connect filters on the front. A filter is just a small piece of glass that goes on the front of the camera to produce various effects. The filter that removes yellow is called the 80A filter and looks blue. Tip: be sure to get the right size filter for your camera. If you aren't sure what size you need, bring your lenses with you when you go to the store to buy filters.

The yellow cast problem is the most common problem that internet vendors have. Especially salespeople who are taking pictures of jewelry. Try the white balance setting and if that doesn't work try the 80A filter or flash(es) to improve your pictures.

Here are some comparison pics for you.

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