Blue Cast in Full Sun Part Shade

[tsuacctnt]

This is my first post so I'm hoping the link I posted will show the picture.

When shooting digital Nikon D200 with an SB 800 everything auto I find I've

been getting somewhere from a bit to a lot of blue cast over the photo. Is

this a white balance issue, an exposure issue, or a combination of both? Any

input would be much appreciated.<div></div>

[fotografz]

WB the shaded white area, or just use "auto WB" in Photoshop.

 

If you want to control it in-camera use custom WB, or use a correction filter on the lens.

[aimpic]

Its not white balance going by your example - its more complicated, and yet more basic.

 

I tried a few things. 1 the levels were out at the dark end. 2 +35 green balance 3 +5 yellow, and darkened a little and I know better is possible.

 

So, I also discovered funny lighting. First there is probably lots of uv flying around, the contrast is way to high (that is in photography, nothing to do with photoshop) there is a strong underlying green coming from somewhere.

There also seems to be white clothing in the shot. No doubt the fabric contains optical brighteners that further stuff things up.

 

Try putting someone out of direct sunlight.

Take an incident reading.

Make sure no reflected colour is coming in to the photo.

You may find its right after that.

White balance of a white card or use on of those lens attachment discs. Off the skin tones usually is fairly ok.

 

I would really recomment something like the Dean Collins DVD set on photographic lighting - an investment in the future.

[aimpic]

Its not white balance going by your example - its more complicated, and yet more basic.

 

I tried a few things. 1 the levels were out at the dark end. 2 +35 green balance 3 +5 yellow, and darkened a little and I know better is possible.

 

So, I also discovered funny lighting. First there is probably lots of uv flying around, the contrast is way to high (that is in photography, nothing to do with photoshop) there is a strong underlying green coming from somewhere.

There also seems to be white clothing in the shot. No doubt the fabric contains optical brighteners that further stuff things up.

 

Try putting someone out of direct sunlight.

Take an incident reading.

Make sure no reflected colour is coming in to the photo.

You may find its right after that.

White balance of a white card or use on of those lens attachment discs. Off the skin tones usually is fairly ok.

 

I would really recommend something like the Dean Collins DVD set on photographic lighting - an investment in the future.

[fourthst]

Chris, if the blue cast is in the brightly lit area of the photo it is probably your white balance.

If shooting in auto white mode set it for daylight mode or custom white balance the

scene or if you have to correct it in PhotoShop (or whatever program you use).

 

Most of the blue I see in this shot is in the shadow area. The reason for that, especially in this

shot, is that beautiful blue sky is acting as a fill light hence the blue cast. No way around that

fact so you can balance for the shadow, balance for the lit portion or compromise. Try

reducing the blue a bit and it will look fairly normal for this type of scene.

[eric merrill]

Light in shadows *is* blue.

 

Either fill in the shadows with flash, use a warming filter, or play with the WB after the fact.

 

 

Eric

[fourthst]

Sorry, I meant to say Peter is correct, there is a good deal of UV in the shot as well. A UV filter

would be quite helpful there and reduce the overall cast.

[tsuacctnt]

Thanks for all the great input eberybody! Right behind the bride and groom is beautiful lake superior. I guess it only makes sense that the light that gave me spectacularly vivid blue/green waters would reflect back onto the subjects. My original thought was that my fill flash was somehow overpowering the sun, which was unbeleiveably bright that day, and that was the source of the blue. The film I shot on this day didn't seem to suffer from the same problem (Kodak Portra VC 160). All of my lenses have UV filters on them (Hoya and B&W) but I have to admit I don't know that much about the effect of UV on my photographs and how to compensate for it. The thing that bothered me the most with this picture was that the Skin tones seemed so far off. I don't think it helped that the bride was pretty fair complected and then as the day wore on you could just see the grooms head getting redder and redder as it baked in the sun. I'll definitely check out that DVD.