White is Yellow when Downloaded

[jean_barrell]

<p>I have been noticing that the color in some of my bird pictures is off. White or beige occasionally shows up as yellow and I cannot figure out why. Thinking it is the white balance, I tried to correct it in Aperture, but that didn't work. I shoot with a D5300 and an AF-S 80-400, the only pictures where I have noticed it are with the 80-400, but that it is pretty much the only one I use for birds. Hopefully someone will be able to tell me what I am doing wrong.<br>

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jv7git1n04r7fmc/yellowed%20woodpecker%202.jpg?dl=0</p>

<p>Jean</p><div></div>

[Ed_Ingold]

<p>Aperture has no effect, or you can't get the effect you wish?</p>

<p>White and other colors will be off unless your monitor is calibrated. In fact, it is usually calibrated to a bluish-white baseline (6300K).</p>

<p>If you use AWB, the camera will set the white balance according to the overall image. If it has a lot of blue sky or green foliage in it, whites will appear yellow. Foliage, in particular, will tend to reflect off of white surfaces, and is difficult to correct.</p>

<p>If you have even a slight cataract condition in your eye(s), whites will appear yellow.</p>

[m_tt_donuts]

<p>Any chance a polarizer was used? I have an B+W one that's MRC and has done weird things to certain colors/sections depending on direction and how much. For polarizers I have a Moose (which is a warming uncoated Hoya) , Tiffen, Hoya coated, Singh-Ray, and B+W with MRC and the B+W with MRC sometimes the images just look like something is off but only here and there and usually in the shadows. When it happens, there's no question I took the image with my B+W MRC polarizer. I only use it with my zoom lenses like my 80-400 VR and 70-200 I can't say if it happens on wide angles as I use a different brand thin polarizer on my wide angle. </p>

[ellis_vener_photography]

Looks like, in the sample you posted, there were some out of focus leaves and branches between you and the

woodpecker and what you are seeing is some of the out of focus shrubbery. It shows up in the lighter colors because the

effect is hidden in the darker values.

[jean_barrell]

<p>In this picture the leaves don't factor in: https://www.dropbox.com/sc/0tigswi4z51amk5/AABZYdM3gQPPhLvPGStHGsTQa<br>

Or this: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1dkjgv0ew5tx6au/yellow3.jpg?oref=e<br>

Haven't used a polarizer, I do have a Heliopan UV-0 filter on the lens. Perhaps a different white balance setting?</p><div></div>

[Matt Laur]

<p>I agree with Ellis. The lower half of that bird is being tinted by way-out-of-focus foreground foliage that's acting nearly transparent. But not so transparent that it's not throwing what looks like a color cast on the bird.</p>

[michael_bradtke]

<p>The whites in the last photo you posted are white. The grays on the birds breast are neutral. It looks good on my monitor</p>

[ellis_vener_photography]

In the second photo where the greenish-yellow tint exists are in the parts of the bird's body not in full sunlight. I suspect in

those areas the light is tinted greenish-yellow by light bouncing off the foliage around the bird

[ellis_vener_photography]

Is your display calibrated and profiled? If so, with which tool set (Xrite or Spyder) and to what standards? I ask because

while acknowledging that perceived color is subjective, I'd say ythe color you are calling yellow looks more green than

yellow to me.

[jean_barrell]

<p>Looks like I should recalibrate my monitor. Having never done that, is there a preferred standard and way to do it?</p>

 

[Matthew Currie]

<p>In the second picture, there are some dark yellow blotches in the sky. Is this a trick of the light, blurred leaves, or is it possible the problem is in the sensor? Have you taken a plain blank shot of a white paper or something to see if the sensor is recording white evenly?</p>

<p> </p>

[jean_barrell]

<p>I will give that a try tomorrow in daylight! Thanks, I'll let you know.</p>

[hapien]

<p>Not all raw converters render the colors similarly. I once photographed oak floor illuminated with flash in raw format. The beige of oak had yellow hue on most converters like View NX2, Capture NX-D, Ufraw and Dcraw. Adobe camera raw produced images with red hue in beige of oak.</p>

[mag_miksch]

<p>maybe its just reflected light?</p>

[randy_cooprider1]

<p>The second picture (which I like) appears as if there is mixed lighting from a mixing of the shaded? sunlight and reflected light from the vegetation. I pulled a copy into PSE 12 and used the remove color cast tool on various places of the white feathers and none really seemed to get everything correct. I think that when you do the blank paper test, in evenly lit sunlight, no yellow will show.</p>

[Not Here]

<p>I'm with Mag Miksch, it looks like reflected color. I have a calibrated monitor and in your examples I find feathers that are white and others tinted. Logic says that if it's the color balance or other software issues then all of the white feathers would have varying amounts of color. I use the Spyder3Pro (not the latest technology, but is still good). I readily admit that this is not my expertise though. Good luck.</p>

[jean_barrell]

<p>I performed the white paper test, both in the sun and in the shade, there was no yellow. Using the Mac recalibration tool, I recalculated my monitor and the yellow still shows. As many of you thought, it must be the reflected light. Are there settings that I can use to compensate for that?</p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>White is only white when it's lit by white light. The "white" of the bird's feathers varies from greenish-yellow to blue in that posted picture. So why no complaint of white appearing blue?</p>

<p>That effect looks simply like a variation of lighting colour falling on the bird. Blue in the shadows, green-yellow reflected from foliage and fairly neutral in direct daylight. There's no single WB setting that can make all three areas of the plumage look "white". Easiest solution would be to use the desaturate brush in an image editor to remove the colour from the white feathers.</p>

<p>Another factor is the background. If you use AWB against a strongly coloured background, as in the picture against a blue sky, then you'll get a cast of the complementary colour - in this case yellow.</p>

[Uhooru]

<p>As said by MLM above, on my monitor "I find feathers that are white and others tinted". Same results here. I think Rodeo Joe above has it right.</p>

[jean_barrell]

<p>So, in a similar situation, I could set the white balance to sunlight? I also have to figure out how to desaturate in Aperture, or just move on to Affinity.</p>

[Uhooru]

<p>One way to achieve an overall WB point is custom set for your strongest light source effecting your picture, but really with these there are so many different shades and colors bouncing around it may be difficult to naturally get what you think you should be getting. BTW, the pictures are nice.</p>

[Uhooru]

<p>A person whose work might appeal to you that you may not know is Douglas Herr, a great bird and wildlife photographer and really knowledgeable. I believe you can contact him from his website http://www.wildlightphoto.com<br>

I have no connection to Doug but he might be of interest if you look at the coloring of his birds. Cheers</p>

[Not Here]

<p>Looking at this issue from another angle, what's wrong with the tinting in your example photos? Once you've set the white point on a known white reference (like the predominant feathers) the other white feathers in the shadows or reflected areas just reflect (pun intended) what is natural. If all of the white feathers on the bird are pure white you've changed this from a photograph to an illustration. Just my opinion and another way to look at this. By the way, I don't see anything wrong with your sample photos... Mike </p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>The picture I was going to post got screwed up in saving, and I can't be bothered to try again. Please ignore.</p>

[tom_boston1]

<p>I have the same kind of thing going on with a different species. Shaded backyard. Lots of green lawn reflecting. D810 with 500/4 at ISO 800, 1/500", f/8.0 and a decent amount of cropping.</p>

<p>Original white balance was too green. Corrected against the breast here.</p>

<p>Maybe there's some physical characteristic of the feathers beneath the chin that cause it to reflect light differently. Or maybe it's just the angle of the reflection.</p>

<p>I don't think this species has natural coloration like this. Unfortunately, the bird was not still enough or close enough to inspect closely.</p>

<p>The effect would be less noticeable if I corrected the underexposure.</p><div></div>