{"id":90627,"date":"2020-10-16T09:40:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-16T06:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/are-your-smartphone-photos-weird-colors-heres-why\/"},"modified":"2020-10-16T09:40:00","modified_gmt":"2020-10-16T06:40:00","slug":"are-your-smartphone-photos-weird-colors-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/are-your-smartphone-photos-weird-colors-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"#Are Your Smartphone Photos Weird Colors? Here\u2019s Why"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3c3300c2eab\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3c3300c2eab\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/are-your-smartphone-photos-weird-colors-heres-why\/#The_Problem_With_Our_Eyes\" >The Problem With Our Eyes<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/are-your-smartphone-photos-weird-colors-heres-why\/#White_Balance_and_Photography\" >White Balance and Photography<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/are-your-smartphone-photos-weird-colors-heres-why\/#Controlling_White_Balance_With_Your_Smartphone\" >Controlling White Balance With Your Smartphone<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/are-your-smartphone-photos-weird-colors-heres-why\/#Correcting_White_Balance_After_a_Shot\" >Correcting White Balance After a Shot<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><strong>&#8220;#Are Your Smartphone Photos Weird Colors? Here\u2019s Why&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_693292\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-693292 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/xpreview-4.jpg.pagespeed.gp+jp+jw+pj+ws+js+rj+rp+rw+ri+cp+md.ic.TXQOwsbLPS.jpg\" alt=\"Two images of a page from a book showing the difference in a white balance preview.\" width=\"650\" height=\"300\" data-credittext=\"Harry Guinness\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"imagecredit\">Harry Guinness<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Have you ever taken a photo with your smartphone and thought the colors looked nothing like those in front of you? Maybe it was way too orange or a bit too blue. Here\u2019s why they look off, and what you can do about it.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Problem_With_Our_Eyes\"><\/span>The Problem With Our Eyes<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Unike a camera, our eyes don\u2019t record an exact record of what\u2019s in front of us. Instead, everything we see is interpreted by our brains. Yes, this is based on what\u2019s in front of us, but also on what the brain thinks it should see. This is <a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.insider.com\/best-optical-illusions-photos-2017-10#when-the-image-is-blurred-you-can-see-that-the-lines-are-indeed-perfectly-parallel-and-perpendicular-to-one-another-34\">why optical illusions<\/a> are so effective\u2014our eyes aren\u2019t tricked, but our brains are.<\/p>\n<p>One of the areas in which this is really clear is when you stop and think about the color of light. Specifically, how orange or blue is a \u201cwhite\u201d light source?<\/p>\n<p>Imagine you\u2019re reading a book next to a fire. What color are the pages? They\u2019re white. How about outside on a bright sunny day or under a fluorescent bulb? They\u2019re still white, obviously.<\/p>\n<p>This is the thing, though: we only see the pages of the book as white because we know they\u2019re white. In different situations, the light reflecting off a book and into our eyes is a different color. What we think we see isn\u2019t what\u2019s really there.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_693293\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-693293 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/xwhitebalance.jpg.pagespeed.gp+jp+jw+pj+ws+js+rj+rp+rw+ri+cp+md.ic.Jl0RBDP6nW.jpg\" alt=\"Four shots of the same page in a book showing different levels of white balance.\" width=\"650\" height=\"433\" data-crediturl=\"http:\/\/harryguinness.com\" data-credittext=\"Harry Guinness\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">I used my custom daylight white balance setting to keep the DSLR\u2019s color settings identical in both shots. The corrections were done in Photoshop. <span class=\"imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/harryguinness.com\">Harry Guinness<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>When I took the photos above, the pages looked white to me. Now, however, on your blueish computer screen,\u00a0you should see which color of light the pages were really reflecting.<\/p>\n<p>While this effect is most obvious with white and other neutral colors, it affects all of them.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"White_Balance_and_Photography\"><\/span>White Balance and Photography<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The \u201ctemperature\u201d of a light source refers to how white, orange, or blue it is. This is measured in kelvins, which equates to how hot an ideal black body radiator has to be to give off that color light.<\/p>\n<p>For example, candlelight has a color temperature of about 1,850 K, while daylight is around 5,900 K. To confuse matters a bit, orange (\u201cwarm\u201d) light is given off by sources with a lower color temperature than cooler or bluer sources of light.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_693401\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-693401 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/xkelvin-light-temperatures.jpg.pagespeed.gp+jp+jw+pj+ws+js+rj+rp+rw+ri+cp+md.ic.IYalJmMF32.jpg\" alt=\"A line of light bulbs showing light temperatures from 1,000-10,000 Kelvins.\" width=\"650\" height=\"218\" data-crediturl=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-illustration\/diagram-light-temperature-kelvins-3d-rendering-1715456962\" data-credittext=\"Rashchektayev\/Shutterstock\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-illustration\/diagram-light-temperature-kelvins-3d-rendering-1715456962\">Rashchektayev\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>When you take a photo with your smartphone, it attempts to correct for the temperature of the light. It also attempts to correct for the green-magenta tint axis, but the orange-blue axis is more important.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re taking a photo next to a warm light source, it automatically makes the image a bit bluer so everything will look more neutral when you look at it later. It will do the opposite if you\u2019re near a blueish light. Everyone knows the pages in books are white, not orange or blue.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_693296\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-693296 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/xcorrected.jpg.pagespeed.gp+jp+jw+pj+ws+js+rj+rp+rw+ri+cp+md.ic.UKsNc9V9PK.jpg\" alt=\"Two images of the same page from a book, before and after correcting the white balance.\" width=\"650\" height=\"217\" data-crediturl=\"http:\/\/harryguinness.com\" data-credittext=\"Harry Guinness\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Notice how similar the colors are in the two photos now? <span class=\"imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/harryguinness.com\">Harry Guinness<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This is called white- or color-balancing, which is an important aspect of photography. Professionals do this manually or correct it in postproduction (the images above were corrected in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom). Your smartphone, however, mostly does this automatically.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is, unless you\u2019re working with controlled studio lights and balancing from a color-reference chart, achieving truly accurate white balance is impossible. For example, if there are two sources of light in a scene, you can\u2019t balance both of them without doing a lot of work in Photoshop. Both of the photos above look more accurate than the originals, but neither is truly right.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_693300\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-693300 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/xcreative.jpg.pagespeed.gp+jp+jw+pj+ws+js+rj+rp+rw+ri+cp+md.ic.BrmeSR7xBN.jpg\" alt=\"A pier at sunset with a creative adjustment of white balance.\" width=\"650\" height=\"433\" data-crediturl=\"http:\/\/harryguinness.com\" data-credittext=\"Harry Guinness\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Is this white balance accurate? Nope. Does it look good? Yep. <span class=\"imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/harryguinness.com\">Harry Guinness<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Also, a truly neutral white balance isn\u2019t necessarily what will give you the best, most interesting, or even the most accurate images. If you\u2019re taking a photo of someone lit by a candle, you\u2019ll need a bit of an orange glow in the image for it to look natural.<\/p>\n<p>Automatic white balance\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/earther.gizmodo.com\/our-phones-are-color-correcting-the-apocalypse-1844998903\">overcorrecting the orange glow from the wildfires in the U.S.<\/a>\u00a0was a big problem for people trying to accurately share what they were seeing. Managing white balance is one of those things that requires a more artistic than scientific <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roach to photography.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Controlling_White_Balance_With_Your_Smartphone\"><\/span>Controlling White Balance With Your Smartphone<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_693302\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-693302 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/xhalide.png.pagespeed.gp+jp+jw+pj+ws+js+rj+rp+rw+ri+cp+md.ic.nE_ZqNJfSq.png\" alt=\"A pre-shot portrait of a man in the white balance adjustment menu in Halide.\" width=\"650\" height=\"300\" data-credittext=\"Harry Guinness\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The white balance screen in Halide for iOS. <span class=\"imagecredit\">Harry Guinness<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General<\/a>ly, white balance isn\u2019t something you have control over when you shoot with a smartphone. If a scene you\u2019re shooting throws the camera\u2019s automatic white balance algorithm wildly off base, you\u2019ll have to take more manual control.<\/p>\n<p>On an iPhone, you can use a third-party app; we recommend\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/app\/vsco-photo-video-editor\/id588013838?mt=8&amp;ign-mpt=uo%3D4\">VSCO<\/a> (free) or\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/app\/halide-camera\/id885697368?mt=8&amp;ign-mpt=uo%3D4\">Halide<\/a> ($8.99).<\/p>\n<p>If you have an Android phone, things get a bit more complicated. On a Samsung phone, you can control white balance in Pro mode. Others might also have the option built-in to their camera apps; if not, you might need to use a third-party camera app, like <a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=net.sourceforge.opencamera\">Open Camera<\/a> (free).<\/p>\n<p>Generally, in a camera app that supports it, the white balance option will have presets for different lighting conditions, like cloudy, daylight, shady, tungsten, and so on. If not, there might be a slider you can adjust to shoot in a custom kelvin value.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Correcting_White_Balance_After_a_Shot\"><\/span>Correcting White Balance After a Shot<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_693304\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-693304 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/xlightroom.png.pagespeed.gp+jp+jw+pj+ws+js+rj+rp+rw+ri+cp+md.ic.ID2PuKvZ_i.png\" alt=\"A portrait of a man being adjusted in the Color Correction menu in Adobe Lightroom.\" width=\"650\" height=\"300\" data-credittext=\"Harry Guinness\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In Lightroom for iOS, you can correct RAW photos after they\u2019re taken. <span class=\"imagecredit\">Harry Guinness<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Getting the white balance accurate while you shoot is one option, but it\u2019s easier to shoot, and then correct it afterward.<\/p>\n<p>When your smartphone saves photos as JPEG or HEIC files (which they almost all do, by default), the white balance is baked into the final image. You can make rough adjustments later, but you can\u2019t change it too much. Fortunately, there\u2019s another format you can use if you want to be able to edit later: RAW.<\/p>\n<p>In a RAW file, the white balance information is saved along with the image. Then, in a RAW editor (like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop), you can change the white balance to any value you want. The only drawbacks are\u00a0you have to process the images before you can share them and they also take up more hard-drive space.<\/p>\n<p>Both iOS and Android support RAW photos, but again, you might have to use a third-party camera app to shoot them.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p>If this all seems like a lot of hard work, it is. As soon as you start digging into manual controls, photography gets a lot slower because you need a deeper understanding of what\u2019s going on to get decent results.<\/p>\n<p>The easiest option is to let your smartphone handle things as much as possible. However, if you want more accurate white balance (or more creative control over it), install a third-party camera app to use when you need it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n setTimeout(function(){\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s) } (window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n   fbq('init', '335401813750447');\n   fbq('track', 'PageView');\n  },3000);\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/693291\/are-your-smartphone-photos-weird-colors-this-is-why\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Are Your Smartphone Photos Weird Colors? Here\u2019s Why&#8221; Harry Guinness Have you ever taken a photo with your smartphone and thought the colors looked nothing like those in front of you? Maybe it was way too orange or a bit too blue. Here\u2019s why they look off, and what you can do about it. The&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":90628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/thumbcache\/2\/200\/9c80aa803ea9a1fd4cb082ed41529316\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/preview-4.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}