How to fix yellow tinted/ washed out photos? (1 Viewer)

[72o]

Besides pointing and clicking, I know absolutely nothing about taking photos. I just recently took some shots for the upcoming calendar and tried hard to take some decent pr0n. I built a light box (below), used (3) HD 150W bulbs and grabbed my wife's camera. The light looked great, chips washed with light from both sides and above and things looked pretty cool in the "view screen thingy" on the camera. Hopes were high LOL. When I viewed them on the computer however...yellow tinted pictures! All of them.
What am I doing wrong?
Do I fix on the camera (whitebalance maybe)?
Is it possible to fix with photo editing software? Any free websites?
Or, or, and hear me out here, is there anyone who could fix this for me if I send the photos? LOL

Here's one photo for reference:

And the homemade light box :

 

[CraigT78]

What kind of lightbulbs are you using? Try some cool white or bright white LED bulbs. Incandescent throws that off color.

@justsomedude some free advice?

 

[abby99]

What is the Kelvin number of your bulbs? "Warm" light is somewhat yellow; the lower the K, the more yellow the light. Bulbs that simulate daylight are around 5000-6500 K. I've found this to make a huge difference.

 

[CraigT78]

Google fixed the white balance.

 

[72o]

I used (3) of these:

What's weird is my iphone pics look way better than what my wife's Nikon D3200 camera produced.

 

[JeepologyOffroad]

Phones are amazing these days. Also depends on how you were using your wife’s camera. It’s not hard to take a terrible photo with a real camera. Takes some practice and learning how to use them for sure.

 

[72o]

Google fixed the white balance.
View attachment 382381

Hmm do tell. The overall pic. looks way better. The inlays look a little pink for some reason.

 

[justsomedude]

You guys are correct, it is a white balance issue.

Set to auto WB on the camera (if you have the option). If that option doesn’t exist, try the Tungsten or Flourescent settings. They can get pretty close to most artificial light sources without having to tweak in post processing software. Although dialing it in perfectly usually requires a little tweak in post.

 

[madforpancakes]

You're having white balance issues. Figure out how to change the setting on the camera to either be automatic, or you can choose from the various white settings (incandescent, florescent, daylight, etc), or you can edit the white balance in post. I use Snapseed on my phone for most basic image editing, and it has a decent white balance tool.

 

[Eloe2000]

Nice light box. Also, FWIW you can play around with those three lights you are using by moving one or more slightly towards the front or back of the box so that they are positioned slighty forward or back of the chips in the box. Also you can try with just two lights. Lightboxes created very evenly lit results which can be great, but sometimes it’s nice to create more dramatic results by using directional shadows for a more dynamic look.

 

[CraigT78]

Hmm do tell. The overall pic. looks way better. The inlays look a little pink for some reason.

Probably due to the 'auto fix' button, I have no post editing skills. This is why you don't hire an amateur to photograph a special event

 

[72o]

For comparison, here's the one photo I took with my iphone:

 

[CraigT78]

For comparison, here's the one photo I took with my iphone:

View attachment 382390

Yeah - I bet there was a setting off on the camera - even in the OP the inlay has a pink hue to it. You can use your iPhone pics for the Cal - the original photo from the camera would be enough resolution for print.

 

[72o]

Yeah - I bet there was a setting off on the camera - even in the OP the inlay has a pink hue to it. You can use your iPhone pics for the Cal - the original photo from the camera would be enough resolution for print.

Great! So you're saying I need to do a re-shoot?

 

[Marius L]

Can confirm white balance problem.

There are phone apps you can use to edit easily as well, but your best bet is obviously just to fix the settings in your camera real quick and retake the pics. Easy fix luckily, looks like a cool set up you got there. Probably some whiter light lightbulbs would be better if yours are super warm redish light.

 

[CraigT78]

Great! So you're saying I need to do a re-shoot?

You have better things to do?

 

[Marius L]

http://slrcoaching.com/how-to-change-white-balance-on-the-nikon-d3200/

 

[CraigT78]

Great! So you're saying I need to do a re-shoot?

I'll overnight you my chips as well, since you're going to be taking more pictures........

 

[72o]

I'll overnight you my chips as well, since you're going to be taking more pictures........

Haha if you include some bourbon and some Windy Crest glasses, then I’m game.

 

[timinater]

@72o Send me a PM and we can get in touch. Getting it right in camera is always your best bet, so the advice here is good to start.

It can be fixed with some quick photoshopping and I should be able to help out.

 

[justsomedude]

Be very careful using any store-bought home-use light bulbs for a photo shoot. Modern LEDs, flourescents, etc. have severe color spectrum gaps that literally make it impossible to color balance photos correctly.

Old school incandescent lights didn't suffer from this problem. It was full-spectrum light, just with a warmer hue which could be easily corrected with a mouse click in post. The more modern environmentally-friendly lights are a complete fuck-show when it comes to color balancing. The spectrum gaps leave skin tones with a green or yellow hue, and you can never get colors to be exactly right. It's maddening for photographers.

If you really want to get good quality shots from your light box, make sure whatever bulbs you're buying are FULL SPECTRUM bulbs. You'll likely pay more, but the results are worth it.

The other option is to just take your photos by a window. Because daylight is full spectrum. FTW.

 

[Klobberer]

If your camera has the option of using RAW format, I think you can adjust the WB in Photoshop later...

 

[Marius L]

If your camera has the option of using RAW format, I think you can adjust the WB in Photoshop later...

Technically true, but not really ideal for a novice (at best, lol ) photographer who just wants the easiest way to get some decent pics!

Just put white balance to auto, and if that turns out bad, try the other white balance presets. Usually with one of them it will look great. Otherwise I do agree with @justsomedude that daylight from the window is a great alternative for great natural light that will look perfect in pics. Make sure to not use both natural light from outside and other light from inside at the same time though, as it will make either either part of the picture to have wierd lighting.

 

[72o]

@timinater has been incredibly generous and touched up my photos for me. Huge huge help so I don't have to squeeze in another photo shoot over the weekend before Christmas. Thank you so much man! Very much appreciated!

Thank you all for your help though. I think now that I have a functional light box, I will just put it near natural light and take pics from now on...with my phone.

Last question: Would it be better to put the light box outside and take pictures or leave the light box inside the house but just put it close to a window/slider?

 

[justsomedude]

Last question: Would it be better to put the light box outside and take pictures or leave the light box inside the house but just put it close to a window/slider?

The purpose of the lightbox is to create a diffuse lighting condition, like you would have outside on a cloudy day, but in a controlled indoor setting. So taking it outside wouldn't be of much benefit.

I say keep the lightbox setup as is, just slap in some full spectrum bulbs. And when taking pictures, turn off any/all other indoor (competing) light sources. It will help avoid any confusion on the camera's part when it's trying to auto-whitebalance.

 

[Marius L]

You can just take the box outside. Only thing to be aware is that direct sunlight on the chips will give you some hard shadows that might not look super good in the pics, so make sure to point the box north or whatever direction doesn't get sunlight straight in for a softer nicer lit picture, and you are good to go. An overcast sky is a natural softbox and removes this issue.

 

[bigdonkey]

Did you make your light box with pee-stained bed sheets?