Camera Lighting Equipment

Is it the camera or the lighting? Why is the portrait object's skin tone orange?

I was testing my camera. I let the person stand by the window and I took pictures (nature light, sunny outside, 2pm). His skin tone is a little bit orange but he doesn't look orange in real life. Is it the lighting or the camera setting?

Public Comments

1. It could be one or the other or both. Play around with your camera's white balance, ISO, and shutter speed. If the light is dim, a longer exposure will most likely result in an orange skin tone.
2. I can think of three things that could cause this, are we talking about a print or the screen view, it could be you need to calibrate your screen, but if so every picture would have the slight orange cast. Secondly check which colour balance the camera is set to. Lastly is there is an orange wall nearby? If so the camera recorded what it saw. Colour cast are difficult to spot as your eye has a brain behind it and adjusts automatically, without you realising it. Chris
3. The lighting, followed by your camera settings and then the software you are using. See the other answers about your camera settings. I use photoshop and it can correct most lighting problems. If you can't afford photoshop, download Gimp at http://www.gimp.org and spend a few days learning how to use it. It can correct color temperature problems that it seems you are having. Gimp is free and very powerful, but as I said, it has a learning curve and once you learn it, you'll never use bundled or online software again. That is, assuming you are using digital, which you should be to reduce your learning curve considerably. ============== Life is so simple, but we insist on making it complicated. Confucius 551 - 479 BC ============== http://www.chinablix.com Peace Jim .
4. It's your white balance, try setting it for tungsten lighting.
5. Your WB (white balance) is off, most likely. If on auto, try using one of the presets like daylight (sun symbol), or shoot a custom WB off a neutral mid-tone like grass or asphalt.
6. Light has color. Although you often cannot see the color with your eyes, the camera sees it pretty well. Sunlight and indoor lamps are radically different colors. Your camera will show you this - by making things funny colors like your orangish friend! Orange skin tone is really two problems: Saturation and mismatched color balance. You can use your camera to correct the color balance, or filter it. It is easiest to set your camera for the right color balance setting. Near a window with sunlight streaming in? Try the daylight or shade settings. Indoors under a typical bulb light? try the bulb setting. Once the color of the skin is coming out correct, try a custom picture setting with less saturation. The result will look more natural.