What Is The Acceptable Shade To Use In Digital Photos?

[Bluester]

Hi everyone! I have been using the orange color as the hue (or shade) of my photos, per the advice of one of my friends. But I do not know if this shade is the standard tint for professional digital photos; my friend says that the orange hue in the pictures make them look warmer and nicer to look at. On my Nikon D3200, that is the designation A5 in the white balance configuration. Is amber, or orange, the standard shade? If not, please advise what is acceptable or the norm and I will stick with it. Thanks.

 

[Derrel]

Just wondering if you happen to be in the United Kingdom, where excessively warm, orangey images are popular.

 

[Bluester]

Just wondering if you happen to be in the United Kingdom, where excessively warm, orangey images are popular.

No, Derrel. So that is where this shade is coming from. I guess my friend just happened to like orange images. So, what is your advice on this? What is the U. S. standard color? I would also consider a universal one.

 

[sm4him]

I tend to like to go with something close to what the world actually LOOKS like to me, so I kinda like a wb that makes whites appear white and blacks appear black because then everything else tends to work itself out. But that's just me.

Of course, I do live in the land of one of College Football's biggest Orange-wearing fanatic lovers of their team, the UT Volunteers. So perhaps I *should* start processing everything to have an orange tint to it. I'd probably make a boatload of money that way during football season. "Look honey, I even LOOK Orange in this picture! Go Vols!!" Yep, I can just envision it…why didn't I think of this marketing strategy sooner??? I could've retired by now!
Unless, of course, I went too far and accidentally processed someone's pictures to look more of a Florida Gator orange, then I'd probably get sued for "pain and suffering." :lmao:

 

[Nevermore1]

Personally I don't use a "shade" to change the color. I'll set the WB to whatever setting is needed (or to auto WB). If I want a filter color I will put that in later in PS or something, that way you don't risk messing up the image using a physical filter (if that's what you're using, I'm not fully awake and can't decide if you are using an in camera setting or a physical colored filter).

 

[Braineack]

Just wondering if you happen to be in the United Kingdom, where excessively warm, orangey images are popular.

No, Derrel. So that is where this shade is coming from. I guess my friend just happened to like orange images. So, what is your advice on this? What is the U. S. standard color? I would also consider a universal one.

I push all my images to the warm side of things. sometimes to the point of extreme golden light:


Erin at Christian's Pizza by The Braineack, on Flickr

from:

but like nevermore said, i typically just push the WB slider. I don't add a hue/layer or orange.

 

[Bluester]

Just wondering if you happen to be in the United Kingdom, where excessively warm, orangey images are popular.

No, Derrel. So that is where this shade is coming from. I guess my friend just happened to like orange images. So, what is your advice on this? What is the U. S. standard color? I would also consider a universal one.

I push all my images to the warm side of things. sometimes to the point of extreme golden light:


Erin at Christian's Pizza by The Braineack, on Flickr

from:

but like nevermore said, i typically just push the WB slider. I don't add a hue/layer or orange.

Thanks Braineack. I used to set the white balance to zero but after my friend suggested orange I became hooked to it after seeing the photos. I will see what the other contributors here have to say about this.

 

[Derrel]

From Ken Rockwell's D3200 page, "Auto White Balance continues to get better with every generation of Nikon camera. With the D3200, AWB usually gets exactly the results I want under any light.I prefer setting A5 color shift for a warmer look; select this with MENU > SHOOTING (camera icon) > White Balance > Auto > (click right) > Click right to A5 > OK."

This is what the OP is talking about, the "A5" setting. Many Nikons have offered white balance fine-tuning. My D1,D1h,D2x,D3x all offer this type of WB fine-tuning, but using "Plus" and "Minus" numerical values. I was not familiar with the D3200's method of customizing auto or pre-set WB settings.

 

[Braineack]

Set it how you please, but I try to set it how I remember it looking. A warmer white balance add warmth to the picture. The before was cold:

 

[Bluester]

That is what I have been thinking. Orange, or shades of amber, or amber itself, adds warmth to the photos. And makes them alive and interesting. But I have one question: Is there a shade that photographers prefer in the U. S.? As Derrel suggested a while ago, orange is a popular hue in the U. K.

 

[Braineack]

who gives a **** what others in the US or UK think. Do what you want.

 

[Derrel]

That is what I have been thinking. Orange, or shades of amber, or amber itself, adds warmth to the photos. And makes them alive and interesting. But I have one question: Is there a shade that photographers prefer in the U. S.? As Derrel suggested a while ago, orange is a popular hue in the U. K.

I think white balance shifts, as well as tints and hue shifts, are largely a personal matter. But as far as ,"WHAT PEOPLE PREFER," in general, I believe people like a warmer image most of the time, as opposed to a colder, cooler image. A friend of mine who used to work as the chief photo prepared for a major metro daily newspaper's entire press run told me they knew that too much magenta or too much red in skin tones was almost always "Okay," but that if skin tones looked too cold, people noticed and made comments.

I've just noticed that in a lot of the UK media, I see many more glamour/Page 3/feature photos that are wayyyyy warmer than "I" would process them.

But white balance/tint/hue is not a hard and fast rule; it depends on the image itself. For example, in SNOW scenes, where there is open shade, I myself prefer a very,very subtle coolness (an almost-imperceptible blue) to the snow that is in the shade. In areas of a lot of open shade, a slight coolness also can convey the kind of light that was there at the time, hinting say at late afternoon/early evening; if you take the white balance slider and warm that up, it looks "different" than it would in reality, and that might be a bad thing...or, it might be a good thing. "It depends".

 

[sm4him]

That is what I have been thinking. Orange, or shades of amber, or amber itself, adds warmth to the photos. And makes them alive and interesting. But I have one question: Is there a shade that photographers prefer in the U. S.? As Derrel suggested a while ago, orange is a popular hue in the U. K.

I have no idea, but I think that just about anywhere, if you're going to use a color cast to your photos at all, people probably tend to favor a very slightly warm (orange) white balance, because as Braineack said, it adds warmth to the picture. A slightly-warmer-than-real-life person photo may help them look glowing and healthy, whereas a slightly cool/blue tone to the skin makes them look cold and pallid. (EDIT: I am referring specifically to pictures of people, though even there it would vary greatly. But mostly, as Derrel mentions in his MUCH better post, it just all depends on what you are trying to accomplish in the overall tone of the photo.)

But as Braineack also said (good grief, I'm quoting him TWICE?? Armageddon is upon us&#8230, it matters VERY little what "other" photographers tend to do; do what looks best to you. Or, if you must care what "others" think…concern yourself with what clients like/will pay for.

 

[Braineack]

But as Braineack also said (good grief, I'm quoting him TWICE?? Armageddon is upon us&#8230

muhahaha.

 

[KmH]

Many pros use flash when they shoot outside.

They gel the flash so it matches the color temperature of tungsten lighting.
They also take advantage of the fact that the ambient light exposure and the flash exposure can be controlled separately with a single shutter release.

They then set the camera white balance to the Tungsten setting so the light from the flash is white and all the outside ambient light has a slight but distinct bluish color cast.
Doing so separates the subject (lit by the flash) from the background by the lighting ratio and the disparity of color and makes the subject appear warmer than the blue-ish background. But, the technique keeps the skin tones of the person closer to being accurate.