How do I photograph a bright LED light source without it turning orange or white?
Asked 12/13/2015
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I built a toy lightsaber and want to photograph it accurately. To my eyes the blade looks red, but in photos from phones and digital cameras it often appears bright orange or even washed out. What causes this, and how can I expose the shot so the light source keeps its real color while still showing some detail in the scene?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
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There are two issues at play here.
The first is exposure. If your camera completely blows out (oversaturated) the light from the "blade" of the model because the rest of the scene is much darker then it doesn't matter what color the "blade" is, it will show up white in the photo. Why? Because even though there may be more red than blue or green light in the "blade", if there's enough blue and green in there for them to be completely saturated on your camera's sensor at the exposure selected by the camera, the (R, G, B) values on a scale of 0-255 will be (255, 255, 255). Even though there is ten times as much red as there is green or blue, the camera can only count the red up to 255, not 2550! When viewing the image this area will appear white, since all three color channels have the same numerical value. In your case it appears the red and green channel may both be oversaturated but the blue channel is not, thus you get orange as a result.
The second is white balance. If your camera is set to "auto" white balance it tries to determine what color temperature and tint values to use when interpreting the data from the sensor based on the brightest parts in the picture that aren't oversaturated. If the brightest non-saturated part of your picture is not actually white, then the camera will fail to set white balance correctly.
So, what can you do to correct this? If possible with the camera you are using dial in some negative exposure compensation or use manual exposure to reduce the overall exposure. When the light from the "blade" is no longer blown out it will appear more red if that is the actual color of the light from the "blade". You can also attempt to adjust the white balance to match the lighting conditions in the room. Since you haven't told us what type of light is illuminating the "blade" from the inside, you might need to experiment until you find a preset WB setting that works best.
Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user15871
10y ago
0
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The main problem is overexposure. The blade is much brighter than the surroundings, so the camera exposes for the darker scene and clips the light source. Once the sensor channels max out, the color shifts or turns white/orange because the camera can no longer record the true red intensity.
What to do:
- Use manual exposure if possible, or dial in negative exposure compensation.
- Start around -2 to -3 EV and adjust until the blade keeps its color.
- If you want the saber itself to stand out, shoot in a darker room.
- If you want the room or other objects visible too, lower exposure enough to protect the blade, then add/adjust other light in the scene.
In short: expose for the bright blade, not the dark background. If the blade isn’t blown out, its color should render much more accurately.
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