Why do repeated macro photos on my phone have different color shades in the same lighting?
Asked 5/8/2013
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2 answers
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I’m photographing a small object from about 4 cm away with a 5 MP Samsung Galaxy GT-S5380i in macro mode. ISO is fixed at 100, metering is center-weighted, and the camera and subject are enclosed in a box so the lighting should stay the same. Even using flash, repeated shots of the same scene come out with slightly different color shades. Is this normal, and how can I make the results consistent from shot to shot?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
2
Assuming different shades means the color of each photo varies, I would blame the auto white balance algorithm of the camera. The white balance decision is most likely being made at every shot, and then the answer seems to vary.
If you can set the white balance to a setting on the camera that is static but is a reasonable match for your scene (like outdoors or natural, not sure of the exact options for that phone), you should get consistent results.
Originally by user5247. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user5247
13y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes, this can be normal if the phone is using auto white balance. Even when the lighting and subject stay the same, the camera may recalculate white balance for every shot, causing small color shifts between images.
The main fix is to stop using auto white balance and choose a fixed white balance setting that matches your light source. A static white balance should give much more consistent color from one image to the next.
If your phone does not allow manual white balance control, consistency may be limited by the camera software. In that case, using the same lighting and avoiding auto adjustments as much as possible is still the best approach.
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