If you’ve noticed that your photos have a bluish cast or tint to them, there are a few potential causes for this issue. In this article, we’ll go over the main reasons your pictures could be coming out too blue and what you can do to fix it.
Using the incorrect white balance setting
One of the most common reasons for blue-tinted photos is having the wrong white balance setting on your camera. White balance controls how your camera perceives different colors under different lighting conditions. The white balance setting aims to ensure whites are rendered as pure white, which in turn ensures accurate color in the rest of the image.
When you’re shooting outdoors on a sunny day, the Auto white balance setting on your camera will likely do a good job detecting the color temperature of the daylight and adjusting accordingly. However, under cloudy skies, shade, sunrise/sunset lighting, or conditions with mixed lighting sources, Auto white balance can get thrown off, resulting in a blue color cast.
To fix this, you’ll want to switch to the appropriate white balance preset for the lighting conditions, such as Cloudy or Shade. You can also dial in a Custom white balance for mixed lighting situations. Taking a test shot and evaluating the color before shooting all your images can help minimize unwanted color casts.
Using the wrong lighting during indoor shoots
Indoors, most artificial lights on their own will produce an unnatural blue or yellow/orange cast in photos. Again, by leaving white balance on Auto, your camera may fail to compensate properly and end up with bluish indoor shots.
Some tips for better indoor white balance:
- Use natural lighting from windows whenever possible.
- Supplement with white LED or tungsten lights to balance out cool fluorescent lighting.
- Custom white balance off a white surface under the mixed lighting.
- Manually choose a white balance preset like Incandescent or Fluorescent based on your dominant light source.
Proper lighting goes hand in hand with white balance for neutral indoors shots. Add artificial lighting thoughtfully with color gels or reflectors to fill in cool shadows and prevent blue casts.
Using the incorrect color profile
Another potential culprit is having the wrong color profile (or color space) selected for your camera, memory card, or in your post-processing software.
Your camera captures photos in a particular color space – usually sRGB or AdobeRGB. sRGB is smaller and intended for consumer use, while AdobeRGB encompasses a wider gamut more suitable for pro photography. If your photo editing software is expecting sRGB but you shot in AdobeRGB, you may get a blue tint on import.
Fix this by:
- Set your camera, memory card, and software to the same color profile (sRGB is best for beginners).
- Embed the color profile when exporting images.
- Convert to sRGB when opening AdobeRGB images in consumer software.
Editing errors
Accidental adjustments during photo editing can also cause a blue color cast. Some common ways this could occur:
- Pushing the temperature slider too far towards cool/blue in Lightroom or other RAW processors.
- Overcorrecting white balance towards the blue end of the spectrum.
- Incorrectly setting the tint slider which adjusts green-magenta balance.
- Boosting blues too much in HSL panel adjustments.
- Overdoing split-toning, which adds color tints to the highlights/shadows.
Check your editing steps if your final images look more blue than the originals. Resetting edits or tweaking them backwards can help get colors looking natural again.
Camera sensor issues
In some cases, an unresolved hardware problem could be adding a blue cast:
- Older camera: The infrared cut-off filter over the sensor can degrade over 5+ years, passing more blue light.
- Low-quality lens: Cheap lenses may not fully eliminate infrared wavelengths.
- Dirty sensor: Dust or oil on the camera sensor can create blue spots and patches.
- Damaged sensor: Physical sensor defects could filter light incorrectly.
For older gear, it’s a good idea to shoot some test images at different apertures to help determine if the lens or sensor itself is causing unwanted blue hues. Thoroughly cleaning your sensor is recommended if dirt is the cause.
Night photography white balance issues
Shooting landscapes at night presents another common scenario for potentially blue-tinted images. At night your camera is dealing with unnatural colors and very low light.
Tips for better night photography white balance:
- Use a low or warm color temperature like Tungsten or 2500-3500K.
- Switch to manual white balance adjusted from a neutral test shot.
- Shoot RAW to allow fixing white balance in post-processing.
- Reduce blue luminance if the sky is overly bright or blue.
Sample night photography white balance settings:
| Light Source | White Balance Setting |
|---|---|
| Full moon | 4000K |
| Candle flame | 1900K |
| Low pressure sodium vapor lamps | 2200K |
| High pressure sodium vapor lamps | 2600-2800K |
Fixing blue tints in post-processing
If you need to rescue photos with a blue cast, post-processing software provides additional tools.
In Photoshop and Lightroom, try:
- Adjusting the white balance temperature slider warmer.
- Fine-tuning the tint slider towards green.
- Reducing blue luminance or saturation in HSL options.
- Using a photo filter layer set to warming or color compensating filters.
Specialized color correction tools like ColorBalance in Photoshop also offer ways to target and neutralize color casts.
For JPEG images, be careful not to push adjustments too far, as banding and image degradation can occur. Shooting RAW provides more flexibility for blue tint removal in post without quality loss.
Preventing blue color casts
Here are some general tips to help avoid blue-tinted photos in the first place:
- Pay close attention to white balance settings and adjust according to lighting.
- Shoot RAW images whenever possible to allow white balance corrections later.
- Examine test shots on the camera and adjust settings to preview final color.
- Use quality lenses and keep your camera sensor clean.
- Learn your camera’s limitations in low light and adjust accordingly.
- Have photo editing software that provides robust color correction tools.
With enough awareness of proper in-camera settings and shooting technique, you can minimize unwanted blue color casts. And in post-processing you can rescue images by adjusting white balance, reducing blue channels, or applying warming filters.
Conclusion
Blue-tinted photos generally come down to inaccurate white balance settings for the shooting conditions, incorrect color profiles, errors in editing, sensor/lens issues, or challenges of night photography. Carefully assessing your workflow from capture to output can help identify where unintended blue hues are being introduced. Leveraging RAW shooting, custom white balance, color correction tools, and test shots allows you to gain full control over color and create vibrant, natural-looking photos.