Yellow sheet turns blue

[DrGed]

Yesterday, I was experimenting with a speedlite I've recently bought and did the fairly common thing of using some flowers as the subject. I used a pale yellow sheet for a background

I was, to say the least, rather taken back when the sheet appeared blue on the photo. At first I though it would be caused by horrendous white balance but the other items in the picture seem O.K. to me.

The only thing I can think of is that there's been a "shoot through" effect involving the sofa and wall behind the sheet.

Anway, here's the photo:-

I realise that there are other things wrong with this photo, it's just that the colour of the background is baffling me!

 

[gary996]

Not blue but mid grey. That's what your camera meters at it tries to make everything mid grey (so to say)

 

[DrGed]

Thanks for commenting, Gary!

I've just taken the sheet outside and photographed it in broad daylight. I didn't come out yellow in that case either. The sheet is clearly a pale yellow to the human eye and I must admit to being baffled as to why it isn't renedered anything like accurately when other objects on the same photo are.

Is it a function of having an entry level DSLR?

 

[TG.]

Is it a function of having an entry level DSLR?

Any entry level DSLR should still render the right colours, a bit of a strange one this, what is your white balance set on ?

 

[DrGed]

Thanks, Tel.

My white balance is set to Auto.

The thing is, I've never had a problem like this before. Of course, I've adjusted shots a bit using "levels" and "curves" but this is, as you say, a strange one.

 

[Garry Edwards]

A lot of (synthetic) materials don't photograph as expected.
What we need to remember is that there is in fact no such animal as colour, it's just light reflected from the surface (or transmitted) that has had its wavelength changed.

Does that sheet look different when viewed from different angles? If so, then that probably means that my guess is right.

My suggestion is that you try photographing something entirely different but of a similar colour, and see how that photographs. Oh, and by the way, if you want meaningful advice, don't make any "adjustments" - post your photos straight out of camera.

 

[G.K.Jnr.]

Not blue but mid grey. That's what your camera meters at it tries to make everything mid grey (so to say)

Hi, I think you may be confusing what the term mid grey means.

It's nothing to do with the meter trying to change the colours to a mid grey.

The term goes back to when almost everything was shot in B&W and the term mid grey was an amalgimation of all the various tones (light reflectance values) in a scene. The meter would and still does try to bring these to an average value called mid grey, 18% mid grey in fact the same as a Kodak grey card.

Gary Edwards has probably hit the nail on the head so to speak with his assumption.

Hope this helps.

 

[DrGed]

Thanks for the advice.

I'm told the sheet is polyester-cotton. Having looked at it from different angles and in different lighting conditions, I'm beginning to see what is going on here.

I appreciate the help given and I feel I've learned something important.