night sky pictures turned red??? Nikon D7100

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Guan Yiming

New member
Hi guys
Just a quick question, I took some night sky pictures a few days ago and it was all good but today, without changing any settings, the pictures turned red-ish (please see below). Tried everything I know but it still looked the same way. I was using M mode, 25"/f4.0/600 ISO. All other settings were within the reasonable range, WB was in auto mode.
Not sure if the temperature was the issue, afterall it was only -5. Also it was even colder the last time I was out.
What could've caused this and what setting can I adjust to make it look normal?
thanks!

These are the red-ish photo from today, please see the normal picture from a few days earlier below

DSC_0754.jpgDSC_0757.jpg


from few days earlier
DSC_0731-2.jpg
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
The red you see in your pictures is caused by the city lights reflections in the clouds above. I suspect that for your northern lights picture there were no clouds and you were facing a different direction. Is that possible?
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Like Marcel, I suspect ambient light pollution. Clouds and haze will bring out even minor ground lights when it may not be visible on clear nights.
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Marcel said:
The red you see in your pictures is caused by the city lights reflections in the clouds above. I suspect that for your northern lights picture there were no clouds and you were facing a different direction. Is that possible?
Click to expand...

BackdoorHippie said:
Like Marcel, I suspect ambient light pollution. Clouds and haze will bring out even minor ground lights when it may not be visible on clear nights.
Click to expand...

Question for either one of you...is this one of those situations where the camera records what we can't see or perceive? My analogy would be how cameras capture a greenish tint when photographing fluorescent lights although our eyes don't see fluorescent lights the same way.

OR...

For Marcel, if the red cast is from city lights, do you know if any color cast is visible when looking at the clouds? I don't go out at night to shoot so don't know how city lights appear against clouds. In other words, is there something we can see with the naked eye that would tip us off that this might happen?

For Jake, is there any way to see ambient light pollution with the naked eye prior to capturing it in camera? For example, is there perhaps a visible haze that might be present?

Thanks for any info. :)
 
S

SteveL54

Senior Member
I get the same thing here. This is facing due north, and the nearest city of 25 miles away. City light reflecting off the clouds. On a clear night, there is no red tint. The white line is the International Space Station passing overhead.

14974980332_28db36d0c5_c.jpg
 
G

Guan Yiming

New member
Hi Marcel, thx for replying...when I took the northern light pic the sky was more clear indeed. but I've also taken some pictures with clouds in the sky in the same area, they didn't turn out to be red-ish...:confused:
 
G

Guan Yiming

New member
thx for replying. Last night was no different than any other night (at least from what I saw with my eyes). I used to be even closer to city lights but never got this kind of red-ish pics...btw I was miles away from the nearest town.
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Guan Yiming said:
thx for replying. Last night was no different than any other night (at least from what I saw with my eyes). I used to be even closer to city lights but never got this kind of red-ish pics...btw I was miles away from the nearest town.
Click to expand...
It's not the distance between you and the city that counts, it's the distance between the city and clouds. When the clouds are very high, even if you don't see them with the naked eyes, the city lights still is hitting on them and the camera captures it. The brain auto-corrects the color cast of the clouds, but the camera can't.
 
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