I've got the blues.

[LePetomane]

These shots are with my Sony Alpha7II. Why are the blues so bright and deep. I use auto white balance. Should I use something different?

[Manfred M]

These shots are with my Sony Alpha7II. Why are the blues so bright and deep. I use auto white balance. Should I use something different?

I'd change my exposure. Both images look underexposed and that will definitely cause the sky issue. Have a look at your histogram. Were you shooting with a polarizer?

[LePetomane]

Manfred, thank you. I'll give it a try. I did not use a polarizer. I was shooting in aperture priority.

[DanK]

I agree, exposure is clearly part of the problem, but perhaps not all. How were you shooting? JPEG or raw? If JPEG, what picture style (or whatever the call these in Sony-talk) were you using? If raw, how did you process them?

Apart from exposure, what jumps out at me is not a white balance issue; it's the high level of saturation. Some picture styles do that. Some that are designed for landscaping also boost blues and greens. I never use them, and I don't have a Sony, so I can't provide any detail.

[dje]

+1 to what Manfred and Dan have said. If you are shooting jpeg, then on my Sony a6000 the picture style to which Dan refers is called "Creative Style" and within each creative style selected (including standard), there is the option to adjust Contrast, Saturation and Sharpness. This is probably similar on your A7II. It would be worth checking what is set. I would test these out but we have no blue sky here today!

If you're shooting RAW then your processing will have an effect. Also if your RAW processor has the option of selecting camera profiles, this choice could have a bearing on the colour appearance (particularly via the tone curve contained in the profile).

Dave

[LePetomane]

Thanks for the helpful tips. It's the knowledgeable members and their eagerness to share information that make this the best photographic forum around.

[John 2]

I've had this problem purely because of the meter setting. Centre weighted with too much of the sky in the metering area, will do this. Average generally gets it right for me.

[rpcrowe]

I wrote this before I saw your post that you didn't use a polarizer. However, I'll post the comment anyway...

When using a CPL. the general way photographers adjust that filter is to rotate it until the sky is the deepest blue possible.

This is O.K. but, often, to give more of a realistic look, I will back off a just a TAD from maximum polarization.

Keeping track of the histogram is another important chore when shooting. I shoot I RAW and besides adjusting exposure at the time of shooting as per the histogram, I will usually adjust my image brightness in Adobe Camera RAW...

Finally, at the minimal cost of memory these days, there is really no reason not to use Auto Exposure Bracketing in many (but not all) instances. AEB is especially helpful for inexperienced photographers because it helps in two ways: First in will ensure that you have at least one well exposed image and, Second, when the bracketing is set up in an under, as meter reads and over sequence, it gives the photographer a very good idea of when and how to override the camera's meter readings...

[LePetomane]

Richard and John, thank you.

[LePetomane]

I did get it taken care of by switching the metering to “multi” and working with the white balance. Thanks for the suggestions.

[Tri Danimal]

I see that you got your issue resolved but maybe this will help out someone else in the future.


For Sonys, take a look at both "Creative Style" and "Picture Effect". Picture Effect is like the crappy Instagram filters.

On the A7iii (I know you have the a7ii) it is located Menu-->1-->12--> "Creative Style" or "Picture Effect"

Sony also calls "Picture Profile" the video equivalent of "Creative Style"