Why did my developed photos come back blue outdoors (and fine indoors)?

Question

Just bought an Olympus 35RC on the cheap. To try it out I bought a Kodak Ultra Max 400 (24 exposures), fired them off and sent them to be developed.

The photos I got back were... well... blue? The odd thing is that all the outdoor shots are very blue indeed, while the indoor ones (only two frames on the roll) look like they should.

Now, it was only a test roll so no biggie. But it's difficult to trace down the issue – was it the film, the camera or the photo lab? The negatives looks alright (I see the "bars" and everything).

Here is an example of outdoor vs. indoors (it was a rather sunny day, blue skies with bright albeit low sun):

Here is the full reference sheet of that roll.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

It looks like the laboratory messed things up: the film you used is a daylight color negative film. Which means that basically, without (extra*) correction, the daylight images should have been ok, and the indoors way too orange.

But as it is a negative film, the lab can apply an extra correction for white balance (probably the reason there is no tungsten-balanced negative film).

Was the first image on the series perhaps taken indoors? In that case, the lab technician may have been lazy and applied the same correction to all images on the film, which would have made the outdoors images much too blue... I'd show this to the lab, and see what they are willing to do.

It's most certainly not the camera (film cameras simply don't do white balance correction) and the film would have shown strange colours in all prints (but see the additions below).

Note that for colour slide film such corrections are not possible, if you use a daylight film indoors, you'll have to use a correction filter.

(*: extra correction, as most color negative films have an orange filter layer that has to be corrected for as well for printing).

Edit after seeing the contact sheet: You might also have a problem with the camera shutter, the exposition looks very irregular on a lot of the images, with a visible band at the leftmost quarter. This could also explain some of the colour problems.

Answer 2

You mentioned in a comment on another answer that outdoor photos of overcast scenes also look okay. If only the bright outdoor scenes have weird color balance, I suspect those frames were overexposed.

The density of a negative corresponds roughly linearly to the intensity of light, but only within a certain range. At the extremes, the density response becomes non-linear. If a negative is badly over- or under-exposed, color balancing the printer for the mid tones tends to produce wild colors in the highlights or shadows. It's practically impossible to get a good looking print, so the technician may not have even bothered to try on those frames. A digital lab may be able to apply a non-linear correction, but this is not possible on older printers where the operator just dials in cyan, magenta, and yellow exposure.

Answer 3

The problem is the fault of the photofinisher who developed and then printed the film. The film is developed up to a negative image. This negative image consists of dyes that are laid down in proportion to the color quality of the exposing light. Daylight shots are rich in blue light energy whereas indoor lighting is generally deficient in blue light energy. The photofinisher uses a high speed printing machine that contains a specialized scanner. The job of the scanner and its associated software is to analyze the dye distribution on the negative. This data is used to custom modify the intensity, color, and timing of the exposure used to print the frame on chemical based photo paper. The same is true if the image is printed by inkjet print engine however in this case, the data is used to adjust the ink laydown. In both cases the objective is a print on paper with good color balance.

The photofinisher is required to do due diligence keeping the printer updated as to characteristics, past and present, of color films. We are talking about the various film manufactures film types and batches. Each will have different characteristics. Such due diligence is costly as test prints must be frequently made and test materials purchased. It is all too common for a photofinisher to fall down of the job. When this happens, poor quality prints are the result. Your remedy is to take the film and prints back and tell them you are dissatisfied. A reputable photofinisher will reprint the offending prints at no charge. Also, remind the photofinisher that they are not inspecting their work and you expect better.

Answer 4

Alternate theory: I have seen this type of colour shift in C-41 film that is drastically underexposed. (like 3-4 stops)

It really looks like something is up with your shutter, based on the reference sheet. (that is not a contact sheet, as the printer is still applying separate corrections to each frame)

Are the blue images also noticibly grainier than the others? If so it is probably that your shutter and/or light meter are functioning inconsistently, resulting in some frames being underexposed.

If you look at the negatives themselves (not that ref. sheet), you may notice that the bad ones are also fainter/thinner than the others -- this would point to exposure issues.

Answer 5

I assume you got prints, not scans.

Your lab simply screwed up the colour balance on your prints. You shot a colour negative film which is daylight-balanced, so the negatives are likely fine (C-41 process is a standard process regardless of the specific film). However, you can adjust the colour balance at the time of printing, and it appears the lab added blue to your prints. This would be correct for the indoor shots by tungsten light (tungsten bulbs have very warm light, as far as colour temperature goes), but outdoor light is much cooler and this would result in blue prints.

Normally the opposite occurs - indoor shots are too orangey-yellow and outdoor shots look fine.

I assume you didn't shoot through a filter. A blue filter of the correct tone would automatically record indoor tungsten light shots with the correct colour balance, but if used outdoors, would do the same thing. (Most point-and-shoot camera don't take filters, but I've seen a few that do. A filter of this type on the lens would be obviously blue.)