When a sunset makes the sky purple and pink, why do photos you take of this with your smartphone always end up in reds and yellows?

Question

I’ve experienced this with half a dozen phones. Even when you try to edit the photo, you can almost never recover the actual colors that were in the sky.

In: Technology

Answer 1

Under-expose the photo to get more accurate colors. You know how you can focus on a certain point by touching the screen? Focus on the clouds, but hold until your phone “locks” the focus. Then lift your finger, put it down on the right side (on iPhone but I believe it’s similar on Android) and move down. That changes the exposure, making it darker and making the colors truer.

This same trick can be used the other way when you have a backlit subject (bright light behind your subject) or an overcast sky. Focus on your subject, lock focus, and increase exposure.