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AJ
Lv 4

Why does red light appear yellow-ish/red in photos or videos?

I'm a railfan and see the red lights on railroad crossing signals be "real" red that normal humans see all of the time. But when I take a photo, it's a yellow-ish/red tone. Why is that? It's not just on my phone camera, it's on practically every camera! What's up with that? Here's an example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajuprr/5097714667/in/...

1 Answer

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  • Phi
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    It's because the exposure is adjusted for the rest of the scene, and the light is just one small point of bright light. It isn't so much the color not being red, but the light is too bright compared to the rest of the picture. To make the light look red you would have to reduce the exposure which would make everything else darker.

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