Color of the sun: When I took this image last evening in the context of heavy forest fire smoke the sun, to my eye, was a deep red/orange in color. But my D850 recorded the sun's color...

oregonfrank Loc: Astoria, Oregon

When I took this image last evening in the context of heavy forest fire smoke the sun, to my eye, was a deep red/orange in color. But my D850 recorded the sun's color as nearly white (see image). Why the discrepancy?

Doc Barry Loc: Huntsville, Alabama USA

oregonfrank wrote:

When I took this image last evening in the context of heavy forest fire smoke the sun, to my eye, was a deep red/orange in color. But my D850 recorded the sun's color as nearly white (see image). Why the discrepancy?

Likely because the sun saturated the sensor. Look at you histogram.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

If you are using averaging metering, the mostly darker everything else would cause overexposure of the sun.
Try spot metering on the sun?

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Longshadow wrote:

...Try spot metering on the sun?

You would then have the same issue that novices experience with full moon at night: dynamic range.

If somehow the OP could have metered for the sun without destroying his eyes or the camera, the rest of the picture would be black. Look how dark the image is right now vs. the absolutely whiteness of the sun's center.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Linda From Maine wrote:

You would then have the same issue that novices experience with full moon at night: dynamic range.

If somehow the OP could have metered for the sun without destroying his eyes or the camera, the rest of the picture would be black. Look how dark the image is right now vs. the absolutely whiteness of the sun's center.

Yup, a problem, eh?
That's why so many moon shots look like a solid white dot. Two extremes.

TomWed Loc: San Francisco, CA

This is a picture of downtown San Francisco yesterday at noon. I am on the east side of Sutro Hill looking eastward. The ash and grit is everywhere. I have seen pictures of several locations on the west coast.

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BebuLamar

Isn't the sun temperature about 6000K so the color should be white?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

BebuLamar wrote:

Isn't the sun temperature about 6000K so the color should be white?

Yea, on the other side of the haze.

oregonfrank Loc: Astoria, Oregon

I under exposed by up to 2 stops and it made no difference in the whiteness of the sun. Frank

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

The sun is over exposed which shifts it to brighter and closer to white.

oregonfrank Loc: Astoria, Oregon

Thanks to all who commented on my question. I think I understand what happened better now. Frank

JD750 Loc: SoCal

oregonfrank wrote:

When I took this image last evening in the context of heavy forest fire smoke the sun, to my eye, was a deep red/orange in color. But my D850 recorded the sun's color as nearly white (see image). Why the discrepancy?

Yep same exact thing happened to me the other day.

I think that the sun was slightly overexposed. I got a good shot, color was good, but it was behind the trees so then I moved and I didn't re-adjust the exposure. But the light was changing fast and by the time I got repositioned, it was slightly brighter. I got a washed out color similar your shot. That is not what it looked like to my eye.

Exposure meters lie in this situation. If you are using a DSLR probably a way to get better color would be to spot meter on the sun.

Hope that helps.

Not the color my eye saw.
Not the color my eye saw....

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Color is more true to what my eye saw here.

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oregonfrank Loc: Astoria, Oregon

Thanks for your help.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

BebuLamar wrote:

Isn't the sun temperature about 6000K so the color should be white?

Ok, so how do you explain the "golden hour" ? Shouldn't that be white? erhaps the atmosphere has some effect on light color?

Doc Barry Loc: Huntsville, Alabama USA

JD750 wrote:

Ok, so how do you explain the "golden hour" ? Shouldn't that be white? Perhaps the atmosphere has some effect on light color?

Yes, you are correct that the atmosphere affects the color. In the photo below I took on the Big Island, the Sun still appears basically white. The Sun is about three Sun diameters from starting to set or about 6 minutes (the movement of the Sun by one Sun diameter is 2 minutes since the angular diameter of the Sun is 0.5 degree). As the Sun begins it setting for the day, the color will change from a whitish color to orange to reddish. This is due to the atmospheric refraction that causes the blue and green light to be refracted more than the orange and red light. In addition, this refraction causes a foreshortening of the Sun. You may know the old sailor's rhyme of "Red sky at night, sailors' delight; red sky in morning, sailors take warning." The red sky is more dramatic if there is a bit of dust in the air.

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