Eliminate Green Tint Photos Using A Fluorescent Filter

To your eye, fluorescent light seems slightly on the blue side. To your digital camera, it is greenish and subjects tend to appear slightly seasick.

Daylight fluorescent filters will eliminate the green tint you will usually get when shooting indoor photos. This is a medium-density, magenta-hued filter that provides pleasing skin tones and accurate color by removing the harsh green cast you can get with nonflash pictures under cool white fluorescent lights. Since they emit a discontinuous spectrum, color correction will not be perfect in all cases, but it’s generally pretty good.

Many digital shooters say they get better results with an FL-D (Tiffen’s registered name) than with white-balance settings alone, and you may also like the rosy “twilight” effect you get by shooting with an FL-D indoors. Although you lose about one stop in light transmission with this filter, the effects can be well worth it.

Below, are two examples using a fluorescent filter and not using a fluorescent filter in the same lighting environment where no flash was used and the depth of field was approximately the same distance.

Smithsonian Natural History Museum, Washington DC
A fluorescent filter WAS used in this photo above

Smithsonian Natural History Museum, Washington DC
A fluorescent filter WAS NOT used in this photo above