All of the pictures developed from my mother's 35 mm camera are blue in 
color.  Why would that happen?

Thanks!

32 responses total.

Do they have anything in common, like all indoors, or all in sunshine?
Another thought is it could be that some automatic "adjustment" feature
was activated accidentally. Have you checked the camera to see if any of
the settings are odd?

Was the film old?

(is any film new these days? :)

That was my thought that the film might be old, and yes you can still
buy 35 mm film. Anyway it can be fixed by either yourself with a good
photo program or at a photo processing place.

Was the film balanced for tungsten (incandescent) lighting? This would 
yield bluish photographs if used outdoors.

Mom tried developing pictures from two different rolls of film, and 
both had about the same amount of blue.  It looks like the pictures are 
being viewed on a monitor which is going bad.  I tried scanning in some 
of the pictures and fixing them with a photo editor but wasn't able to 
get them looking very good.

Most of the pictures I saw were taken outdoors, in November.  She 
didn't use the camera again until this weekend past, and said the 
pictures were blue again.  I haven't seen them yet.

I haven't checked out the camera much.  I don't know much about film 
cameras.  I'll look it over to see if there are any settings which 
might be whacky.  What settings should I look for?

What was the film that was used? (It would be unusual to have used an indoor
color film as the usual choice is to use an outdoor film with a blue filter
for indoor photography). 

I am sure she used standard 35 mm film, or whatever she believed was 
that.

therea re a lot of different 35mm films jep.  ASA 400 is more sensetive to
light than ASA 200.

I'm wondering about the *color balance* of the film. ASA is just speed. 
If she had just picked a film off the rack without knowing about color 
balance and such she might have bought an indoor (tungsten) film. So, 
what was the film code number? 

I'll ask.

I assume that info would be "printed" in the negative frames, though 
my memory here is hazy, as I have done little 35 mm photography in 
the last decade and I never processed my own color film.

if these are prints, the printing color balance is way off ... they
neeed to bre reprinted  ... which is usually done wen a roll comes 
out that way ... (commercial experieerence spseakig .. film lab)
  
it they are slides ... they mya have devleoped ektachrom in a kodachrome
process ... or the revese ... (i forget which .. long time ago).
  
soemtimes, with slides , the ektachrome could have bbeen exposed with
the wroing filter over the lens ... or using a indoor film outdoors.
  
outdoors has *tons* more blue in the light source. partof what rcurl
said in #5.

Which is why I wonder if he used a digital camera accidentally set for
"indoor."

ummm, not with ..............    film   .....

It's a film camera, not a digital camera.

My mother doesn't know what kind of film she was using.

Photos exposed to light for a long time turn blue - first the yellow then the
red fades.  Maybe the camera is leaky and light also affects the film?

taht woujld abe arond the edges fo the frame, not he full frame and
at he head and tail of the stirp of film.
  
jep - are these pics prints or sildes?

They are prints.

then they can be reprinted wiht the correct color correctoin ... adn if
it's not too alte, the repriting should be no-charge - the lab goofed bigtime.

The photo labs failed two different times, months apart, getting the 
same results both times?  That's hard to believe.  I think my mother's 
camera is defective.  I was hoping to find a way to fix it.

I'll probably be at her house next weekend and so I will go through 
this item then to check out any suggestions.

At this point I would buy a short fresh roll of film (12 exp. or so).
Be sure you buy a roll marked for outdoor use.
Take a bunch of meaningless photos of kids, pets, scenery, at
an inconsequential time.   After processing, this new roll 
would provide strong evidence of whether the 
problem was in something that happened to those two rolls of film
which came out blue (were they from a common source?  were they 
old?  John's mom probably doesn't know) or if the camera is 
somehow messed up.
 
But "blue" seems like a chemical error relating to the film, either in 
its manufacturing, storage or processing.  A 35 mm camera doesn't know 
about color.   Camera errors would be things like light leaks, blur,
bad focus, chronic over- or under-exposure.  Color should be in the 
realm of film chemistry.   (Unless there's a filter on the lens...)
 
If the two rolls came out of the same retail package of film, or
were bought at the same time, there could have been a screwup
at the film factory.

Next step:  Get your mom a digital camera.  :-)

I miss photography sometimes.

Mom bought a digital camera for my niece's graduation, then took the SD 
card to RiteAid to have them print pictures for her.  Heh.  I'll show 
her how to print her own.  Maybe she will come to like that better.

We don't print our own because we don't print many. Printing pictures will
probably largely go the way of newspapers - you can always bring them up on
a computer - or a digital picture frame (we had a travel series showing
continually on a digital frame - but it failed after a couple of months. The
store did honor the warranty and sent a new one, but we are not longer running
the loop on it). 

#21 of 24: by John Ellis Perry Jr. (jep) on Sat, May 16, 2009 (13:59):

> The photo labs failed two different times, months apart, getting the
> same results both times?  

YES. COMPLETELY. systemic deftect. gullible public.

> That's hard to believe.  

NO, NOT HARDLY - been there; done that. lab tech _FOR_ color correctino.

> I think my mother's
> camera is defective.  

NO WAY THAT COULD HAPPEN TO COLOR_ALTER A ROLL

> I was hoping to find a way to fix it

DIGITAL

... and what a buncha other folks said avbove

It's possible the film was old, and also that she bought both rolls at 
the same time.  I suggested she get as small a roll as possible and see 
if she still has the same problem when she develops the film.

Maybe if she gets her film camera to work properly she will give me the 
new digital.  Heh.

pse to let us know when you get the reprints.
  

Does your mother live near the ocean?

Mom's not in a hurry to fix her camera.  I think the film explanation 
makes a lot of sense.  Eventually she'll try it again with new film, and 
then we will know.

Read the label on the film carefully before buying to ensure it is for outdoor
lighting.

The scenario you want to avoid is where the next roll of film
put through the camera is Johnny's graduation, or cousin Suzie's
wedding, and the pictures come out blue again.  :/  Me, I like
to have some trust in my tools.

She does, too, and bought a digital camera.

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