Light Sources and Their Color Temperature – How to Get Better Colors on your camera

According to Wikipedia.. Color temperature is a characteristic of visible light that has important applications in photography, videography, publishing and other fields. The color temperature of a light source is determined by comparing its chromaticity with a theoretical, heated black-body radiator. The temperature (usually measured in kelvin (K)) at which the heated black-body radiator matches the color of the light source is that source’s color temperature;

“The Kelvin Scale (K) can be used to define a relationship between the heat property of the light and the color. The lower the Kelvin temperature, the warmer (red/long wavelength) the light, while the higher the number, the cooler (blue/short wavelength) the light.” – Camera 101 -White Balancing

Here is a list of Light Sources and their Color Temperature.

1700 K Match flame

1850 K Candle flame

2800–3300 K Incandescent light bulb (75w, 100w, 200w)

3200 K 500 watt tungsten lamp

3350 K Studio “CP” light

3400 K Studio lamps, photofloods, 500 watt photolamp

4100 K Moonlight, xenon arc lamp

5000- 5400 K Horizon daylight

5500 K Photographic Daylight

5500–6000 K Typical daylight, electronic flash

6500 K Daylight, overcast

9300 K CRT screen

Why is this scale useful? It will help you keep your whites whiter and that is important in any shoot.. if you see the color cast on the photo, you can easily compensate by adjusting the Kelvin scale to increase or decrease the color temperature depending on your requirement.

Is AUTO White Balance fool proof? I am afraid not.. in certain mixed lighting conditions, the mix of light may be too bluish or orangish.. depending on which is the more dominant light source. You will have to adjust the kelvin scale on your camera to get a good balance between light sources. a shorcut would be to do a custom white balance against a white surface or a gray card or even use a EXPODISC (sample shots here).

Are their other uses of Color Temperature? Yes.. you can do creative photography by using color balance to change the mood of the photo to make it warmer.. or cooler depending on what you want to convey to your viewers. You can actually cool down a sunset by changing the white balance.. try it..from warm sunny skies you will get a cold blue sky..

Here are 3 photos using Different White Balance Settings.

using the EXPODSIC

Using Auto white balance

Using Incandescent White Balance.

For record purposes i submitted the first photo to get the proper colors.. but the last one has more mood into it and made it look more warm and cozy… which one do you prefer?

Aliwan Festival Photos 2008 – Photos before the rain

Aliwan Festival Photos 2008

I took most of my photos on film so that will have to wait till i get them processed.. but was able to take a few photos before the rain set in.. I used the horizon perfekt to get those wide angle shots.. I wish i had more time to shoot but the rain was nasty..

Am still awed at Lumad Basakanon winning 3 years in a row and to think the Aliwan Festival is only on its 6th year..

Lumad Basakanon in first place followed by Iloilo City’s Dinagyang Festival and Carmen, Cebu’s Sinulog Festival, which placed third.

Here are some photos of the aliwan festival before the rain.. more photos soon!

d300 test shot on iso 2000 taken at 6:03pm didnt bother shooting anymore.. it just wasnt worth it anymore.. well not for my taste, am sure there were others that stayed up all night shooting the festival.

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