By Paul Tyler
This month I am going to discuss colour temperature and how we can use the effects it gives us to our advantage. I will also show you how you can overcome some of the problems it creates as well.
Below is a colour temperature scale that really shows at what point temperature changes and what effect it has upon the finished picture. A lot of articles you read on this subject go one about tungsten and daylight film, but unless you are working with transparency you will not come across tungsten balanced film, and even if you do use transparency there isn't much of it about these days.
You can take a good picture using colour film indoors with tungsten lighting providing you use the colour cast it gives you as part of the mood for the shot. Just like with all my other articles this is designed to make you aware of what to expect when the prints come back.
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As you can see the temperature of light is measured in Kelvin's, although it's not important to know that. What does matter is that you understand what the different temperatures will do to the picture you are taking.
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Tungsten
Light |
Sunset |
Evening |
| It's hard to lift the model off the background in tungsten lighting, but the red hue can be used to good effect for creating mood. Using the lights as here will make the model more visible. | Notice the colour of the sky and the warmth of the light. Although the photographer has not made any effort to include the sunset, he has used that special light to excellent effect. | Before setting the sun is low in the sky and rakes across any vista. Warm tones and increased modelling give so much more to what would be a rather ordinary picture. |
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| Flash | Overcast | Overcast Shadow |
| Here we have a picture taken with studio flash. All flash these days is daylight balanced, which simply means it creates the same light temperature as the noon day sun on an average day. | This picture was taken on a fairly overcast day. Notice how the tones are starting to cool. When the sky is overcast you get wonderful diffused lighting with very little shadow problems. | If you look into the background of this picture you will see how the guy on the bikes shirt looks blue. An overcast day under the trees. The photographer has used flash to warm the models skin tones. This naturally meant closing down and this of course has darkened the background. A little less flash would have improved this picture no end. |
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| Shadow | Candlelight | Finally |
| This is one of my favourite types of picture. Taken in India with a blazing sun, it would be almost impossible to get a really nice picture. Here the model has been placed in the shade, inside a rickshaw and shadow light has been used. Notice how blue it is on her white top as the shadow is reflecting the clear blue sky. Wonderfully moody. (Notice also how the models hair has picked up the hue of the roof above her) | Obviously candlelight alone will not give you enough light to shoot by, but if you use tungsten light on the subject then your shutter speed will be reasonable. This will leave you with the warm glow that candlelight would give and also not interfere with the subtle shadows.. | Fluorescent (tube) lighting casts a horrible green light that really is almost impossible to do anything about. When printing it is very difficult to correct and get pleasant skin tones. You can use a corrective filter, but sadly tube lighting comes in so many different varieties the only solution is to use a colour meter. For the majority of us of course this means simply avoid it. Daylight fluorescent I am told produces natural daylight, but with experimentation I have found this is not true. In this situation you could use flash, but remember the surrounding scene will still have a green hue. |
So as you can see fromthe above providing you understand the light you are dealing with you can overcome the problems the different casts cause. Better still you can use the colour casts to your advantage. A lot of photographers use a slight yellow filter to give a model with white skin tone a healthier look under flash, but this is really a matter of personal preference. I quite like the look of milk white flesh on the right subject in the right setting.
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| In this set the model, who's skin is very white, fits in perfectly with the scene the photographer has succesfully achieved. | Here the models skin tone is what is described as lightly tanned, and as I said it is purly speculative as to which you prefer. |
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