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What Colour is 3200K light?
3200K light is typical of lights and has a color temperature of 3200K. It is considered to be a warm light and has an orange hue. However, not all 3200K light comes from tungsten bulbs. Many LED lights can produce 3200K light, and in the case of bi-color LED lights, they can produce both 3200K and 5600K light.
What color is daylight?
The color temperature of daylight varies according to the time of day, weather conditions, and direction. Midday daylight is normally taken to be 5600K, a cloudy sky will be 6000-7500K, and north light (light from the blue sky from the north rather than direct sunshine) can have a color temperature of around 10,0000K. At sunrise/sunset it could be about 2000K, and during photographers’ “golden hour” it is a little cooler at around 3500K.
What are CFL bulbs
These are Compact Fluorescent Bulbs. They are used both in homes and for photography/videography. Like all fluorescent tubes, they contain a little mercury. Daylight CFL bulbs produce light with a color temperature of around 5500K or 6500K.
I'm mostly an editor but I have enough knowledge to shoot decent video provided I have some basic parameters. I'm doing a product demonstration video. My question is what color temperature to set all my lighting (using adjustable NanLites) and camera to in order to get a look that is natural. The setting is indoor, no windows so light is whatever I make it. Is a color temp of 5100K too daylight looking for indoor in this setting? I'm not trying to set a mood, but rather get "real life" look and natural skin tones. I will also be projecting colors on the walls in the background so I want those to be accurate as well. Any suggestions?
Selection of light fixtures, (lamps, lightbulbs) should be based on their CRI value (color rendition index). We are talking about the weather the lamp outputs the full viewable spectrum. A CRI of 100 outputs the full spectrum. You should shop for lamps that output a CRI of 90 or better. The CRI is often printed on the label of light bulbs and fixtures with lamps installed.
That being said, the human eye is remarkable in many ways. They have the ability to adapt to a wide range of illumination, both color and brightness.
This adaptation is unique for left and right eye. Please perform this experiment. Procure some colored filters. Colored cellophane wrapping paper works also. Place a red filter over one eye and look about at various objects. Now remove the filter, close one eye and look about. A few seconds later, swap the eye that is closed. This experiment shows you how powerful the eye/brain combination is to the various colors of ambient light. Try different colored filters. The filtered eye has changed its white balance. It will return to match the unpatched eye in a half hour. The color change is the complementary (opposite) color of the filter. Red – Cyan Green – Magenta Blue – Yellow. On way, the eye secretes a dye, visible purple (rhodopsin) that bathes the retina with a reddish-purple fluid that changes the sensitivity of the various rod and cone cells.
What I am telling you is, the color of the ambient light is not as important as a high CRI.
On a lighter note: Pirates are often portrayed with an eyepatch. This eyewear purpose is not what you think. Sailors prepared for their watch at night by placing a patch over one eye. This patched eye will dark adapt in an hour or so thus night vision out of this eye is maximized.
Kodak advises 5000K with a high CRI.
I have mixed feelings about this.
I have read a lot and still, I have not a definitive conclusion, because I can not find a piece to the puzzle. The pieces are:
I. D65 is the standard for viewing the white point on a monitor. (a, b) It looks better, not yellowish, we know the drill.
II. D50 is the standard for viewing a print in the graphic arts.
III. The recommendations are using they as they are. D65 and D50...
The part of the puzzle I do not quite understand is Why D50 is the standard for viewing prints?
I thought at one time that as tungsten lamps were the standard for viewing everything on an interior (very few people see a print in direct sunlight on a clear sky) the printed industry just did not want to change the standard.
But probably the reason is the same as why warm light is the preferred choice to choose light when we are in a cozy interior. Our living room, the bedroom, vs the cold lights we use in the bathroom or the kitchen.
In the kitchen, we need a more accurate viewing light, probably because we need to see the color of the food, so we can detect if something is wrong with it (the same in the bathroom).
But still, we want the comfort of the warm light when we have a printed photo. Is this even an evolutionary trait? The warm light of a fireplace in the cave vs cast blue sky for hunting?
So probably the standard in the industry expects that the vast majority of people will use a warm light.
On the other hand print paper is rarely pure white. They have a small yellowish tint, and in aging paper, the oxidation makes the yellowing more prevalent. And this would make the opposite case. Use the cold light to counter the yellow. But in reality, this is yellowing not a real factor.
Nowadays you can get viewing booths and lamps for both temperatures.
The specific question is if you need or want to compare a print side to side, which brings some more questions.
Is the monitor bright enough to have a similar luminescence as a viewing boot? Their intensity can be quite bright.
Or you probably need to have them separated on a different desk.
Do you have additional color management systems, like a colorimeter, so you do not rely only on moving the eyes side to side?
My conclusion 1 is to have a viewing boot or zone a bit separated from the computer with the warmer light, to match the expectations of the print standard to see the print independently in the cozy environment and leave the exact match to some calibrating device.
And the same applies to the environmental light of the room. I would not use cold light in the room.
For the flashes, it is not that important if you define the white balance before shooting.
But, my conclusion 2 is that if the workflow is a bit more "industrialized" if you are using continuous light on the photo shoot, where you have the product on a bright table, and the camera thedered to the computer, and you make prints immediately, yes probably, to minimize eye adjustments, the viewing boot or zone could be D65 or a similar temperature as the video lights.
And I agree with Alan Marcus, a high CRI would be more important than a changing light condition. And you do not want to change light conditions, on the contrary, you need consistency.
a. Why calibrate monitor to D65 when light booth is D50?
b. Monitor calibration D65 white point soft proofing
c. What is D50 for graphic arts printing?