Color Temperature

ColorTemperature:ACrashCourse
RyanPatrickOHara2009
Color Temperature: A Crash Course

written by Ryan Patrick O'Hara
Color temperature is a quality of visible light, which varies depending on the source. In film/video applications it is important to know the basics of color temperature so you may be able to reproduce colors naturally. Once you understand how to control color temperature, then you may make the creative choice to break the rules and purposefully manipulate the use of color temperature to achieve a desired effect on the picture. So before you start mixing color temperatures and throwing gels around like you are the next Christopher Doyle or Vittorio Storaro, you must learn what color temperature is, how to read color temperature, and match your recording medium with lighting sources.
Seeing Color Temperature

The human eye can easily detect large discrepancies between conflicting color temperatures, but we consistently and subconsciously compensate for many of the subtle differences. For example, the light bulbs within your home (at the time of this writing*) are most likely an orange/white incandescent bulb while the ambient daylight from outdoors is a cool blue/white color. The human eye can see a difference, but unlike a camera sensor or film emulsion, the human eye adjusts to accept the different color temperatures at once. Motion picture film emulsions and digital camera sensors are not as forgiving as our eyes. All recording mediums can be correctly set to see only one color temperature at any given time. Film is available in two color-balanced flavors, while video can be balanced to match almost any flavor of light, but only one at a time.
*Light bulb standards will be increased by the government, making most kinds of incandescent and tungsten lights illegal, due to their heat/light energy inefficiency.
Measure and Quantify Color Temperature:

Color temperature is measured in increment units referred to as degrees Kelvin. Kelvin is the scale of which a black body source is heated. From the moment it begins to heat, the black body will produce light radiation starting with infrared. Somewhere around 1500k the radiation enters the human eye's visual spectrum. As the black body continues rise in temperature, the color of emitting light radiation increases. Because the color of light is dependent on the temperature of the black body, this scale can be used to make references to a lights exact color; it's color temperature. Eventually, the radiation will surpass the human eye's visual spectrum and will enter the realm of ultra violet radiation. By referring to a lights color temperature in a specific number of degrees Kelvin, we have a system to which we can always reference the exact same color. Take a tungsten globe for example. The light is comprised of a metal filament, which is heated via electricity inside a vacuum. Once the filament reaches a certain temperature, it will begin to emit light, hence beginning at the bottom of the Kelvin scale. The filament will continue to heat up until it reaches it's maximum temperature... in turn reaching it's maximum color temperature. In this case, around 3200 degrees Kelvin. Of course, this entire process happens within the fraction of a second after the flip of the on switch.
Correlated Color Temperature:

Some light sources we use in the motion picture industry are not derived from a black body like source. HMI, Carbon Arc, Fluorescent, and Xenon are prime examples of these light types. These lights do not work in the same way a black body emits light. Therefore, they have to be rated with a Correlated Color Temperature. This is simply an equivalent color value to be placed comparably on the Kelvin scale.
Green & Magenta

Red/Orange and Blue are not the only color temperatures a white light can appear. Incandescent lighting, using a black body like system of producing light aligns on the Kelvin scale, but lights which do not produce light in the same way, such as fluorescent and HMIs, cannot have true
color temperatures and must be technically referred to by correlated color temperature ratings. These non-radiating systems of illumination may contain spikes of slight hues; commonly green or magenta. These color imbalances may also be corrected using color compensation lens filtration or lighting gels. Referring to green and magenta hues as color temperature is incorrect. They are not part of the color temperature scale or formulas. In order to correct for a non-color temperature spike in color hue, one must use color compensation filtration. These filters and gels come in different strengths, just as CT Orange and CT Blue, and will be covered later in the article.
Correlated Color Temperature Values in Degrees Kelvin:

The following are various light source approximations across a Correlated Color Temperature chart:
Please note: The background of this chart is a visual representation of the kelvin scale. Kelvin temperature approximations are not properly placed across the spectrum. (k= degrees kelvin)
I would like to take the opportunity to post the correlated color temperature values which the American Cinematographer Manual (9th Edition) lists as it's approximations for light sources:
Please Note: The American Cinematographer Manual has additional values for additional types of lights omitted from the above list. Please refer to the 9th edition, if you are in need of additional information.
These values are approximations as all light sources may vary. Values, which relate to natural outdoor conditions, are filled with subjective and objective variables such as what a 'partly cloudy sky' consists of, the time of year, and the location's geography. All of these factors will influence the color temperature of the natural surroundings. The same applies for man made lighting. Although motion picture lamps are designed to operate at a set color temperature, they too possess many variables, which can alter color temperature. I will discuss how motion picture lights can stray from their rated color temperature later in the article.
The Exception
There is however, one natural light source, which is always a constant color temperature, no matter the weather conditions or time of day; sunlight in outer space! If ever shooting outside Earth's atmosphere, one should know that our solar system's star (the sun) produces a constant light source of closely rated 6500k. Of course, this will change in due time, but do not rush for a space shuttle ticket and color meter just yet, as this will not be for millions or even billions of years from now. There is time. If wondering why sunlight in space is around 6500k while sunlight on Earth varies around 5600k, it's due to the same reason why a sunset/sunrise is red-orange and why the sky is blue: the atmosphere. To state the process simply, the atmosphere is filled with many different particles. When the sunlight passes through the atmosphere, some wavelengths of light (waves of electromagnetic energy) pass straight through with little disruption while other wavelengths are absorbed and scattered by the particles within the atmosphere. It is the shorter wavelengths of light (violet and blue), which become absorbed and scattered, creating the atmosphere to appear blue. The absence of the blue wavelength within the sunlight creates the illusion of a yellow like sun. During a sunset or sunrise, the sunlight must pass through a greater amount of atmosphere and hence more of the wavelengths of blue and violet are absorbed or scattered creating very red-orange hues to admire. If one were to look at the sun in space, it would appear almost pure white, as there is no atmosphere to absorb or alter the wavelengths.
Color Temperature of Light and the Recording Medium

The key to attaining a color accurate picture is to have both the recording medium and the lighting sources working with the same color temperature. So long as the Director of Photography understands the color temperature of which the camera is capturing and the color temperatures of which the lighting instruments provide, then he may begin painting with light. Purposefully using lights, which differ in color temperature versus the recording medium, is a common and effective way to attain certain looks and mood. Knowledge and understanding of color temperature is the key.
Film Cameras
Motion picture film emulsions are available in two color temperature 'flavors': Daylight or Tungsten. Daylight emulsions are 5500-5600k balanced film stocks while Tungsten emulsions are balanced at 3200k. Using lights that match the color temperature of your emulsion results with a realistic color representation in the picture. If shooting under conditions that are not either 5600k or 3200k environments, and the ability to adjust lighting color temperature is not a possibility, the use of color correction lens filtration may be used. (Presuming all light sources are of the same off color temperature. Mixed color temperature light sources cannot be fixed with lens filtration). Lens filtration can be achieved either in front of the lens with glass filters or special gelatin filters placed behind the lens. Color correction lens filtration and lighting gels will be covered later in the article.
Digital Video Cameras

Digital video cameras have a slight advantage over film cameras. Although digital camera sensors will be manufactured with a native bias for one color temperature just like film emulsion, the video camera can toggle between preset 3200k and 5600k. If lighting color temperature does not fall upon those two temperatures, the camera has a third function, which is the custom white balance.
Custom white balance allows the camera the ability to recalibrate and correctly reproduce an image under most off color temperature conditions, including green and magenta hues. By using a white card (under the lighting conditions desired), the camera is being told what is white. The camera will then adjust all color values to align with what is white. The ability to white balance negates most reasons to use color correction lens filtration. In fact by using warm cards, cool cards, or lightly tinted color gels, the experienced cinematographer may use the white balance function to 'trick' the camera into overcompensating the white balance, adding an expressive color hue into the image, for stylized appeal.
Never Trust a Light

The color temperature outdoors can vary due to differences in time of day, time of year, geography, geology, and weather conditions. Thankfully man made bulbs and especially motion picture industry globes, are designed and manufactured to operate at a constant and reliable color temperature but, despite these efforts, there are many ways for a bulb to stray from it's rated color temperature. A cinematographer must check his globes and be aware of these factors. * Dimmers: Unlike the other methods of reducing lamp intensity, dimming is simply restraining the amount of electricity from the light emitting process. In incandescent/tungsten lighting, reducing the electric current from the normal recommended amount will reduce the light's color temperature. This does not apply to lighting instruments, which are not radiating (black body like) sources. Non-radiating units behave differently. For instance, some HMI ballasts feature a built in dimmer, which can be used to change the light's intensity. Unlike incandescent lighting, when a dimmer reduces a HMIs electrical current, the color temperature will rise! Most non-incandescent lighting (including HMI and fluorescent) cannot have their intensity reduced by way of altering the electrical current unless the ballast is manufactured with a built in dimmer. Do not try to intercept a nonincandescent unit with a hand or external dimmer.
* Voltage: As the Kelvin scale describes and as dimmers just demonstrated; the color temperature of an incandescent light is related to its temperature. The temperature is related to how much power is flowing into the globe. A globes wattage and color temperature value are rated for use with proper power. Usually, this is a 120volt system with the occasional big boy on 240volts. It is possible that a power source could mistakenly or purposefully sending less or more volts through the pipeline. If the light does not receive the proper amount of voltage, it will dim and lower on the Kelvin scale, as the previous section well illustrates. If the light receives too much voltage, it will burn brighter and the color temperature will rise toward the blue end of the spectrum. Experienced gaffers and electricians may purposefully force a little more power through lights in order to raise the color temperature to desired needs. This is done sparingly because it will shorten the life of the globe and has certain safety implications. If working on a location with old wiring, or likewise suspicious circumstances, perhaps checking the outlet voltage on location scout, is a good idea. It may effect how your lights burn and in turn your intensity and color temperature. This also only applies to radiating light sources such as incandescent instruments. * Bulb life: Brand new bulbs and very old bulbs may be off of their rated color temperature. This will vary with the type of light and bulb. HMI globes are very notorious for changing temperature over their lifetime. It is important to check the condition and age of your bulbs. Many professionals keep track of bulb use/age with written logs. * Cleanliness: The cleanliness of a bulbs glass envelope, the lights lens, and applied gels can affect not only the intensity the color temperature as well. When a bulb's life is getting near the end, the glass envelope in which the filament or arc occupies may darken, burn, film up, and etc possibly changing color temperature. In addition, large amounts of dust upon an old Fresnel lens or gel will account for color temperature shifts. These examples will surely change the lights output intensity and could change color temperature depending on how severe. * Manufacturing: As with any product, exists a small chance of manufacturing error. The filament may burn to hot or to cold, changing the color temperature. More relevant are HMI bulbs. It is not well known that HMI bulbs are made by hand. Although the bulb makers always strive for 5500-
5600k, there is a much greater chance that HMI bulbs will be off of their 5500k rating. HMI bulbs are notorious for shooting way off their color temperature rating when nearing the end of their usable life span. Some industry folk recommend not using an HMI bulb when it passes half or two thirds of its life expectancy. * Bounce source: When bouncing a light off of a source, one must always examine how 'white' the object of which provides the bounce is. Bounce card can have warm and cool tones. Many walls inside locations appear white at a glance or under dim light, but in fact can be a cream color.
The Color Meter

It should be clear that a cinematographer must not rely solely on the manufacturer's color temperature ratings. When picking equipment up from the lighting rental house, it is a wise idea to have a member of the crew check the color temperature of the globes during the lighting units test. This should be stressed when using HMIs as they widely vary in color temperature. In order to take a color temperature measurement, a color meter is necessary. A color meter is similar to a light meter, but instead of output intensity, it measures the color temperature of any given light source. The degrees Kelvin value given by the color meter is a correlated color temperature value, no matter the unit being measured. This Minolta color meter can be balanced for daylight (5500k) or tungsten (3200k or 3400k.) The display can either read in degrees Kelvin or the mired value next to the Light Balance (LB) icon. A second number value will display next to the Color Compensation (CC) icon. This value will have a letter next to it such as a 'G' (green) or 'M' (magenta). These are suggestions of color compensation filters, which may correct other color imbalances. A very useful tool when working with non-radiating type sources such as HMIs or fluorescent units.
Micro Reciprocal Degree (Mired) & Mired shifts

A mired is a unit of measurement used to convey a specific color temperature. Mired values are actually direct reciprocals of a corresponding degrees Kelvin color temperature value. What this means to the cinematographer, is a way to work with simpler numbers independent of the color temperature scale, and be additive. Mired values allow a cinematographer an easy system in which to determine the strength of correction filter or gel.
Mired Shift
Using mired values, one can tell how much correction gel is necessary to 'shift' a light source from its color temperature, to a new one of choice. Two mired values are needed to perform the calculation: The first mired value is the desired color temperature. The second is the value of the light you are going to change with correction gel. Simply subtract the second value from the first value. The remaining value is the mired difference.
All correction gels in the motion picture industry have manufacturer given mired ratings. To get the light's color temperature where you want, simply choose the gel which matches the formulas end mired value. A mired value with a negative integer increases color temperature towards the blue spectrum, while a mired value with a positive integer decreases the color temperature towards the orangered part of the spectrum. If you do not have a gel that matches the mired value you need to make the correction, the mired values are additive! Simply combine two gels and add their mired values together. It is a common mistake filmmakers make when they double up CT Blue or CT Orange. Two quarter blue (CTB) gels do not make one half CTB gel. I will discuss this briefly under the filters and gels section of the article. The following are demonstrative examples of the mired shift calculation process. It is much more simple then it sounds:
The first example could have used lens filtration to match the camera to the lights. The key light and camera emulsion would have remained the same in mired values, but would be switched around in the mired shift formula. (344.8-312.5= +32.2) the resulting mired shift will be the same number, (32) but this time a positive integer. The proper camera conversion filter would have been a Tiffen Decamired R3 filter which is rated at +30 mired shift and a 1/2 stop of light loss.
Color Correction Filtration and Gels

Color correction filtration and gels may be used to get either the camera sensor to match the lighting color temperature, the lights to match the camera sensor's color temperature, or be used to deliberately alter the camera or lighting color balance away from proper rendition for creative look, style, and mood.
Camera Filtration:
As previously discussed, film emulsions have only two 'flavors'. If the cinematographer wishes to shoot in an environment with off balanced lighting or has only the 'other flavor' of film emulsion but desires proper color rendition, he must take measures to balance the camera to the lighting, or balance the lighting to the camera. For this section (camera filtration) we will assume he/she will filter the camera to match the lighting. First, the most common of camera filtration: Color Film Conversion Filters 85 and 80a. 85: If the cinematographer is shooting outdoors (@ 5500k) but has tungsten film stock (3200k) inside the camera he will want to use an 85 filter. This is an 'orange' filter which corrects the imbalance. Since the tungsten film stock will see the daylight as an unnatural blue, an 85 filter will adjust the color temperature down to tungsten (3200k) on the Kelvin scale. 80a: If the cinematographer is shooting indoors with tungsten instruments (@ 3200k), but has daylight film stock in the camera (5500k), he/she would use an 80a filter in front of the lens. This would convert the very orange looking scene to daylight (5500k) on the Kelvin spectrum.
Since lighting situations may often be slightly different from 3200k or 5500k, the chart below introduces some additional flavors in color film conversion filters:
There are many additional color-compensating filters, which are specially designed to adjust the color temperature of the recording medium.
The following charts are lens filtration tables from the American Cinematographers Manual, (9th Edition). Included are Color Conversion, Light Balancing, and Color Compensating Filters, which balance out color imbalances such as spikes of green, magenta, or cyan. Remember, colorcompensating filters absorb the opposite of what they are.
There are other companies who make conversion and/or color compensating filters. They may use different naming systems, but the filters will be very similar.
Underwater Photography:
Underwater photography is a rare and specialized field, thus the subject will be only lightly touched upon. When shooting underwater, color temperature will be drastically different. Like daylight, underwater color temperature conditions will differ due to weather, water body type, depth, location, and etc. Lighting units under water are not a commonplace; therefore, it is always best to have color temperature lens filtration. Consult the American Cinematographers Manual for their Underwater Photography Color Filter Selection Chart. Discuss and research with experienced underwater photographers before shooting takes place. The more information a cameraman can gather about the specific water and weather conditions, the better chance of choosing the right lens filtration.
Lighting Filtration Gels:

Like lens filtration, there are lighting color temperature gels manufactured to shift the color temperature of lights. The most common are CTB and CTO. CTB: Color Temperature Blue. CTB is manufactured to turn tungsten colored lamps into daylight colored lamps. The down side is that CTB is very costly in stoppage. CTB will knock off almost 2 stops of light. CTO: Color Temperature Orange. CTO will make daylight lamps (5500k) tungsten balanced (3200k). This can be more tolerable, as the light intensity is only cut by 2/3rds a stop. Just like camera filtration, there are various strengths of CTO and CTB to make fine adjustments. CTO and CTB come in full, half, quarter, and eighth increments. Each strength will have an assigned mired value and, as always, may be added together. Note: never add gels by their CT fraction, always by mireds. The following charts list common Color Temperature and Color Compensation lighting filtration gels. CT (color temperature) and CC (color compensating) gels are specifically made to change a light's color qualities to match the recording medium. 'Party' gels, which are available in all colors, tend to have a greater effect on a lights color output, and are not typically used to balance a light, but to color it. However, it is possible for a
cinematographer to use CT or CC gels to color a scene, or a light party gel to balance it. Since party gels are almost limitless in quantity, they have been omitted from the following lists. Please request a gel swatch from any lighting gel manufacturers. CT and CC gels are as follows:
Many other types of gels exist, which result in endless possibilities. A color meter can always tell you the whereabouts of your lighting instruments, no matter how you shift the color around.
Conclusion
By now, the basics of color temperature and color compensation should have been addressed. One should know the difference between color temperature and color compensation, as well as how to measure, quantify and control lighting sources. Once a solid grasp of color temperature takes hold, breaking the rules and taking advantage of this system will allow huge creative freedom and ability to express visually. Remember to check the color temperature of lights, (specially HMI globes) before leaving a rental facility. Knowing the color temperatures units at hand is half the battle. Once you know are dealing with, the possibilities open up. your lighting of the what you
I hope you have enjoyed this article. Feel free to send an email, should you have any questions or comments regarding this article. Best, -Ryan Director of Photography Ryan@RyanPatrickOHara.com

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ColorTemperature:ACrashCourse

Color Temperature: A Crash Course

Seeing Color Temperature

Measure and Quantify Color Temperature:

Correlated Color Temperature:

Green & Magenta

Correlated Color Temperature Values in Degrees Kelvin:

Color Temperature of Light and the Recording Medium

Digital Video Cameras

Never Trust a Light

The Color Meter

Micro Reciprocal Degree (Mired) & Mired shifts

Color Correction Filtration and Gels

Lighting Filtration Gels:

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