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Color Temperatures...


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ok, So I'm sitting here looking at all the practicals in my room, I'm not shooting anything in here, i dont think so anyways, Im just thinking of how I could light it, and seeing all these different looks. now, Is it an ok thing to mix color temps? Like, I know its not a brilliant Idea to mix daylight with Tungsten, unless you want that blue spill, but as for lamps and stuff, Say Im shooting in here and using these lamps as practicals they will just be there pretending to light the place up right...what if They give off different color temps? I've seen some films where a lamp would appear orangish, and others where they just match color temps, is it a good practice to play around with mixing color temps? do they effect eachother to a noticable extent? and one last thing, ive got some wierd colored lights around the house, some look odd, how do I tell what the color temp is? should I just replace the bulb with a new 3200k one? just some dumb questions I need some clarification on...thanks

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Caleb Deschanel once said that he rarely has a light at 3200K...

 

Sure, people mix color temperatures all the time on purpose. For example, it is not uncommon to gel movie lights with 1/4 Straw or CTO to match the warmth of a household practical lamp, and keep that warmth in the image. And it's not uncommon to let industrial lights retain their odd colors, especially if it's only in the background (you have to decide if you really want your faces in that color or not.) Paul Cameron has made a signature style of mixing blue-green lights with gold lights, sort of like an exaggeration of mercury-vapor discharge lamps mixing with tungsten.

 

It is also not unusual to let fill light be a little less warm than the key light so that the shadows don't get as reddish.

 

Of course, you need to know when to MATCH color temperatures as well, for example, so that an additional lamp you turn on looks like it could be coming from a practical lamp in the frame.

 

You can mix colors if you want a mixed color look, as long as you realize that color-correcting the image later will shift the overall colors in one direction or another, but not change the relative differences between the colors.

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Hi,

 

People often talk about mixing CTs and having daylight go blue - of course it's equally possible to balance to the daylight and let the tungsten go warm, which is something I prefer, and which looks nice on video if you desaturate a little later on.

 

Phil

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People often talk about mixing CTs and having daylight go blue - of course it's equally possible to balance to the daylight and let the tungsten go warm, which is something I prefer, and which looks nice on video if you desaturate a little later on.

 

Good suggestion, also you can balance whatever you want, for example balance half-way, so nothing is quite neutral but either not too saturated. You could also then add some neutral colored light.

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I think the point here is that film and video capture color temperatures differently than the way your eyes see them (which you probably know). So at issue is how do you want the color to come out on screen? If you want the environment to appear naturalistic (the way it appears to your eye), then you'll need to color correct you lighting, at least most of the way. But if you want a more colorful look for expressive purposes, then you can do whatever you want.

 

Brian Reynolds created a signature look for "NYPD Blue" That mixed orange tungsten, blueish daylight, and green fluorescents in almost every scene. It's an exaggeration of what you would see by eye, and it helped create a more chaotic feel to the urban environment.

 

Regarding the odd lamps in your house, there are really only so many types of lights out there and after a while you get to know what the color temperatures and spectrums of those lights are. If it's a regular screw-in base, chances are it's typical tungsten or halogen (2900-3400 ish), or possibly a compact fluorescent which will probably be around 3000 but with a slight green tinge. There are others that I won't attempt to list here.

 

A good way to learn the color temp. and spectral output of any light is to simply pick up a camera (video, digital or film still) and shoot it, and see how it comes out. Note what color balance film or white balance you're using as a reference.

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Good suggestion, also you can balance whatever you want, for example balance half-way, so nothing is quite neutral but either not too saturated. You could also then add some neutral colored light.

 

Now I'm guessing by balancing halfway you mean in video to White balance on a slightly warm or cool card...but in film how would you go about doing this? By gelling the lights? I'm stupid...

 

Thanks..

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Now I'm guessing by balancing halfway you mean in video to White balance on a slightly warm or cool card...but in film how would you go about doing this?  By gelling the lights?

 

That's one way. Just make sure you know whether you have tungsten (3200K) or daylight (5600K) balanced stock, and everything else is just common sense.

 

Gel the lights with either CTB or CTO, whatever you need! If you want "half way," then you would use a 1/2 CTB or 1/2 CTO, depending on stock/light. Then there's even 1/4 CTB or CTO, if you want an even more subtle correction, or if your lights are somewhere in between 3200K and 5600K. There is also CT Magenta/Minusgreen, for correcting fluorescents.

 

There are also these gels available as camera filters if you need to "change" the balance of your stock (you'll lose sensitivity, though).

 

Another way would be to shoot a grey card at the head, and when the footage is sent to the lab, they can time out any color so as to make the grey card grey, thereby white balancing.

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