JUDGING COLOUR TEMPERATURE 1

JUDGING COLOUR TEMPERATURE

This exercise is to make us understand the effect of colour temperature on photography. I think understanding how colour temperature affects an image is important in the overall quality of the image when taken in consideration with other elements of design. Because the colour spectrum changes as the day progresses, we see different effects at different times of the day. Our camera's are designed to factor this when taking pictures. On my nikon D7000, i can choose from 2500k to10,000k which all have different effects on the image.

I have been taking pictures regularly of late trying to understand my camera very well and how it functions. I guess that is what separates a serious enthusiast or

professional from the thousands of point and shoot or camera phone users that abound these days. Night photography and long exposures interest me a lot.  I have been reading about how to take pictures of star trails. Anytime i see those pictures , i marvel at how they are made. But i now understand that  you need a camera with a bulb function, a tripod and remote shutter cable. Because am yet to get a remote shutter cable, i have not yet attempted taking star trails but will do so very soon. With a low ISO, and a mid range focal length with steady tripod , i should be able to produce a good image.

Back to the exercise, we are to take 3 images in full sunlight during the middle of the day, one in shade during the middle of the day and one when the sun is close to the horizon. To do this, I tok a picture of my son in two of the scenarios described. The camera's white balance was set to daylight as required.

Image 1: ISO 1000, 50MM,0EV,F/4,1/1600,WB:DIRECT SUNLIGHT

Image 2:ISO 1000,50MM,0EV,F/4,1/1,600, WB: SUNLIGHT, TAKEN IN SHADED AREA

Image 3:ISO 1000,50MM,0RV,F/4,1/5000, WITH THE SUN ALMOST AT THE HORIZON

The colour of light at different times of the day can clearly be seen here. The first image was when the sun was almost overhead while the second image was in a shade . sunlight white balance was used for all three. The last image was taken in the evening when the sun was almost at the horizon. Note the golden colour of the light and how the young man,s face is evenly lit. The subject was facing the sun when the image was shot.

I did some further reading on color tempeture  on the internet it is described in wikipedia as "a characteristic of visible light that has important  applications in lighting, photography,videography, publishing, manufacturing, astrophysics, horticulture, and other fields. The color temperature of a light source is the temperature of an ideal black body radiator that radiates light of comparable hue to that of the light source. In practice, color temperature is only meaningful for light sources that do in fact correspond somewhat closely to the radiation of some black body, i.e. those on a line from reddish/orange via yellow and more or less white to blueish white; it does not make sense to speak of the color temperature of e.g. a green or a purple light. Color temperature is conventionally stated in the unit of absolute temperature, the kelvin, having the unit symbol K.

Color temperatures over 5,000K are called cool colors (blueish white), while lower color temperatures (2,700–3,000 K) are called warm colors (yellowish white through red)".^[1]