Judging Colour Temperature

So for this exercise I had to look at what time of the day does to the colour of the light in a photograph. I took three shots all with the white balance set to daylight and compared the tones of the light in each image. By choosing a subject without a strong colour it was easier to determine the effect the light would have.

1/400 sec, f/9, ISO 200 Sunlight

1/15 sec, f/9, ISO 200 Shadow

 

1/320 sec, f/9, ISO 200

As you can see in the above shots it is very clear that there is a range from blue light in the shade, neutral or white light in the sunlit photo, through to deeper oranges in the sunset image. It makes it very clear to me that being able to tell what colour the light is can make a strong impact on the outcome of the photograph. The results above seem  to be much deeper in intensity of their colours than I remember them being at the time. This is due to our eyes being able to continuously adapt to the lighting conditions around us where as the camera is not quite so advanced. It’s useful to know what kind of hue certain times of the day and the amount of light will produce in my work.

I took a similar situation to the one above and used the three different kinds of light, but this time changed the white balance on my camera so that it was set to daylight, shade and the auto settings. Here are my results to compare:

Sunlight – white balance daylight

1/500 sec

f/9

ISO 200

Sunlight – white balance shade

1/500 sec

f/9

ISO 200

Sunlight – white balance auto

1/500 sec

f/9

ISO 200

In the sunlight, there is a definite difference from auto and daylight white balance settings from the shade setting. With the shade white balance setting turned on it gives a much more orange tone to the image making it appear warmer as though the sun were lower in the sky when it was taken around 11am. The differences between auto and daylight settings are a little more subtle, but I fell that the auto setting has over compensated which has resulted in a few of the highlights on the pages of the book being over exposed and too bright. The day light setting worked very well as it reproduced the bright midmorning sun without loosing detail in highlights or shadow. I think that afterward the auto setting is the photo that actually appears to look more like it was the one taken in daylight as the slight over exposure sends messages that the sun would have been very bright and high in the sky.

Shadow – white balance daylight

1/60 sec

f/9

ISO 200

Shadow – white balance shade

1/60 sec

f/9

ISO 200

Shadow – white balance auto

1/60 sec

f/9

ISO 200

In the shade, the daylight white balance setting makes the photo appear quite blue and cold, but the shade setting again as it is intended too has reproduced colours very true to the real thing as it has still retained the soft colours of the page without making them feel like they are being too strongly lit like the daylight setting has done. The auto setting is very close to the shade setting again but seems to have over exposed the image a little in favour of letting a little more light into the image. On reflection, the settings were very good at reproducing the exact colours that appeared at the time, but I much prefer the look of the daylight setting after I have viewed the shots together as the blue hue of the image makes it feel more in shadow than the original shade setting photo does.

Sunset – white balance daylight

1/500 sec

f/9

ISO 200

Sunset – white balance shade

1/500 sec

f/9

ISO 200

Sunset – white balance auto

1/500 sec

f/9

ISO 200

With these images its very easy to see that the shade setting produces the most orange looking tones. I’ve realised now that this is most likely due to the fact that when in the shade there are usually a lot of blue tones, so the camera has reduced the amount of blue light so that it balances the red and orange hues. The auto setting has lost any of the tones that originally were there so it looses the effect of being taken at sunset. The daylight setting was the most true in colour, but again after looking at the images it is a different setting that makes it appear as though it is taken as the sun is coming down.

The photo that looks as though it is in strong neutral daylight is the one taken with auto white balance, the one that looks as though it is in shade is the one with daylight settings used and the one taken looking most like it is at dusk is using the shade settings. As I have already describe this is because the camera assumes when you are in shade or daylight there will be more blue or orange tones respectively, so it doesn’t allow as many of those tones to be included in the final image, and that changes the over all colour temperature of the shot. If I am looking to enhance the idea of shade and light close to the horizon it may be better for me to use the opposite setting to what would normally be recommended.