You might be thinking to yourself, “What is this post about?” I might have thought the same thing before a photographer friend of mine let me in on a little secret involving light bulbs and photography. Are you ready to learn the secret?
First, a little background. Light has a temperature. It’s measured in degrees Kelvins (K). Just to give you an idea of some things you may relate to, normal sunlight is about 5500 K. Shadows are a bit cooler (meaning the light is a little more blue and is a cooler temperature at about 7000 K). And what about that dusk sunlight that is so great for photos? It comes in warm at about 2500 K.
The lower the degrees K, the warmer the light is and vice versa. The most natural photographs are around 5500 K. When you shoot and then correct photos, you’ll often try to get them to this temperature (even if you didn’t realize you were doing it). So how does this relate to light bulbs?
When you pick out a package of light bulbs, they’re labeled with the degrees Kelvin. What? It’s true, go look. You can choose light bulbs with different casts to them. Some light bulbs give off a yellow tint while others are more blue. And you can choose which color of light you put in your house. While this may not be earth-shattering news, it can be good to know when you’re perusing your lighting options in the grocery store aisle.
It’s also good to know what kind of light bulbs you’re putting in so that when you use your camera you can use the correct setting. Did you know that many cameras have automatic settings that correct for some of these common temperatures? You’re probably familiar with a shade setting, but there are also settings for indoor lighting, tungsten lighting, and others. Knowing what you’re using can help you chose the right setting so you don’t even have to do any photo editing later on.
Who knew you’d learn about light bulbs on the photography blog?