Colour Temperature and White Balance

Colour Temperature and White Balance

Colour temperature is referring to how hot and cold a picture looks. We measure this by using numbers, For example if the number is 10,000 this means the picture is very cold and is the coldest it can , However if the number is 1,000 this means the picture is very warm, so the higher the number the colder the picture tends to look and the lower the number the warmer the picture looks. Temperatures over 5,000 is classed as 'cool colours' (blueish) and temperatures under 5,000 are classed as warm colours (oranges)

As we can see in these two images one looks very cold however the other looks light, they have done this by using colour temperature, the lower temperature the warmer the picture however the higher the temperature the colder the image looks.









White balance is the process of removing unnatural and unrealistic colours, So that the colours that are white to our naked eye are also white on the camera and in our pictures.
The advantages of using white balance is:
using white balance can make the picture as close to the human eye as possible, and can also stop unrealistic colours and lighting.

If i was making a quick film with a single camera and wanted to make the actor look like a 'good guy' and make him look kind i would make the temperature look quite warm, this would make the scene look warmer than it actually is, However if i wanted to create a villain who is really bad and no one likes i would make the temperature look cooler than the scene really looks, by doing this i would make the colour temperature quite high this will make image look cooler.  Another example of this would be if i was making a romantic scene i would make the scene look really warm, however if i was doing a funeral and it was raining i would make the scene look dark.