The History and Science of Color Temperature

[@erett2000]

All of your videos are so easily understandable, whether a novice or an expert. In 11 minutes, you have successfully explained something that may take an entire semester at film school. Just don't forget those HMIs!

[@zeeuransh210]

"Go out there, and make something great !" So inspirational, HESS.

[@radoo86]

10 years later this is the best video about color science I ever seen.

[@karinacomposer]

This is the best Filmmaking channel out there. I watch it all the time for just everything.

[@JetPoweredCloud]

This video is pretty...illuminating.

[@parp]

John-S no fuck off

[@Elbeno6548]

that's a "bright" comment

[@tdcattech]

This is brilliant. No matter how much we know (or think we know) there's always something to be gained from watching these videos. Thank you for making these.

[@terfone16]

White balancing gets all your colors to match, then once you've done that, you can go back in post (or in camera if you know how to) and color grade to get the look you're going for. It really depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Most commonly though, you'll white balance to whatever lights you're using and then in post you'll color grade to give your film a certain look.

[@ccc1262]

I fell asleep watching one of your videos and I wake up the next day seeing my history filled with all your videos and it is still playing!!

[@Digmen1]

I do that sometimes as well although with other channels, they just seem to come up

[@alenz01]

I love how much you have condensed information in a sinlge row. Thanks man, you are the best!!!

[@Otokichi786]

Once upon a time, certain still and motion picture color films were also color balanced for 3400K, also known as "Type A Tungsten" (A long ago example: KPA = Kodachrome Type A) 3200K, AKA "Type B Tungsten" is the dominant Tungsten balanced film these days. About this time, 5500K was called "daylight balanced" film. (Such as Kodachrome 25, Ektachrome 64, Fujichrome R100, etc.) When (color) film was king, the most difficult mixed lighting problem was Fluorescent + Daylight. FLD and FLB camera lens filters "solved" the fluorescent-only problem, but adding daylight resulted in very strange-looking outdoor colors, due to the CC30R or CC30M corrective filters in use.

[@bluenetmarketing]

There are so many variables that it is daunting.

[@bluenetmarketing]

@@heartlights Thanks for the encouragement.

[@chrispeoples4606]

Excellent presentation, I plan to show this in my high school physics classes when I teach heat transfer and thermodynamics!

[@ravensrolltop]

Thank you so much for posting this! I have been dragging my feet on this issue, but now that I want to shoot videos for KZbin, I really need to master this concept.

[@kamenriderinfinity]

Science and filmmaking... pretty awesome...

[@phocasdesjardins4129]

Thanks!

[@Roxor128]

The mixing of colour temperatures at the window seems like it could be useful for certain effects. You could use a daylight balance to make a particular building's interior seem like it's out of place. Alternatively, use the tungsten balance to make it look like the building is normal and the world is strange.

[@seanmangan2769]

Thank you! As a flashlight nut I'm familiar with CRI, but this video gave me a deeper understanding.

[@djrbfmbfm-woa]

again john, excellent info with no bias. thank you. j.

[@djrbfmbfm-woa]

don't watch then. i never watch. j.

[@69thdronedetachment78]

Love it...I've been totally geeking out on the math and acience part. Now, to translate that cool info into better practical knowledge of filming. Thanks!

[@iV1n5]

This video was literally enlightening!

[@JamesBond-uz2dm]

That was a concise and accurate description of the properties of light. The genius of Max Planck seems to be lost to history. I am glad you used his theories to explain light. He moved knowledge from Newtonian physics to Quantum Mechanics. Many films from the 1980's seemed to be washed in blue dye. The color is a distraction, not an enhancement. The move away from the " blue movies" was a welcome change. I consider motion pictures to be the highest form of art. Your insight and presentation help movie lovers to understand the complexity of the art.

[@robertromero8692]

James Bond Unfortunately, today's Hollywood is utterly IN LOVE with the color teal. Today's movies are AWASH in it. It's revolting, and they also wash older movies in it.

[@k7jeb]

James Bond: ""The genius of Max Planck seems to be lost to history."" ?? Well, perhaps to the scientifically ignorant, but physics is awash with tributes to him -- Planck's constant, the Planck units and the aforementioned Planck's Law. No, the founding father of quantum mechanics will be remembered for quite some time.

[@Taladar2003]

There is also the Max-Planck Gesellschaft in Germany running over 80 Max Planck institutes for all kinds of research.

[@TheGuggo]

If I remember well, Einstein had the portraits of the major scientists he considered as those guiding his work. Newton, Maxwell and Plank. I couldn’t verify this but I think Plank,ought to be one of them.

[@Digmen1]

Many are still bluish - I dont like it Vikings and that tank movie Fury

[@PedroDavidMoran]

Awesomeeeee. Thanks a lot! wish I had subscribed to this channel yeeeears ago! its simply impeccable!

[@myerrandolph1033]

You're brilliant! Thank you.

[@timwiesner5941]

This channel is like history classes in film school xD

[@PhilEVignolaJr]

Great video! Really brought home the concept of color temp to me. Thanks.

[@rogerg_zapata]

Excellent video mate! Thank you

[@cityofangelsandangles3697]

Excellent video.

[@TheGraal]

Brilliant video! 🤩

[@pantherpr1]

Great video. Thanks man!

[@benjaminlandis]

Kelvin is not referred to as "degrees kelvin" it's just 3200 kelvin.

[@It9LpBFS37]

benjaminlandis ah finally someome pointed this out!

[@cpt_nordbart]

benjaminlandis at least I was not the first

[@alexusyoung629]

Wow, I signed up to be a member even before this very video was covered in our tutorials. That means I'm attempting to always be ahead of the game. I now understand the importance of Tungsten balance and adjusting the color temperature to better suit, or match the scene in question. Very informative video presentation which is in succinct with what the film school is teaching. But is the CTB's or CTO's similar to Grids which are also used for color diffusion?

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Thank you. CTB/CTO stands for Color Temperature Blue/Orange. Those gels are just for changing color, not really for guiding or diffusing the light.

[@DonaldKamarea]

well explained !!

[@seanmangan2769]

I love this series!

[@FilmQi]

Super interesting! thanks for sharing

[@aujax1]

great video. very informative!

[@Twobarpsi]

Excellent info!

[@oldtvnut]

A fine point on the incandescent bulb color temperature: 3200 may be used for studio lamps, but it gives too short a life for practical (e.g. home) use. Plus, when TV studios used only incandescent, it was usual practice to dim them to 70% as a base setting, which could then be increased or decreased slightly to balance intensity of different units in a scene, without making the color temperature too obviously different. Incandescent lamps for general use in the home, etc. have typically been 2700 K, and you will find that this is the color temperature of "warm white" LED bulbs also. In uses where long life was more important than efficiency (for example, in subways), it was usual to install 130-volt bulbs on 115 volt circuits, thus reducing the temperature even further and extending the life greatly. Sometimes these bulbs were marketed for household use with hype about how long they would last (and no mention of how inefficient they were).

[@musaran2]

Also, lights intended for the bathroom tend to be very warm because it makes for flattering skin tones.

[@samarindo]

You explain it so clearly, I have learned alot ! thanks teacher :) You earned a suscriber.

[@rajivranjan3277]

Nice informative video .

[@cecehristova3089]

You are amazing! Thank you so much:)

[@heidaz]

I see many things that i am learning in school but you explain them so great that i finally understand them^^ Will you be my teacher?

[@914peru]

very nice

[@heidaz]

Your work is awesome! I love the videos! Please keep doing them, i learn so much from them :)

[@mossaybo]

4:10 I made the video fullscreen and turned on my brain .. a very interesting video

[@jaimepena2052]

9:00 higher Kelvin values or color temperatures do not indicate that a lighting source produces “warm” light. On the contrary, the higher the color temperature, the “cooler” is the light looks visibly. Similarly, the lower the color temperature, the warmer is the glow of the light from the bulb. Iam Confused

[@FilmmakerIQ]

That's a weird disassociation of our senses and reality. That's probably because we never ever really deal with anything hot enough to be emitting blue light. Everything that's bluish is reflecting light from the sun which is much hotter than even molten iron.

[@BlackGuyPeed]

I think either you made a mistake or I'm not getting it: at 9:00, you say "if you want a warmer tone, just push the color temperature higher." Then, when you're explaining interior and exterior combination-shooting (very helpful btw) you say something that sounds like a contradiction to this: "dimming of tungsten lights will LOWER their color-temperature, and make them look WARMER... so by Planck's law, they will be a LOWER color temperature." I thought you made a correlation between higher color-temperature and warmth/lower color-temperature and cool tone. How can lower color-temperature suddenly produce "warmth?"

[@FilmmakerIQ]

It's all about what the relationship between the camera settings and color temperature of the light. First of all, it is indeed backwards to our normal language - we perceive the cooler color temperatures as warmer than higher color temperatures. A red hot ember looks warmer than a blue butane torch flame even though the opposite is true. Color temperature has nothing to do with our psychological perception to the light - it's the temperature of a black body radiator that would produce the quality of light. Now for the relationship. A warm shot in camera means that the color temperature in the scene is lower than than the setting in the camera. So if you want to warm the shot - increase camera's color temperature. In regards to dimming tungsten lights - you're putting in less current which results in the filament not getting the same amount of energy and glowing with a lower temperature - again because of our backwards psychological connection, lower temperature means warmer look.

[@BlackGuyPeed]

Filmmaker IQ Thank you for making that clear - I'm aware of the inverse color relationship (my dad taught me about the blue part of the flame being hotter than the tip when I was a kid), but when you made what sounded like a correlation between higher color temperature and warmer tone (in-camera, withstanding) I thought my understanding had been completely backwards! It's good to know there IS a constant relationship, even though it's inverse. Can you elaborate on the concept of a black body radiator please? Thanks P.S. - if hell is made of fire, it's no wonder the lowest level was blue according to Dante - it wasn't the coldest, it was the hottest! :P

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Shane Taylor A black-body radiator is a scientific construct which is used to describe the electromagnetic radiation given off by a perfectly uniform body in a given temperature. You can read more on it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-body_radiation It is the fundamental science which all of color temperature is based :)

[@inst1tution]

Great video.

[@Shiznaft1]

Thank you for this post.

[@dennisonyango2084]

Amazing

[@andrscpndr]

Dear John, your videos are wonderful. Thank you! You are a great teacher. I have two questions, if you can answer. 1- We relate the concept of colour temperature and the concept of heat. The temperature of a tungsten alogen bulb is really 3200K. It's 3200K hot. The surface of the sun is really 5800K. Is there a relationship between heat and the temperature of a overcast day (6500K)? 2- In the spectrum of visible light we found all the colors. We found also green. But we separate the concept of colour temperature and the concept of tint (green-magenta). Why?

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Good questions: 1. Yes, the temperature is really correlated - it's the kind of light given off by a blackbody radiator - so the surface of the sun really is 5600K. The reason an overcast day is higher temperature is because the clouds filter out a lot of the lower frequencies and the light is the equivalent of a blackbody radiator (or a sun) that's glowing at 6500K 2. Green is right in the middle of the spectrum - so we can sort of think of color temperature running from red (low temperature/frequencies) to blue (high temperature/high frequencies) - in that range it crosses green (medium frequencies). Because we are trichromatic animals (or eyes are sensitive to Red Green Blue), we have to balance temperature with tint.

[@andrscpndr]

@@FilmmakerIQ thank you very much! Great!

[@0Akeldama0]

great stuff, im stupid and you had me nodding

[@janapruskova3620]

thank you, now I finally have a clue about the mumbo jumbo camera crews use and the things they do with foils:)

[@youtravel2567]

Great content

[@MaoRuiqi]

What's the issue of setting lights to "white (pinkish) skin color as "flesh" color as opposed to other skin colors, especially when radically different appear in the same scene? What cultural impact does this pose to a growing multicultural one such as the USA?

[@FilmmakerIQ]

+Ruiqi Mao I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at. White balance has only a tangential relationship to fleshtones - the warmer the white balance, the more reddish hues are brought out. Colder white balance will bring out the blues - but that's no different from flesh tones as well as every other tone. The fact of the matter is pretty much all skin tones share a commen hue - that is a proportion of Reds Greens and Blues. The difference between dark and light skin is just a matter of how much pigment is in the skin (it's the same pigment for all people). On a vectorscope this is represented as the "Fleshtone line" and it works for all races. So there's no cultural impact in this regard. You may be referring to color photographic film from the 50s - there's a video floating around trying to agitate people about how "racist" film was back in the day. The truth is, yes there has been some ethnocentrism in the development of film stock - the people who developed it developed it for people that looked like them. But there's also a significant technological hurdles to overcome when photographing darker skin tones - basically the early film stocks didn't have the dynamic range that we enjoy today.

[@DasAntiNaziBroetchen]

Hello Can you explain to me why the color temperature names are inverted? Is it because we gave colors temperature associations before figuring out the physics?

[@FilmmakerIQ]

That's pretty much it right there - Ancient humans knew fire was hot long before they understood that the surface of the sun is hotter.

[@Digmen1]

Thanks for that. How come we use degrees Kelvin and not degrees Plank?

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Because Kelvin came first.

[@infonames]

Can u explain about mired (micro reciprocal degree)concept, for color coversion filters

[@FilmmakerIQ]

I had to look that up... Would be cool to do a video on the topic

[@rioosodog]

Good video. Color Balance is very important especially if you are shooting in JPG. It is difficult to change the Color Balance in post processing in JPG.

[@suavemaurice]

Though I do like the new FARGO TV show, I think the guys making it might need to reference your video some. I also think they need to look back at the film and create a Bible of shots, cuts, angles, and tempo to follow. The overall feel is similar, but not close enough that I would think to call it FARGO the series unless they already had.

[@lucianocaldas69]

awesome!!

[@FinalLugiaGuardian]

Speaking of color temperature, this episode's color looks quite warm. The red of your shirt is really popping and even your hair and skin has a bit of a reddish tint. Although, it could just be my own computer's monitor making it look like that. Not sure. I am curious. John, do you perhaps remember what your camera's white balance used in this video was?

[@FilmmakerIQ]

+FinalLugiaGuardian 3200K in the studio. We always push the reds because it is our signature color... Skin can vary depending on how much of a tan I have that day. :P

[@FinalLugiaGuardian]

Well pushing the you reds does produce a rather distinctive and appealing picture. But red is my favorite color (because it is the primary color I see best), so I may be a bit biased. I need to learn how to do color grading myself. My channel's ideal color temperature is probably what will accent the blues, cyans, and whites. Thanks for responding to me as well. You are a huge channel and yet you still care about us small folks. Have a great day John.

[@MarvinStroud3]

Thank you for saying "current" instead of "amperage". The latter really grates on my nerves and sounds amateurish.

[@Dean_Pearson]

Genius

[@CoolDudeClem]

8:54 sounds weird "dial in a specific number for your white balan...zzZZzz". Did a bee come in and fly in front of the mic right then?

[@playmaker.3596]

american accent is amazing, zzZZzz is this is lol

[@noahmorgan2007]

intresting

[@johneygd]

While black,white and are NO colors at all,it becomes part of color we use in painting stuff,in painting white is nothing while black is everything,in light,white is everything and black is nothing,alltrough there are special printers wich do have a cmyw inkt for printers while there are also special blacklight bulbs wich leaves infrared and do make everything look reflective at night like your T shirt.

[@TheDuckofDoom.]

3200K may be the ideal but most tungsten can only achieve 2700K with any useful lifespan. Halogen enhanced tungsten can run at 3000 to maybe 3500 if pushed a bit. Are traditional studio lights halogen?

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Yes, pretty much all studio tungstens are halogen.

[@nlRov]

I have a question, what's your name? This video is very interesting and I would like to quote it for a report :)

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Rewatch the first 30 seconds

[@craigluchin8439]

Why does the color temperature increase with clouds?

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Without totally digging into the science - I believe the reason is the clouds absorb or reflect the shorter wavelengths in the sunlight so that only the higher energy wavelengths get through. It's sort of the same concept with shade being much higher it temperature - what you're getting is mostly skylight (the light that's scattered in the atmosphere), mixed with what light manages to get through the cloud.

[@vicbarrett540]

Also because the "coolest" colors are the higher in temperature, aren't they? The blue and "invisible" fire of lighters is the hottest part of the flame. As showed in your video, the higher the temperature, the bluest, "cooler" colors we get... or am I mixing it all up? Haha. Anyway, great videos, sir, I've just found your KZbin channel (liked your facebook page ages ago) a few days back and subscribed immediately. As an aspiring filmmaker and current student of Photography, all this is of invaluable help, I'm hugely thankful.

[@Rider0fBuffalo]

Craig Luchin To clarify the comment from Filmmaker IQ- Higher energy means higher temperature and SHORTER wavelength. The color temperature number increases because the clouds cause scattering of lower energy - longer wavelength - 'red' light. This means the redder portion of the emission spectrum from the sun is filtered out, and there is more bluer waves coming through. The higher the temperature number the more energy of the light particles- shorter blue light. Check out this page : www.physicsclassroom.com/class/light/Lesson-2/Blue-Skies-and-Red-Sunsets. Also Filmmaker IQ, this video is really well done!

[@HenkMelching]

We speak of Kelvin as temperature, not degrees Kelvin.

[@luckyumbasa417]

As much as I like natural lighting through windows every time I walk into a living space with 5000k or higher bulbs I suddenly wish I had the ability to white balance my eyeballs.

[@evernolasco19]

Zack Snyder needs a lesson on color

[@adityar9383]

👌👌👌👌

[@iAmirx]

Only blue I see in the clip of Fargo it the blue of the front window of the car first couple of seconds. It's not blue, it's more purple/pink/magenta than blue..

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Get out a Photoshop eye color picker and you will see that snow is blue shifted

[@iAmirx]

Try it yourself and look at the colour circle ;) It’s magenta. Not blue. “Filmmaker”

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Had to look again, the snow is a bit magenta shifted.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

I don't know, this video was uploaded many years ago. Maybe KZbin change their encoding... if you watch the trailer it's very much blue and not magenta: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nmPXimtor5irjrc

[@liquidjungle123]

What is the meaning of life?

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Easy: 42 kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5PSi5aqp62ZgZo

[@liquidjungle123]

Cool also Have you made a feature film yet and What would be a Bad Good Super power?

[@juliaurban7332]

Sorry, but I don't understand. You say, that 3200k is warm, yelow/orange color, 5600k - daylight (so, more blue), but why do u say :"to have warmer tone, use higher temperature" and vice versa?

[@FilmmakerIQ]

It's all about what the camera is expecting. If the camera is expecting 5600K but the light is 3200K, the scene will look very warm. So if you want to warm a scene, set the white balance higher than the light in the scene. If you want daylight to look warm, go up to 9300K. If you want 3200K to look cool, you'll have to go down to 2700K (although there's only so much you can do because there's not much blue light in 3200K light)

[@juliaurban7332]

@@FilmmakerIQ thanks!

[@misterhat5823]

Is it me or is there a little of a Kung Fu effect here? The lip sync seems just a bit off.

[@CraigToddOfficial]

I just went to the comments to find out if my eyes were in fact delayed but glad someone else saw it that way too ha ha

[@newenglisharchitecture1012]

Isaac Newton invented the cat-flap.

[@paulstubbs7678]

'Lets back up and explain it', Yeah, but what about the 'black body' bit.

[@andresesqueda6169]

Hola

[@foot2]

Lip sync... mos? No time code?

[@stt9379]

what would the things been here for anyone?

[@mz610]

I swear Im smart. And I know you know what youre talking about. But fuck that all went over my head.

[@TacticalVideoWorks]

Has anyone ever seen a fluorescent with a CRI of 90+? Kinos are not even that. See this blog. www.tacticalvideoworks.com/kino-image-47-color/

[@muzammilahmad5217]

don't sure you're filmmaker or science teacher!

[@FilmmakerIQ]

+Muzammil Ahmad Filmmaking is science and art, psychology and sociology, of the mind and of the heart. That's why I love filmmaking.

[@muzammilahmad5217]

Filmmaker IQ me too btw can you please may a video about story writing difference between inspiration and copy?

[@Bodragon]

SPOT ON. Perfect scientific explanation of "color temperature"... ...except for one thing: It is not "degrees" Kelvin. It is Kelvin. I.e. 2,000K, not 2,000°K. Got it? There is no such thing as "degrees Kelvin. OK? Sorry but although so right, on so much, this wrong is just too big. Thumb Down! Sorry!

[@testpattern701]

Excellent video.