photography and colour temperature.?

Question

How can wrong colour temperature make for different or more interesting photography?

Answer 1

If I focus on the "more interesting" aspect of your question, I can offer this answer.

Colors, both, create and reflect mood and other sensations. An image of an icy, glacial grotto would, naturally show a lot of blue, because of the ice's diffraction of natural light. If a photographer were to adust the color balance towards the reds, the contrast could be jarring to the observer and, perhaps, make him think the setting was other than an icy cave.

An opposite effect could be created by taking one of the many images in recent news, from the devastating wildfires in Southern California. A shift from the red and orange glow of flames towards the blue can give an eerie pall to what would have been a hot, threatening image.

We all "know" that a blue, propane flame is hotter than the yellow flame of a piece of paper, but, the tame, blue propane burner seems less threatening than the uncontrolled, blazing piece of paper.

Answer 2

Well there is no such thing as a "wrong" color temperature.

There is an accurate color temperature that will reproduce colors that will faithfully reproduce colors as the eye will see it under normal daylight conditions. This is why they made Tungsten film and CT filters to use in an indoor setting. The eye will compensate for the color temperature change but the film won't.
Now if you do not have a need to accurately reproduce color you now have a great tool to influence the feel of the photograph.
So you have a great question. People do respond to color. This is why people respond positively to sunset pictures. But that is just a tip to the iceberg. People will respond to different hues and different intensities of color. If you do not over saturate the color shift most people wont even be aware that they are being influenced. Now if you want to make a bolder statement then in certain circumstances using bolder color shifts may be appropriate. One of the biggest photographer to the celebrities in the 80's used to always shoot his subjects a little over 1000 degree warmer. In fact he had an exact color temperature that he shot at.
So learning color temp. can be very important as it provides more control then simply slapping a warming or cooling filter on.

Answer 3

When I first read the first paragraph of your question, I immediately thought to myself... that is wrong. And I still think it is. At least it flys in the face of every Kelvin chart I have ever seen. What photography lesson was this? Maybe *I* am missing something too. At any rate, a higher Kelvin number has always produced much "warmer" color tones and a lower number, much "colder" or bluish tones. You can see this plainly in RAW editing software where you adjust the color temp with sliders. The lower numbers to the left produce blue, the higher numbers to the right produce yellow / red / orange casts. So if anyone else has more insight on this, I would be interested to know also. But for now, I see the first paragraph of your question as incorrect information. steve

Answer 4

A different c/t can alter the mood of a photo. Take for example one of the TV advert for loans, it shows a man using a small mower to try and cut an over grown lawn. The c/t is towards blue. Then he gets a nice big loan and gets a ride on mower and his children play on the nice newly cut lawn. This part is done with a warm (red) balance, to make us feel warm and welcome the change. A blue balance to an evening sky can make it stormy and forbidding, change to strong red and we have a nice warm welcoming sunset.

Answer 5

by "warming" up or "cooling" down an image

an image of ice may look better cold or bluish

something like the desert might look better warmer or more yellow,

these techniques are used alot in movies and somtimes TV, sometimes by photographers. you can read a yellow card or a blue card instead of white when you set white balance and you will see the effects

a

Answer 6

Color temperature is your white balance.

Setting the white balance to sunny adds a cooling effect to the color, where setting cloudy sets a warming effect to the color. There are also tungsten settings that take the orange cast out of the bulb lighting and flourescent settings that take the greenish cast out of flourescent lighting.