<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>i shot alot &#187; white balance</title>
	<atom:link href="http://ishotalot.com/tag/white-balance/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://ishotalot.com</link>
	<description>The process of capturing moments</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:11:06 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2</generator>
		<item>
		<title>Minor Misconceptions about Color Temperature</title>
		<link>http://ishotalot.com/2009/02/minor-misconceptions-about-color-temperature/</link>
		<comments>http://ishotalot.com/2009/02/minor-misconceptions-about-color-temperature/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:30:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>James</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Lighting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[color balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[color temperature]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[white balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[white point]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ishotalot.com/?p=179</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I stumbled across this post on fotohacker.com: &#8220;White Balance Reloaded&#8221;. I don&#8217;t mean to be critical of the site for propagating slightly inaccurate information because the post is very good information for the amateur photographer, however I believe that they &#8230; <a href="http://ishotalot.com/2009/02/minor-misconceptions-about-color-temperature/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I stumbled across this post on fotohacker.com: <a href="http://www.fotohacker.com/2009/01/09/white-balance-reloaded/" target="_blank">&#8220;White Balance Reloaded&#8221;</a>.</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t mean to be critical of the site for propagating slightly inaccurate information because the post is very good information for the amateur photographer, however I believe that they oversimplify and repeat some misconceptions about light color that serve only to obfuscate one of the most fundamental aspects of image capture.  Camera manufacturers are somewhat complicit in this simplification of lighting color by using Kelvin numbers as white balance settings, but it&#8217;s important to remember that &#8220;Color Temperature&#8221;, &#8220;Color Balance&#8221; and &#8220;White Balance&#8221; are all different things.</p>
<p><span id="more-179"></span></p>
<p>As the article states (emphasis included from the original post):</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Light comes in a variety of colors. It’s not just “white”. Tungsten light bulbs, for example, are yellow/orange in color. Fluorescent bulbs are somewhat green. Daylight is blue. We know this is the case because of how these types of light reflect off a white surface… and we call this color cast the <strong>color temperature</strong> of the light.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Color Temperature is essentially a shorthand measurement of spectral radience based on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%27s_law" target="_blank"><span style="color: #606420;">Planck&#8217;s Law</span></a>.  Although it&#8217;s used to describe nearly all light, the color temperature scale relates only to incandescent sources.  Arc and gas discharge sources like fluorescent, sodium vapor and HMIs do not incandesce and the color temperature scale does not apply to their illumination.  A Correlated Color Temperature, used for non-incandescent sources, is generally used in the same descriptive terms as traditional Color Temperature (<a href="http://ishotalot.com/2009/02/correlated-color-temperature-and-color-rendering-index/" target="_self">though as I note in this post, the color rendering of each lamp can be widely divergent from incandescent sources</a>).</p>
<p>What&#8217;s confusing in understanding Color Temperature is that it&#8217;s a measurement of the <em>emission</em> of light, NOT the reflection of light as the article suggests.  Color balance and white balance are electronic adjustments performed to the captured measurements of reflected light intended to achieve a perceptually neutral image. </p>
<p>In this sense, white balance CAN be described as the color of light reflecting off a white surface, however Color Temperature <em>cannot</em> be described the same way.  Furthermore, in many situations, adjusting a neutral white point can still leave color casts in neutral mid-tones which affect color balance.  In an 8-bit colorspace, there are only 256 values per channel to describe a color,  providing a very tiny range of adjustment when limited to the white values of an image.  This simplification of white balance as an overall color balancing tool can lead one to believe inaccurately that in-camera white point adjustments will reliably result in balanced color across the entire range of tones.  In practice, measured adjustments of neutral black, mid-tone grey and white points will often be needed to produce a truly neutral image.</p>
<p>In summation: </p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Color Temperature</strong> is a descriptive term relating to the emission of a given light source.</li>
<li><strong>White Point/White Balance</strong> is an electronic adjustment of RGB values to neutralize the light reflected from a white surface within an image.</li>
<li><strong>Color Balance</strong> is the overall neutrality of an image exhibited by neutral values in pure black, mid-range grey and white points of a given image.</li>
</ul>
<p>Intertwined, yes, but all different concepts. </p>
<p>For a much better explanation of basic color temperature, <a href="http://duncandavidson.com/2008/04/color-temperature-and-sensors.html" target="_blank">I&#8217;d read this article here.</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://ishotalot.com/2009/02/minor-misconceptions-about-color-temperature/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

