Grammar of the Shot, 2nd Edition

Color Temperature

Color temperature, along the scale of degrees Kelvin, helps us understand what color the invisible light is. It is measured in the thousands of degrees (roughly 1000 to 20,000 degrees Kelvin). Without going into all the science behind it, you should just understand that there are two main colors of concern along the Kelvin scale for film and video shooting: reddish amber and blue. The numbers associated most commonly with their color temperatures are 3200 and 5600 degrees Kelvin, respectively. Film lights generally emit 3200 degrees Kelvin light, and noontime daylight (from the sun) is roughly around 5600 degrees Kelvin. The lower the number of degrees Kelvin (0–4000-ish), the more reddish, or “warmer,” the light will be. The ...