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Color Temperature

Vangie Beal
Last Updated May 24, 2021 7:38 am
Color temperature refers to a characterization of the spectral properties of a light source and is commonly used during the production phase in the film and photography industries. Low color temperature is the warmer, more yellow to red light while high color temperature is the colder, more blue light. Daylight, for example, has a lower color temperature near dawn and a higher one during the day. The standard unit of measurement for color temperature is Kelvin (K). Some typical color values include the following;

  • candles or oil lamps: 1000K
  • household light bulbs: 2500K
  • bright sunshine on a clear day: 6000K
  • very overcast sky: 10,000K