Lighting is one of the most important, and often most underrated parts of video production.
But it can also be sometimes confusing, especially when it comes
to cool things like color temperature.
So here's a warmup on color temperature that will hopefully illuminate the
ins and outs of lighting basics and light the way to perfectly balanced shots.
And this video is sponsored by Nanlite, so I'll be using the new Forza II 300 and 600 watt
lights in all of my demos here.
And in fact, that's my
whole situation.
Everything in here is lit only by the new Forza lights.
They're a...Forza to be reckoned with.
The basics of color temperature are pretty easy to understand,
but for me, it was one of the most confusing things to understand when
I was first learning about lights.
I had no problem understanding white balance when it came to cameras,
but I didn't understand how that color temperature then translated
in to lighting.
So if you've ever filmed something with a camera and your footage looked way too
orange or way too blue, something was likely off with your color temperature.
Or it might be more accurate to say that your camera's white balance wasn't set to
match the white balance of the lighting in your environment where you filmed.
So in theory, at the most basic level, if your camera is set to 5,600
degrees Kelvin, and your light is set to 5,600 degrees Kelvin, then
you should get good, accurate color.
But what even is Kelvin and color temperature and all that? Let's discuss.
And fortunately, you don't need a degree to understand about
these degrees! Because unlike
ambient temperature that we're used to, rather than
Fahrenheit or Celsius, lighting
temperature is measured in degrees Kelvin. And also unlike the weather
and the temperature that we're normally used to, lower color temperatures equal
warmer lighting while higher color temperatures equal cooler lighting.
And when I say warm lighting, I'm essentially just
referring to things that are more orange, and cool lighting things that
are more blue in color temperature.
Most lights that we encounter in our daily lives are somewhere between like 2,000
degrees Kelvin and 6,500 degrees Kelvin.
With 2,000 being pretty warm, 6,500 being pretty cool. 4,000 degrees and above
for the most part, is what you start to refer to as "daylight" color temperature.
And most daylight balanced lights are set to 5,600 degrees Kelvin.
So those are probably numbers that you're going to
see a lot if you start shopping for lights.
And it's also kind of weird too because daylight color temperature
then is on the cooler end of the color temperature spectrum.
But I know for me that was a little confusing because when
we think of daylight, a lot of times we think of orange, right?
Like the bright orange sun.
If you were a kid and you drew a picture with the sun in the corner,
bright orange, but if you really look at the light itself, it's much more
white, if not even a little bit blue.
And that really confused me
the first time I ever bought a daylight balanced light because I turned it
on and thought it was way too blue.
That's not at all as I was expecting for daylight.
I thought it was broken, but it turns out the only thing that was broken was
my knowledge about color temperature. 💡
But that's a good thing to know right away if you're trying to match or
simulate daylight color temperature.
And most lights
inside in our homes tend to be a little bit warmer.
Usually somewhere maybe around 3,200 degrees Kelvin.
Warmer light temperatures are also sometimes referred to as "tungsten" because
it matches the color output of tungsten light bulbs from the good old days.
So even though most lights now are LED, sometimes they're still
referred to as tungsten just because of the temperature that they output.
It's like how the save icon is still the three and a half inch floppy disc, even
though when is the last time you used the three and a half inch floppy disc?
And by the way, Just take a moment to appreciate the magic of LED lights,
LED video lights, because they generate so little heat, they take so
little power and they last so long.
If you ever had the privilege of working with older video lights where even just a
slight fingerprint on the bulb would cause it to pop, and then the light itself would
get to temperatures that rivaled the surface of the sun, and they also
sucked up all the power in the power grid,
they were just these hot, dangerous fire hazards.
LED lights are absolutely amazing.
So I'm LED-lighted that I get to use all these ones right now.
So even with all that in mind, who cares?
Right?
Why does this stuff even matter in the first place?
I think that understanding color temperature not only makes it easier
to get better looking, more accurate footage more easily, but also then opens
up so many more options for creativity and improving your overall workflow.
Even just that basic understanding that indoor lights are typically more
warm and yellow than outdoor lights, which are typically more blue and cool
is going to help you set things up and prepare much more efficiently
than without that understanding.
So then you won't have any more weird things like super orange footage when you film
sports in a gymnasium, for example.
What about somebody's wedding? Where it's this wonderful day filled
with love and care, but your color temperature is off, so all the
footage looks blue and cold, and sad?
That would be bad.
And if you think of your camera as ultimately it's something whose sole
purpose is just to capture light, then it makes sense for the sensor why you'd
want to pay more attention to the kind of light that's going into your camera.
It's almost like nutrition, right?
You want to pay attention to the food and the nutrients that you eat
because then you perform better.
Your camera eats light, feed it high quality light.
And speaking of high quality lights, I want to thank Nanlite
for sponsoring this video.
I've been using the new Forza 60 and 300 II series lights for all of
the examples that I've done so far.
You can never go wrong with having a 60 watt light around,
and 300 watts is insanely bright.
Each size has the option for a daylight temperature model of
5,600K, and there's also then the option for a "B" bi-color model
with temperatures ranging from 2,700 degrees Kelvin all
the way up to 5,600 degrees.
Asl really love the control units on the 300's because they have this nifty
super clamp and a quick release plate that makes it easy to attach them to
stands and supports, and it's also just super satisfying to lock into place.
They've also got the option to attach V mount batteries for portable power and the
60 watt lights come with an NPF battery grip.
And as you'd expect, each light has a ton of built-in effects, along
with full compatibility with the NanLink app. The Forza 60 Series II
lights come in at $289 for daylight and $319 for the bi-color, while the
300 watt lights come in at $949 for the daylight, and $999 for the bi-color.
So thanks again to Nanlite for sponsoring this video.
And now let's get back to some hot takes about color temperature
by talking about bi-color lights.
That was a very smooth transition.
Now, as we've been talking about daylight balanced lights and bi-color lights,
I think a really reasonable question is why not just always buy, bi-color lights?
Why not just build that versatility into your workflow from the beginning?
Why would you ever buy one light that is just one color temperature?
This is probably a bit of an oversimplification, but it
really comes down to two things, which are cost and brightness.
Lights that don't need to change color temperature are typically a little bit
less expensive than their counterparts that do, probably I'm guessing,
because they're a little less complex.
But at the same time, those single temperature variants are also usually
a little bit brighter than bi-color lights because all of their energy is
focused towards one color temperature.
I'll use this Forza 300 II as an example.
If I take off the reflector
when you have an LED light like this, which by the way, don't touch
this part, this panel of LED chips is where all of the light comes from.
And these have gotten really advanced in recent years. On a bi-color light
the individual LED's that are on this panel, half of them are one
color temperature and half of them are another color temperature.
And then you can use the controls on the control panel to mix those together
to change the color temperature from
warm to cool.
Whereas on a daylight balanced light like this one here, all of the LED
chips on this panel are all the exact same color temperature.
So that means you can use every LED all the time, and the light can get a
little bit brighter than the bi-color one, which is the one I'm actually
using as my key light right now.
And you can probably see that over there.
Because I changed my entire lighting setup for this shot here.
So if you take two 300 watt lights like this one here and the other 300 watt
bi-color version right there and you put them next to each other, this one that
is only daylight color temperature,
if I turn this to 100%
100% of the LEDs are going to be emitting their full brightness of that
color temperature. On a bi-color version,
if you have it maxed out in one direction or the other, some of
the LED's aren't on because they're the wrong color temperature.
So when you max it out to 100%, it's not going to be quite as bright as this.
Now to be fair, that difference is nothing as drastic as being like only
half as bright as one or the other, and typically, most of us are not probably not
going to be using our lights maxed out at 100% very often.
My key light right now, this light right here to light the
main shot in the scene is at 16%.
So if I max that out...
If I max that out to 100%, it's basically like I'm
on the surface of the sun.
But if I were outdoors, trying to compete with the actual sun, then you
would want as much brightness as possible.
Or if I was in a really big space– I have to turn this down.
So if you know that you're probably only going to be working with one specific
color temperature, and for video, that's probably going to be daylight color
temperature, it then makes sense to have a daylight balanced light because you'll
save a little bit of money and you'll also then be able to have a little bit more brightness.
On the other hand, if you're going to be changing locations a lot and
using your lights in a variety of situations and for a bunch of different
purposes, then having a bi-color light,
buying a buy-color light is totally a smart way to go.
But wait, there's more! (wow!)
As you can see behind me, I've got all kinds of lights, all my Pavotubes doing
different colors and stuff, and there are
more traditional looking video lights like this Forza 60C, which as you
will see is a full RGB color light.
So as I have it set up here, projecting on this blue backdrop, it's cycling
through every color in the spectrum.
And that means not just daylight or tungsten, but every ROY G. BIV
color on the entire spectrum.
So why wouldn't you just want to get a full RGB light and have full
control over everything, every color available to you all the time?
The same way that having the technology to have a bi-color light makes a
light a little bit more expensive,
having all of the colors also then bumps up the price.
So the reason I say that is because I think it's very important to be realistic
about how you're going to use your tools.
RGB lights seem amazing, and having a good one or some Pavotubes or something
in your setup is pretty great, but you probably don't need your full
lighting setup to be full RGB because it doesn't make a lot of sense to
invest in something as expensive as a full RGB setup if you're going to use
the same color temperature 99.9% of the time for all of
your videos in your projects.
So now that we've covered the basics, let's talk about when you might
want to mix things up by mixing color temperatures on purpose.
One important thing to understand here is that whatever your camera's white
balance is set to, anything outside of that is going to look really noticeable.
So for example, in this setup right now, my main lights as usual in my studio
are set to daylight color temperature.
They're all at 5,600 degrees Kelvin.
But if you look over here,
this design that I have being projected on the wall from this
Forza 60B II over here, this looks warmer.
This has kind of got an orangeish warmer tone to it, whereas all these
other lights here, like the Pavotubes back here, they're giving
off a much more white,
cooler color temperature.
And I did that on purpose for this setup because I wanted to add a little
bit of warmth to this specific shot.
Since that's a bi-color light, I can change the color temperature.
And now this over here is a daylight color temperature, and it changes
the feel, the mood of the scene.
Everything feels a little bit cooler and a little bit colder.
And now if I set that back down to 2,800 degrees Kelvin, it's a lot warmer.
And the color difference–
Wait, I'd be a terrible weather person.
The difference between a daylight balance light like this and a warm
color temperature like this is pretty noticeable, especially because
my camera is set so that these daylight balanced lights look white.
But what if I change the white balance on my camera?
You might be asking.
So now I've changed my camera's white balance to 6,500 and
you can see my lights here,
these daylight balanced lights are starting to look a little yellow and orange.
I'm starting to look like I have a nice tan about me, but these warmer
color temperature lights back here are starting to look really warm.
And I can do the opposite too.
Now I have the camera's color temperature set to match this over here.
So for me, sitting in this room and looking at the design being projected
on the wall, that looks orangeish and yellow, but on the camera it looks
pretty much pure white because the white balance from that color temperature
and the white balance from the camera's color temperature are now matching.
However, none of the other lights in this room are matching that because
they're all set to a different daylight color temperature, and that
means everything else is looking
really blue.
If I take this Forza 300B II and change that to a warmer color
temperature, now I'm starting to look kind of like I did before,
a little more natural in my skin tone.
This lighting is matching that lighting.
These lights are looking extra cool over here.
And if you look at this camera over here, you'll probably notice that everything
is very, very strange for me in this environment.
This is very orange.
This is actually kind of uncomfortable.
I wouldn't want to be in this weird deep fryer environment for
too long, but on camera at least my color temperature looks pretty normal
because everything is set to match.
Now I set my camera's white balance back to normal, which is
a daylight color temperature, and the light without changing it,
you can see how orange it is.
And this is starting to look more orange also, and I can switch that light
back to a daylight color temperature.
It's at 5,100 degrees Kelvin, just for reference.
And now everything kind of looks back how I set it up in the beginning, where all
of these lights match for the most part.
And then I have a warm accent light over there.
And all the colors are pretty accurate.
And as the person who's physically in the room right now,
I can verify everything looks accurate and comfortable.
So mixing warm and cold color temperatures, high and low color
temperatures, is something that's possible but it's clearly not something
you would want to do on accident.
You definitely wouldn't want two lights on a subject that are different color
temperatures unless you're trying to get a specific effect of some kind.
And speaking very generally, if you're not in control of a location where you're
filming something, it's a good idea to set your lights to match the ambient
lighting color temperature.
There are very advanced tools like light meters that can help you do that,
we're not going to really get into that right now, but if you're going somewhere
and you say, "Oh, I'm inside and the lights look kind of orange, and they seem
to be very incandescent," then you know maybe you should have a light that can be
adjusted to a warmer color temperature.
If you're going outside or to a place that's lit by sunlight, then maybe that
would be a good idea to use a daylight light.
But if there is no ambient light source and you're building up
everything from scratch, then you have total control over everything. (Good for you!)
What that really means is you can then mix and match with purpose.
You can light your main scene and then you can have accent lights to establish
a mood or a tone, or I guess, "vibe" as the kids say.
There's obviously an entire world of lighting that's a lot more than I can fit into a single
video, and honestly, a lot of it is beyond my own scope of knowledge.
But hopefully now you've got a bit more of a solid understanding of the
basics of lighting color temperature, because gaining a better understanding
of lighting is always a bright idea. 💡
And speaking of bright ideas, thank you to everyone who helps
support my channel through Patreon and YouTube Channel Memberships.
Your support is truly deLIGHTful. And because I did get to set up
all these fun new lighting setups for this video, I wanted to show
you exactly what I was using.
The main key light is the Forza 300B II, which is a bi-color light.
So that's how I was able to do that bi-color example, and I have it running
through this massive 90 centimeter soft box.
My backlight, or my hairlight, was the Forza 60 II, which is a daylight color
temperature light, and that's running through a smaller mini soft box.
And so these two lights together, there was key light and fill light, both
daylight color temperature, and this is the Forza 60B II, which is the
bi-color light going into a projector, which is made for the smaller FM mount.
And that is what, let me put the design on the wall over there.
And this Pavo tube was here to just kind of cast some warm light on this light so
that it popped out more in the background.
And since this is a video about lighting, what I want to do is
have different lighting setups for different sections and then do the
sponsored segment in a different spot.
So that way everything looked a little different.
And there was also a chance to set up and try out different lighting.
This is what I have set up here, which I ended up actually liking quite a bit.
Just like before
the key light is the Forza 300B II.
I moved the 60B II with the projector attachment over here, so that
way on the background here,
Hello!
It could have this different shape over there, which I thought looked really cool.
And then I was able to just move the other Forza 60 II over here on the C stand.
Just pivot the stand
and that could be my backlight, my hair light.
I had one of my Pavotube tubes over here for a fill and
of course, all the other Pavotubes.
And then I also put just some other Pavotubes around just for general ambiance.
And the Rodecaster because this in the background with all these
colors always looks really cool, especially when the background is blurred
and then you just get the bokeh of the Rodecaster.
That's one of my favorite looking things.
This setup out here was by far the most ridiculous.
I had to set it up in the middle of the day and then wait like six hours
for it to get dark, but I really like the way that looks, and it's sort
of sad that it's so temporary.
It was just for one little part of the video and that's it.
But here's what it is:
I ended up using the 60C as my key light because I needed the four
new lights in the shot, and then I had a Pavotube as a fill light.
And then all of these are just like practical effects lights.
Look at that bokeh.
That's so pretty.
But I thought it would be neat to take advantage of all the Pavotubes I've got.
So I have this holder here that holds four of them.
This is on my C stand, and these are the original
Pavotubes, and then I have a whole bunch of these Series X Pavotubes.
And a while ago, Gerald Undone in his studio tour talked about these
magnets that are super strong and have 1/4 20 mounts on them.
So I put them in the mounts of these Pavotubes, and then when it
comes to metal, they're so strong at supporting all of those lights!
And I've got some more Pavotubes here that are just on little stands.
And then I've got just the giant eight foot Pavotube right there.
And of course the actual lights for the video.
So the 300 watt lights, there's the daylight one and the bi-color one.
And then the 60 watt ones, there's a daylight and the bi-color.
So I tried to like stack them.
And then for audio, I just did the MKH50 running into the FX3, and even
outdoors with some background noise
it did an amazing job, I think. And then also check out the full
moon while filming this video.
I swear it looks better in person. And then of course a mess of cables.
But honestly, I'm okay with this big mess here because all of these
lights make me totally delighted.
Actually...once I turn them off, then I will literally be delighted.
"de-lit" 😬