5500K

<p>Hello,<br />I am attempting to put together lighting for a small basement home studio. I initially purchased a 3 small softbox set by ephoto though amazon with 5500K bulbs but was very disappointed in the light they produced. To me it looked too cold (bluish). This was several months ago.<br />Last month I accompanied a friend who was going to a photog to get pictures of the kids done for Christmas cards. This woman's setup was a large (appr 4ft) softbox producing this lovely soft glowing warm continuous light that was positioned in front and she had a single strobe pointed at the background. She shot with a D700. The pics came out great. In retrospect I should have just asked her for the make model of the box and head but I didn't want to take away from my friends photo experience.<br />So I decided that was what I needed for my studio and I hit the internet. After much research I thought that 2 Alien Bees B800 units with a 46" Softlighter and a 32x40 softbox would be perfect. And then I searched for Kelvin rating of the B800 bulb and it's also 5500K.<br />I am now worried that the light from the B800's will be cold just like it was with the ephoto set. What are my options? Is 5500K the standard for studio lights? How can I get that lovely warm light? Thanks in advance.<br />Andy</p>

<p>At 5500k, you're quite close to daylight. The flash units produce light containing all of the colors you want, including both the cool and the warm ends of the spectrum. It's up to you to use the white balance setting on the camera (or, better, shooting RAW and selecting a white balance in post, as fits your desired look) to push the results into a warmer feeling.<br /><br />But if you're using continuous lights that are powered by CF (compact fluorescent) bulbs, it's quote possible that you're experiencing light that's <em>missing</em> some parts of the spectrum. <br /><br />Also note that in the studio you visited, the light you saw (before the exposure) on the subjects was being cast by the modeling lights on the subjects - and the modeling lights are likely incadescents with a very warm hue. At the time of the exposure, the flash output completely overtakes the modeling lights. <br /><br />The B800's color temps will drift a bit, depending on the power output you choose. If you have a little more of a budget, you might enjoy the Einstein units (also from Buff, like the Bees), for a lot of reasons - but not least because of the precise control you have over color temps across power levels. <br /><br />But mostly: start working with white balance in-camera. You'll be able to significantly alter the apparent warmth of the scene, as long as the parts of the spectrum you want are actually present in the light being cast. You may also be able to swap out the bulbs in the lights you've got, opting for CFs with a diffrent (wider, less gappy) spectrum.</p>

<p>If you're shooting digital it really doesn't matter what colour temperature your lights are, as long as they're close to daylight. Also, putting a softbox diffuser in front of the tube will generally tend to lower the CT. And despite what the maker's claim, flash is never the same CT as daylight, it's usually noticeably cooler.</p>

<p>If shooting digital, learn how to take a custom White Balance. All you need for this is a sheet or two of white copier paper, or you can simply point the camera at the front of your softbox. The actual procedure to do a custom WB varies with camera make and model, so you'll need to look it up in the manual. If you're using film the only thing you can do is get a selection of warming filters for the lamp or a pale amber CC filter or two for the camera lens. Maybe even a pink "skylight" filter would help.</p>

<p>Sometimes the color we see is different than what the camera will see. Early on, I had some of the 5500K photoflood bulbs. They looked blue but were surprisingly neutral overall on daylight balanced film (did have a slight magenta cast one could see particularly in neutral grays). I have had several types of flash units over the years and all are or were balanced to 5500k. I often used a 1/8th cto filter over the bare reflector light to slightly warm it up while in a softbox or umbrella, the light naturally warmed up a bit.</p>

<p>I have done most of my commercial work over the years with White Lightening products and you should be fine. Bare reflector light--or through grids--will be a bit cool while through your modifiers (even a silk) should be nice and neutral to a bit warm (a good warm). I would recommend having some 1/8 cto gels (Rosco #3410's) to put on your lights if you mix the two sources--softbox/modifier used with another light that is more bare reflector light. That way you wont get any crossover. Just my experience. ( the gels are pretty cheap and can be gotten at any grip company or through theatrical lighting companies, and probably from various photo outlets on line--I always got them from grip/theater lighting outlets in my local area).</p>

<p>5500 is right in the middle of the range for daylight/flash color temperature. Daylight gets quoted as anywhere from 5000 to 6000 but anything in that range is close enough that it's just a matter of how you set your white balance in the camera or how you adjust it in Photoshop after the fact. If your photos from the lights you have are too blue, just adjust them on the computer until they look the way you want.<br>

Matt is correct that fluorescent bulbs, even though they might technically be 5500, often have an incomplete range of colors and can cause odd color shifts. Some people love them, but others stay away from them for that very reason.<br /><br />To simplify the way you think about white balance, remember that in film days there were only two choices -- 5500 (plus or minus) for daylight/flash and 3200 (sometimes 3400) for tungsten "hot" lights. Everything else required filters over the lens or adjustments when printing.</p>

<p>If you think the 5500 lights were cold and blue then I would suggest your eyes had accustomed themselves to the warmer tungsten lights of the room before you switched on the 'studio lights' and maintained that memory of colour temperature. You can obtain both cold and warm effect by the setting of the camera's CT setting. or if you have mixed lighting by suitable gels over one kind of lighting unit and not the other ... then adjust the camera.</p>

5500 K light looks "bluish" compared to the tungsten lights you probably have installed in your basement's ceiling fixtures.

On the other hand if you took those tungsten light bulbs outside the light they produced would look orange-Ish

(red/yellow)

 

If you want to understand why you need to read up on some basic physics. (Hint: it is the same reason a natural gas

flame burns blue and a wood fire is orange/yellow.)

 

Electronic flash is designed to reproduce "photographic daylight" color balance - roughly 5500K. The Alien Bees will be

fine for you. While it is true that has you get close to minimum power they shift to a slightly warmer ( red/yellow) color

balance, they are consistent flash to flash at the same power setting.

 

The cheap lights you have already bought sound as if they are fluorescent type instruments - these type of lights have far

more serious color balance and other photography related problems.

 

If you are concerned about white balance issues (which you should be) you need a non metamerismic "white balance"

target. My recommendation based on my testing is the Datacolor SpyderCHECKR, the WhiBal from Michael Tapes

Designs, or the Xrite ColorChecker Passport. The Datacolor and X-rite products are also useful for fine tuning the color

response of your DSLR, especially when you shoot raw instead of in camera processed JPEGs.

 

And of course if you are truly concerned about getting more pleasing accurate color you need to calibrate and profile

your computers display using a colorimeter and its software. For that my recommendation is either the Xrite ColorMunki

Display or I1 Display Pro.

 

I am making these color management solutions as we really need to think holistically about the process of capture, processing and reproducing color. The more control you have over the photographic process the more freedom you have to use it creatively