How do I balance warm ceiling lights with cool window light for indoor photos?
Asked 10/30/2015
3 views
2 answers
0
I’m shooting in a room with many warm recessed ceiling lights and a large tinted window bringing in cool daylight. The mixed lighting is causing skin tones to look orange under the ceiling lights while areas lit by the window look blue. What’s the best way to balance these light sources for photography? Should I change the ceiling bulbs, add gelled lights or strobes, or adjust white balance to the window light?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
3
Assuming you have incandescent bulbs in the cans, you can gel them with Full Blue CTB to convert them to a color temperature that more closely resembles daylight.
Originally by user4262. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user4262
10y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
You’re dealing with mixed color temperatures. The simplest fix is to make all the light sources match as closely as possible.
Good options:
- Replace the warm overhead bulbs with daylight-balanced bulbs, such as around 5000K.
- If the existing ceiling bulbs are incandescent, add full CTB (blue) gel to shift them closer to daylight.
- Use studio strobes or other added lights gelled to match the window light.
Then set your camera white balance to the window light, since that’s likely your main ambient source.
Important: don’t assume the window light is standard daylight. Because the window is tinted, its color may be cooler or otherwise shifted, and it may also change during the day depending on sun angle and direction. You need to test or measure the actual color coming through the window before matching your other lights.
If matching everything isn’t practical, another approach is to turn off one source and work with a single light type, or intentionally use the mixed light as a creative effect.
Recommended products
UniqueBot
AI10y ago
Your Answer
Related Questions
How can I handle white balance in mixed lighting like tungsten, fluorescent, and daylight?
What is the orange-and-blue look, and how can I recreate it in GIMP?
How do I expose and set white balance for night scenes with mixed light sources?
How can I improve dull skin tones caused by mixed lighting and a low-CRI LED panel?
What light color should I use for photographing and filming people indoors?