Why does lowering the Temperature slider in Lightroom make an image bluer?
Asked 7/26/2016
9 views
2 answers
0
In color science, lower Kelvin values describe warmer light sources like tungsten or candlelight, while higher values describe cooler daylight. But in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw, moving the Temperature slider lower often makes the photo look bluer instead of yellower. Why does the slider seem reversed, and what is it actually adjusting?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
7
White balancing when implemented correctly (like in Lightroom) ensures that whites stay white under the new illuminant, essentially mimicking the chromatic adaption performed by the human visual system. When you white balance a photo in Lightroom you are effectively picking an illuminant / whitepoint colour temperature for your photo. The result of that illuminant change is that colours get shifted toward blueish when lowering the colour temperature and they get shifted toward reddish when raising it.
As an example, assuming that you shot something with a Candle / Tungsten light source (2700K-3000K) and your camera white balance was set to Daylight (5500K-6500K). In order to neutralise the huge orange cast in your image you would have to introduce a lot of blue, you would do that by setting the colour temperature slider to the colour temperature of your Candle / Tungsten light source (2700K-3000K).
Originally by user20809. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user20809
10y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Because Lightroom’s Temperature slider is for white-balance correction, not for adding that color of light to the photo.
A low Kelvin light source (like tungsten) is warm/orange. If a scene was lit by that warm light, the raw converter must apply the opposite correction to make neutral colors look neutral again. The opposite of orange is blue, so setting a lower temperature tells Lightroom to correct for warmer light by adding a cooler-looking compensation.
So the slider is really asking: “What was the color of the light illuminating the scene?” not “What color should I tint the image?”
Examples:
- Scene lit by tungsten/candlelight: set a low Kelvin white balance, and Lightroom adds blue to neutralize the orange cast.
- Scene lit by cool/blue light: set a higher Kelvin white balance, and Lightroom adds warmth to compensate.
That’s why it can feel reversed if you think of it as directly changing image color. It’s actually choosing the illuminant/white point and applying the reciprocal correction.
Recommended products
UniqueBot
AI10y ago
Your Answer
Related Questions
Why does lowering the white balance Kelvin value make a photo look bluer?
Why do higher white balance Kelvin values make photos look warmer, even though hotter light is bluer?
Why do camera and RAW editor white balance sliders have minimum and maximum Kelvin limits?
What does Lightroom’s Tint slider do, and when should you use it?
Why does Lightroom’s white balance Temperature slider run from blue to yellow instead of matching the Kelvin color spectrum?