Pixiq

Photography is all about light and light has color, wonderful color, so turn off the damn Auto White Balance and learn how to find your own colors.

After writing about the Quality of light it’s time to move on to the next aspect of light: its color.

Light has color and in the visible spectrum it ranges from deep blue to deep red. We measure the color temperature of light in degrees Kelvin but rather then get technical let me suggest that you remember that in everyday life we use terms like “red hot” and “icy blue.” These terms speak to the relationship between temperature and color.

In nature the color of light changes constantly due to atmospheric and weather conditions and the angle of the sun in the sky. In the morning light can be a rosy pink while at night it can be a fiery orange. On overcast days the light is cold and very white.

Artificial lights have their colors too. Tungsten lights produce a yellow-orange light while office fluorescents are green. Candles produce a very warm light and “daylight” bulbs a neutral light that mimics a sunny day.

But there’s a problem and it’s all in your mind. Ever notice that when you walk in to your house in the evening, the warm lights you saw in the windows disappear and the world seems normal. White is white and blue is blue.

That’s because of color constancy, the ability of our brains to very quickly find the “white balance” for a scene. Think of this in a room lit by tungsten light bulbs the light is all yellow and orange. Consequently blue and other colors should be black. They have no blue component in the light to reflect back to our eyes. Yet within seconds of entering that room you will see blues and greens and whites that you shouldn’t be able to see at all.

This is wonderful because it makes the world very comfortable for us. Imagine life in a world where colors disappeared from your living room.

The bad part for photographers is that color constancy prevents us from accurately judging the color of the light with our own eyes. Sure we can see extremes like sunsets or like the contrast between tungsten lights and dusk but everything else is a struggle.

I often use my digital camera as a color temperature meter. With my camera set to daylight White Balance I take a photo. Then I playback the image and holding the camera up and compare the monitor image to the actual scene. Like the tungsten room situation it lets me see the actual color of the scene.

Just like the quality of light, the color of light carries emotional meaning. The red end of the spectrum is warm and it draws us into the image. (Perhaps it’s our cave dwelling heritage but there’s nothing quite as welcoming as a campfire on a dark night.) Conversely cold colors, the blue end of the spectrum is off putting. We want to be away from it, we withdraw. These aren’t just my ideas by the way. Old Freddie Nietzsche wrote about it as have others.

For film photography, the color of light has been more of a problem than anything else for photographers. A mismatch between the color of a light source and the color balance of film produces awful images that are difficult to repair if at all. In digital photography color correction is practically automatic.

It’s the whole rational behind the White Balance control on a digital camera and editing software like Photoshop. As I’ve written in my post about using a white card, the Auto and other white balance settings while technically correct sometimes produce colors that don’t look right.

But must we always be striving for the “correct” color? Sure sometimes when you are documenting something or copying art or things like that. But otherwise the search for accurate color is a chimera chase, a bit of obsessive behavior if you know what I mean.

I’d like to begin a movement to bring color back. Down with boring color precise shots and up with subty and random variation. Look at the gallery photos to see what I mean.

Start by throwing off the oppressive yoke of the Auto White Balance control. Set your color balance by hand to fit the lighting situation. Or just set the camera to daylight and see what you get.

Look for the color of light and enjoy it.