What are color temperature and white balance?

What are color temperature and white balance?

1. What is the color temperature?

Color temperature is a unit of measurement, indicating the color components contained in light. The unit of measurement is Kelvin, expressed in K, such as 1000k, 3300K, etc. The change law of color temperature K value: the smaller the K value, the lower the color temperature, the yellowish color tone and the warm and quiet atmosphere; The greater the k value, the higher the color temperature, the bluer the tone and the more desolate and sad the atmosphere.

The physical definition of color temperature is that when a blackbody is heated to a certain temperature, the color of the light it emits is the same as the color of the light source, and the temperature at which the blackbody is heated is called the color temperature of the light source, which is referred to as color temperature for short. You can think of this "black body" as an iron block, so when the iron block is heated, from red to yellow to blue, the different colors produced by different temperatures are the color temperature.

Second, what is white balance?

The English name of white balance is white balance, and its basic concept is that "white objects can be restored to white under any light source", and the color cast when shooting under a specific light source can be compensated by corresponding complementary colors. The white balance is represented by AWB on the camera, and the variation law of the white balance K value: the smaller the K value, the bluer the tone, and the larger the K value, the yellower the tone. The change law of white balance is completely opposite to color temperature. Let's make a distinction.

Third, the relationship between white balance and color temperature

Conceptually, color temperature and white balance are completely different concepts, and white balance is an extension of the photographer to express the light problem in photography. However, because the self-balancing adjustment process is realized by adjusting the color temperature, the color temperature is a white balance problem relative to the camera.

From the change law, the change law of color temperature and balance is completely opposite. The greater the color temperature, the colder the photo (blue), and the smaller the white balance, the colder the photo.

Fourth, how to set the white balance

When we want to take warm (yellowish) photos, raise the white balance K value; When we want to take a cool (blue) photo, lower the white balance K value. Extension: If the overall feeling of the photo we take is blue, we want it to be normal or yellow, and we can raise the white balance K value, and vice versa.