Use warm light in a cool environment.

We all know that the color of light will affect the mood of the image. In the same scene, warm color light and cold color light bring different feelings to people. But sometimes, we can mix these two types of light in the scene, and add warm light in the general cold scene to create contrast for the image, thus making the shot picture more attractive.

First of all, let's learn what warm color light and cold color light are. In photography, the color temperature we usually deal with is about 2000K to10000 K.

Generally speaking, we call the light with a color temperature below 3300K warm light, which is similar to incandescent lamp, while the color temperature around 2000K is similar to candlelight, with more red components, which can give people a warm, healthy and comfortable feeling. And the light above 5300K, we call it cold light, also called sunlight. Its light source is close to natural light, which has a bright feeling and makes people concentrate. The light between the two is usually called neutral color light, also called cold white light. Neutral colors make people feel happy, comfortable and quiet because of soft light.

In shooting, we can manually adjust the white balance parameters through the white balance settings of the camera, or we can adjust them later.

Rainy weather always makes us feel depressed, which is the emotion we will feel when we see the cool blue image, which is also the reason why blue always represents melancholy. Warm sunshine always makes us feel full of energy. Bathed in such warm and soft light, it is difficult for anyone to feel sad in the sun.

When we mix cold light and warm light in the picture, this mood may become a bit complicated. Warm light source not only becomes the main body to attract attention, but also triggers our emotions. Especially when night falls, the sky is getting dark, the lights in the city are on, and natural light and warm artificial light are mixed together. The city is full of beautiful and contrasting scenes, like the warm light emitted by roadside shops at night, like street lamps.

Interestingly, in the environment, warm light is often the main body, while cold light appears as the background, because our vision naturally tends to warm light.

Now, we can easily use white balance to adjust the tone and change the mood of the photo. If you are shooting with a digital camera and want to do post-production, it is recommended to shoot raw files. Raw file records all the details that the sensor can record, which can be adjusted in a very wide range and can better restore the details.

In the urban environment where we live, such scenes can be seen almost everywhere. All we have to do is wait for the night, then take our cameras and go out to find the right scene to shoot. If you shoot more, you will naturally know how to match the cold and warm light to make the picture more beautiful.