Color Temperature
Warm and cool light measured in Kelvin
Also known as: Kelvin light · White balance · Warm light cool light · Light color temperature · Color temperature Unreal
Definition
Color temperature describes the color of a light source in Kelvin, a scale where low numbers are warm and orange, and high numbers are cool and blue. A candle is about 1900 K, a tungsten bulb about 2700 to 3200 K, midday daylight about 5600 to 6500 K and an overcast sky or shade higher. Engines let you set lights by temperature, and post-processing white balance shifts the whole image to make a scene feel warmer or cooler.
In production
Use temperature contrast for mood and depth: warm key lights against cool shadows, or cool moonlight with warm lamps. Keep the sun and sky consistent, and use white balance to correct a color cast across the scene. Avoid saturating lights too much, since strong colors multiply with base color and create harsh results. In Unreal, a light's Temperature and Use Temperature setting control it, and in Unity lights have a color temperature option.
Tools that use Color Temperature
See also
Three-Point Lighting
Key, fill and rim light setup
Light Types
Directional, point, spot and area lights
Color Grading
Final color and contrast look of the image
Tonemapping
HDR → display-range remapping
Exposure
Overall brightness of the camera image
HDRI
High Dynamic Range Image lighting
Color Script
Color plan for a story or a game
Muddy Colors in Digital Painting
Dull, grey-brown colors after painting