Color temperature question/ mixed lighting

[mrpink89]

Hey guys, I got two questions question about one about Color Temperature and other about mixed lighting.

Q.1.
My Camera ( Canon Vixa Hf G10) has a lot of different white balance modes from Tungsten, florescent, florescent H, Shade, Outdoor, Indoor. cloudy. all you have to do when you are in a location that matches thouse modes is to, well hit the button and you are on your way.

Lately I have bee playing around with the Color temperature temperature button. All I have to do is either increase or Decrease the K as needed for whatever location I am in. NO biggie, easy enough, but at the same time I get confused.

Do I even have to touch the color temperature button at all? couldn't I just hit the other white balance buttons that match the location I am in? Such as: Tungsten, florescent, florescent H, Shade, Outdoor, Indoor. cloudy. It seems to me that the Color temperature button is nothing more the just a manual type of function, am I right?

Q.2. I have a few office scenes, the office has a big window behind the desk of a politician. The lights in the room (lights from above) are florescent, I have been told by a few people to avoid Mixed lighting as much as possible. However, theses scenes must have the window in the Background, with no curtain or anything. what can i do about this mixed lighting problem? lots of T.V. shows and movies have done it, what is their secret.

Thanks to who ever took the time to read all of this.

 

[harmonica44]

Well if you want the sunlight come in normal white, you have to set the white balance to sunlight, or shade, if you want a more golden yellow sunlight look, rather than just plain white. This will cause the flourescent lights to come out yellow, but you could probably put green gel on them, to make come out white. I have not used green gel, so I am not sure if I'm right, but bottom line is, using regular flourescents may not be the way to go, since they will come out yellow. And if you set your white balance so that the fluorescents come out white, than the sunlight comes through a blue-purple color. But this won't look as bad as yellow flourescents in my opinion. Colored gels is how TV shows do it.

As for deciding to use your color balance pre-sets, personally I prefer to choose the exact level of K manually, cause then it gives the exact color I find to be the best.

 

[jax_rox]

The buttons are simply presets that immediately set to a specific colour temperature - 3200K for indoor, somewhere between 5200K and 5600K for daylight (depending on your camera) etc.

In terms of mixed lighting, generally you'd replace the flourescent tubes - either eliminate them completely and replace with a bounced soft source, or replace the tubes with daylight balanced tubes. Sometimes, you can hang daylight balanced lights from the ceiling to replicate.

 

[mrpink89]

you guys have some great ideas. But seeing as how we are using the space and not renting, the guy will not let us change the light bulbs. Hell we are lucky he is even letting us film there. is there any suggestions besides color gels?

 

[CraigL]

You'll probably just have to compromise then. Having the outdoor a little more yellow shouldn't be too much of a big deal. You could try putting some tungsten temperature light on the talent to compensate a bit, then just the interior background will be slightly off colour, which might just help in isolating the talent in the images.

Don't forget though, white balance is more than just temperature, the fluorescents can cast a green tint, which simply setting the temperature won't remove. If you have a "push to white balance" option, use that on an 18% grey card (if you have a proper one) or a piece of white paper properly exposed is always preferred if you are able to.

You might be lucky, the lights might already be daylight balanced, in which case all you'll need to deal with is the greenish tint they sometimes produce.

Cheap fluorescents are never desirable. Aside from the colour cast, they also rarely have a CRI of better than 80 or so, which means the quality of the white light is reduced as not all of the wavelengths that contribute to "white" are present. So, colours can appear "off" still as if they predominately reflect one or more of the missing wavelengths, that will be absent from the image. Also, cheap fluorescents can oscillate in their colours produced, resulting in an odd "pulsing" of a colour cast. Not much you can do about that.

However, enough doom and gloom. Just balance as best you can, shoot as flat as you can and I'm sure it will turn out OK. Honestly, you're biggest problem will probably be the exposure difference between the exterior and the interior stuff, unless you light the interior like crazy.

CraigL

 

[mrpink89]

WOW great insight. it is all coming together. I was looking up Gels on youtube and I came across this video. it seems to fit the needs I have, only thing is they are defusing the sun with an orange gel because they are shooting in tungstan. would you, or anybody know of the correct gel color for florescent lights? also does anybody know where I can buy these gel rolls?

 

[2001 Productions]

anybody know of the correct gel color for florescent lights? also does anybody know where I can buy these gel rolls?

Problem with consumer florescent bulbs is their color temperatures are all over the map. But if you use a light pink gel you should at least minimize any green tinge. However, you still need to decide whether you're going to try and match tungsten fixtures to daylight, or cover the windows with CTO. The color you use for the florescent will differ depending on which way you go. Personally, if the florescent fixtures are not visible on camera, I would shut them off.

Gels are available at cinema supply stores in any major city, or online.

 

[jax_rox]

Use some minus green on the fluros, maybe some other colour correction if you want to bring it in line with the daylight from the window. I can't see why gelling the lights, changing the tubes, or bringing in your own lights would be an issue, as long as the area is reset when you're finished so it was like you were never there..?

IMO, it's pretty much pointless using a location to film if the location aren't really going to let you do much more than press record on a camera. But then, I like total control over my lighting setups..

 

[mrpink89]

My bad I am so dumb, I forgot to include the video.

http://youtu.be/4k8uiTz3GUM

what I was talking about is in this video they are shooting in tungsten lighting, so they use a tungsten gel for the windows, what color gel roll would I put on my windows if I have florescent lighting?

I don't have the funds to switch out all the bulbs, I mean we are talking about 12 long tube florescent bulbs each, don't have the cash. I also don't want to touch the lights at that place.

I may just not even use the lights there and bring my own. I have halogen work lights.

 

[jax_rox]

what I was talking about is in this video they are shooting in tungsten lighting, so they use a tungsten gel for the windows, what color gel roll would I put on my windows if I have florescent lighting?

Got a colour temperature meter? Standard fluro tubes can have all sorts of spikes and different colour temperatures, it's difficult to give you a definite answer that will 100% work.

I may just not even use the lights there and bring my own. I have halogen work lights.

This could also work - bounce them off the roof if you want a similar sort of 'top-down' lighting effect, or just for ambience. These would also need to be gelled with CTB (201) or 1/2 CTB (202) depending on your preference, but also require much smaller gels than an entire window.

 

[mrpink89]

Great man, thanks a lot.