White balance & Colour temperature

White Balance


White balance is the process of removing unrealistic color casts, so that objects which appear white in person are rendered white in your photo. White balance has to take into account the "color temperature" of a light source, which refers to the relative warmth or coolness of white light. Our eyes are very good at judging what is white under different light sources, but digital cameras often have great difficulty with auto white balance and can create unsightly blue, orange, or even green color casts. Understanding digital white balance can help you avoid these color casts, thereby improving your photos under a wider range of lighting condition

Color temperature 

Color temperature refers to a characterization of the spectral properties of a light source and is commonly used during the production phase in the film and photography industries. Low color temperature is the warmer, more yellow to red light while high color temperature is the colder, more blue light. Daylight, for example, has a lower color temperature near dawn and a higher one during the day. The standard unit of measurement for color temperature is Kelvin (K). Some typical color values include the following;

• candles or oil lamps: 1000K
• household light bulbs: 2500K
• bright sunshine on a clear day: 6000K
• very overcast sky: 10,000K

Reference : http://www.studiadualne.info/whatis/TERM/C/color_temperature.html

Colour temperature is used within the film industry in order to create and allow for a better colour for the picture for example allow for more reds if you want to achieve a warm effect and blue is you want to achieve a cold or cooler tone eg a horror film .