Kelvin Kelvin is a unit of measurement used to quantify color temperature, which refers to the hue of light emitted by a light source. In photography, color temperature is measured on the Kelvin scale, with higher values representing cooler (bluer) light and lower values representing warmer (redder) light. The Kelvin scale is based on the theoretical color of light emitted by a black body radiator at different temperatures. For example, daylight typically has a color temperature around 5500-6500 Kelvin, resulting in neutral or slightly blue-toned light.
Indoor tungsten lighting, on the other hand, has a lower color temperature of around 2700-3200 Kelvin, resulting in warmer, yellow-orange light. Understanding color temperature and Kelvin values is important for photographers as it allows them to adjust white balance settings on their cameras to accurately reproduce the true colors of a scene under different lighting conditions. |