The Impact of Colour Temperature in Photography on Humans

There are two types of colours: warm colours (red, orange, yellow), which have low temperature and low energy, long wavelength and low frequency, and ** cool colours** (green, blue, violet), which are the opposite of warm colours; their temperature and energy are high, the wavelength is short, and the frequency is high. In printed form, we use the subtractive colour space – the ** CMYK colour space**, which consists of cyan, magenta and yellow.

Problem

There are two types of colours: warm colours (red, orange, yellow), which have low temperature and low energy, long wavelength and low frequency, and ** cool colours** (green, blue, violet), which are the opposite of warm colours; their temperature and energy are high, the wavelength is short, and the frequency is high.

Solution and Method

In printed form, we use the subtractive colour space – the CMYK colour space, which consists of cyan, magenta and yellow. The additive colour space – RGB, which consists of red, green and blue, is used on monitors, televisions and digital cameras, in short, on all digital media for displaying photography. The kelvin unit is marked on light bulbs or light sources and provides us with important information about the composition of the bulb's spectrum.

Colour temperature is expressed in kelvins and is denoted by K. Delta E (∆E) tells us the value or accuracy of colours in reproduction. The precision of colours according to delta E is defined such that when light reaches an object, the object absorbs part of the light, whilst the remainder of the light is reflected to their eye. When we look at an object, the light waves are reflected and represent or determine which colour they will see at that moment.

Delta E is the designation for the colour difference between two colours expressed by the coordinates of the colour space. The lower the ∆E value, the more accurate the colour reproduction. The meaning of Delta E is the difference in colour perception.

CRI (Ra) represents the colour rendering index, meaning the average value of colour matching. With a higher CRI (Ra) value, the matching is greater, whilst with a lower value there is almost no matching. ** TLCI** displays a form of colour index in which emphasis is placed on skin colour. Every camera has a different sensor that responds individually – the reaction to lights and light sources.

With the help of a spectrometer, we can measure light, which shows us CRI measurements and we can see the individual colour matching value for reference colours in the spectrum, but this does not tell us how their sensor on the device or camera will use these colours. When purchasing any individual camera, we must know precisely what it will be used for in practice, as this determines the key criteria, which are: architecture, sensor, usability, robustness, photograph quality, weight and power supply. The field of application of the device also represents great significance in choosing a new camera, for example photographing nature, use in an atelier or studio, or underwater photography, for which additional special equipment and protection are required.