warmth. This balancing of colors worked great for the illuminated subject,
but any background or foreground not illuminated by the tungsten light
would become blue. This made for a great, saturated, blue sky or background.
However, it also meant that you had to compose the image with a dense filter
on the lens, making the objects in front of the lens harder to see and focus
more difficult to achieve. With digital, we can simply set our white balance to
3200K or tungsten. On some cameras, you can also select an incandescent
light white balance setting.
When working digitally, we do not need to contend with the depressed,
“blue Monday” feel when we look through the viewfinder, as there is no filter
to cut the amount of light entering the lens. We also eliminate the need to pur-
chase a high-quality, multicoated filter. (A lens is only as good as the last piece
of glass on the front of it.)
While this sky saturating technique is proven and produces great results, not
everyone likes to carry hot lights on location. Not only are tungsten light kits
bulky, but they require at least 1000 watts of power. Also, the light emitted is
physically hot and can melt the subject’s makeup away. Because they are
bright, they can make the model squint. Finally, a tungsten bulb is a very spec-
ular light source, and the hard light it produces is never flattering to a model’s
complexion.
66 LIGHTING FOR GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHY
KELVIN SCALE
Condition............................ .Kelvin Temperature
Sunrise and sunset......................... .1600K to 4300K
Average candlelight........................ .1800K to 1900K
Sodium mercury vapor street lights.................... .2300K
Average household bulb (incandescent)......... .2800K to 3200K
Professional tungsten.............................. .3200K
One hour after sunrise............................. .3500K
Mid-morning daylight....................... .4300K to 4500K
Daylight at noon.............. .5000K to 6000K; average 5400K
Print viewing lamps and professional fluorescent lighting... .5000K
Average electronic flash............................ .5400K
Light overcast day.......................... .5800 to 6000K
Heavy overcast day................................ .6500K
Shade...................... .5800 to 10000K, average 8000K
Daylight fluorescent bulb, consumer................... .6500KFACING PAGE—One of my favorite
spots for photography is the Virgin
Islands. I have a location that has an
infinity pool facing the sunset and in
this image of Ashly, I placed a
Hensel Integra 500 Pro Plus mono-
light behind her. The monolight is
fitted with a 7-inch metal reflector
with a 20-degree grid covered with a
red gel. The main light was a Hensel
Porty Premium power pack attached
to a Hensel ring flash fitted with a
Hensel OctaHaze attachment and a
Rosco #02 Bastard Amber gel (placed
inside the OctaHaze). (CAMERA:Canon
EOS 5D fitted with a Canon 85mm
f/1.2L USM lens. SETTINGS:85mm
effective focal length,^1 / 160 second
shutter speed, f/8.0, white balance
at 5600K, ISO 100)