Color Video

Two things a bit on the technical side when the video clip are color temperature and white balance. They are related. This post tells you everything need to know about a practice level about these terms and how they affect how to record videos.

The white balance is an adjustment made in the chamber that tells you what kind of light you are recording video in which the camera records the correct color.

(Small, automatic cameras always balance Auto white, so you need not worry about it, but the larger video cameras have manual control of white balance gives you the best quality. )

WHY YOU NEED TO WHITE BALANCE?

Different types of light have different colors. The camera must be adjusted to shoot right color. This may seem strange, because the light is usually seen white to us humans, regardless of their origin. We see sunlight as blue, green fluorescent light, or glowing like orange, but they are.

Cameras see light and color really is, but our brains and the eyes of all target type or we feel like we're in a permanent LSD trip. (Wow man, everything is soooo colorful.)

Color temperature is the technical term for measuring the color of light. The Kelvin temperature scale is used. Standard sunlight is about 5,400 degrees Kelvin. Sunlight in the shadows is "cool" about 7,400 degrees. TV tungsten halogen lights are orange and come in the 3200 degrees Kelvin.

You really do not have to know these exact values to adjust the camera. Most cameras white balance by pointing at a white card that reflects the light in virtue of being shot. Then push a button and the camera reads the white and sets all the other colors on it.

A tip is advanced white balance on a card with a slight blue tint and get a nice warm orange. Not distorted enough to look orange, orange invitation only enough to look.

You can do the opposite, balancing in a soft orange card. This gives a blue tint, which could be what you need to make the shooting scene Christmas in July with cold eyes.

To play it safe and get the true color, it is better to shoot in a kind of light. Mixtures can launch a camera. For example, if you shoot inside with incandescent light of its windows will be too blue. Sometimes that can really look good, but often looks horrible.

If you go outside to shoot without changing the white balance inside the recording, the video is likely to be very blue.

If the camera has a manual white balance, use each time you change the light. Also change as the day continues, because sunlight at night is much bluer than sunlight at noon.

One great feature to search more advanced video cameras is the ability to set white balance presets. They can help to change your white balance quickly, without having to go through the typical routine of the white card.

I hope this information helps you make better videos!

Lorena Grula

Internet Video Gal

Lorraine Grula is an award winning video production professional with over twenty-five years of experience. She has worked on virtually every kind of video production imaginable. Today, she gives out free advice on video production through her blog, http://www.videoproductiontips.com

Color Video

Color Video