The Colour Temperature in Photography Trick
We often associate cold with blue tones, right? So here’s a little trick I use to make a scene feel colder without freezing my fingers off even more.
First, I lit Kai with a lamp set to 2,700 Kelvin. That’s a warm light, the kind of glow you get from a cosy lamp or candlelight. When I took the shot with this warm light, the image looked anything but cold—it was warm and inviting.
Then came the clever part: I reset the camera’s white balance to 2,700 Kelvin, matching the lamp’s colour temperature. This adjustment shifts the colours in the image, making everything else appear much cooler and distinctly chilly. Suddenly, the scene that was bathed in warm light now looks like it’s biting cold.
I love that effect. It’s a neat way to play with perception and mood without changing the actual environment.
Equipment
The light is an Aputure LS60x with an Elinchrom gridded reflector (and a small piece of diffusion filter on the front to soften the edges.