Lighting Temperature Explained
I thought this might help to understand the differences in the types of lighting we use in our day-to-day operations and how they effect color.
When you purchase lighting, make sure you are using like temperatures. If you are not sure, ask your vendor. They can recommend lighting in similar color temperatures to avoid color shifts from different light types. Don’t settle for blanket answers like “Bright White”. Ask for the actual temperature, measured in Kelvin or “K”. ie “Bright White” 6500K would be a great daylight lighting product and give you pleasing color rendition while a “Warm White” 3000K bulb will leave you with a 1970 looking color.
Another lighting tip. Glossy surfaces will not “light”. They will reflect the light off the surface and you will see virtually no change in color. Matte surfaces will “absorb” light and show a color change.
To make matters worse, just about every exhibit hall uses a different type of light, each with different color temperatures. For example, Ernest N Morial in New Orleans, uses Metal Halide lights which have a temperature of 4000K. If you have ever been there, you might have noticed a kind of warm sunlight/yellow look to everything. That’s Metal Halide 4000K lamps creating that color.
So, what’s that mean?
You spent big bucks making sure to spec and purchase 6500K lights for your exhibit and then ship it to Ernest N. Morial to be bathed in 4000K lamps. Now what? Well, as long as the lightbox is brighter than the ambient light in the hall, the lightbox with 6500K lighting should prevail. Turn out the lightbox and the image will look like 1970 again.
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