Colour Balance

There is a difference in colour between natural and artificial light and therefore each colour film must be balanced to yield correct colours for those particular light conditions such as daylight or tungsten bulb light. If the correct film is not used then this will result in a colour cast on the final image caused by a shift in colour balance due to the lighting being out of balance with the film type.

Daylight balanced film is the most commonly used as it is designed to produce an accurate representation of a daylight scene and is balanced for light in the 5200 K to 5800 K temperature range. It is highly suited to outdoors but can also be used indoors when using flash or full- spectrum bulbs. Daylight is considered to be blue therefore using this film in other lighting conditions will generally render a warmer tone of the image. If the daylight film is used in a scene lit by a household bulb light (tungsten), following developing the image will have a yellow-orange cast. The use of 80 A / B colour filters will eliminate this cast.

Tungsten balanced film is to be used when indoors with normal (tungsten) and fluorescent lighting as it is balanced for light at a temperature of 3200 K. If tungsten film is used in daylight conditions then the final image will have a blue cast. This cast can be eliminated by using 85A / B filters that will warm-up the available light. Refer to Colour Filters section for details on other filters.