At first, tungsten light appears to be a yellowish colour. As the sun was setting, so that the light outside was weaker than a room lit by tungsten lamps, I looked out of a window for a while and then turned to face the brightly lit room. I noticed that for a brief moment, the light inside the room appeard very orange. After letting my eyes adjust it appeared less coloured; as I looked back out of the window, the light outside was very blue. Colour film and CCD sensors cannot adapt to light like human eyes can and therfore, colour balanced settings and film need to be used.
Inside a room lit by tungsten lamps I used my handheld meter to measure the intensity of light in different areas. I had my ISO set to 100 and aperture set to f/4 for each test. In a brightly lit corner under a 40watt reading lamp I would have needed a shutter speed of 1/3 sec. In the centre of the room 2secs, and in an unlit corner 6secs. In all of these positions, the shutter speed was far too slow for handheld shooting. I set my camera on a tripod and conducted a series of tests. In each set of three photographs, the first image is overexposed by one stop, the middle is neutral and the bottom is underexposed by one stop.
Bright Corner - Daylight Balance
Daylight Balance + Flash
Tungsten Balance
In the brightly lit corner (using a 40watt reading lamp) the daylight balance clearly shows an orange cast created by the tungsten lamp. I prefer the overexposed shot as it is the clearest and most detail is visible.
Combining the built in flash with daylight balance helps to neutralise most of the orange colour, however, it leaves a slightly blue cast and gives the photograph a cool feeling. I prefer the neutral shot.
Using tungsten balance eliminates almost all of the orange cast and produces the most accurate image. The overexposed shot is again my favourite as it is the clearest.
Combining the built in flash with daylight balance helps to neutralise most of the orange colour, however, it leaves a slightly blue cast and gives the photograph a cool feeling. I prefer the neutral shot.
Using tungsten balance eliminates almost all of the orange cast and produces the most accurate image. The overexposed shot is again my favourite as it is the clearest.
Centre of Room - Daylight Balance
Daylight Balance + Flash
Tungsten Balance
Daylight images are very orange in colour. Over exposed is my favourite.Daylight + Flash are much better. Orange has been neutralised, I prefer underexposed shot.
Tungsten balance - Overexposed is the clearest shot and has the most accurate colours.
Dark Corner - Daylight Balance
Daylight + Flash
Tungsten Balance
Daylight Balance - Extremely orange, all unatractive.Daylight + Flash - Colours are very distorted, slightly pink.
Tungsten Balance - Neutral is definately the best shot. No colour inaccuracies and exposed nicely.
I then found a 45watt lamp and took further measurements, again using ISO 100 and aperture f/4 but I still would have needed a slow shutter speed of 1/10 sec. Too slow for handheld shooting.
45watt lamp - Daylight Balance
Daylight Balance + Flash
Tungsten Balance
Daylight - Extremely Orange
Daylight + Flash - Suprisingly has the most accurate colours
Tungsten Balance - Slightly green cast
The lower the number of watts of a tungsten lightbulb, the redder it will appear when using normal daylight settings. When shooting a scene that is lit by candles, this will appear reddest of all as they don't burn as hot as tungsten lightbulbs and have a lower colour temperature.
Daylight Balance - Almost red in colour, very dark orange.
Daylight + Flash - Good colours but slightly pink
Tungsten Balance - Best colours
