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How to Photograph With Daylight Lamps
Kamera Express
Photography with daylight bulbs
What is a daylight bulb?
A daylight bulb is a bulb with a color temperature of 5000K to 5500K. This color temperature produces a natural, white light that is comparable to daylight. Other white bulbs, such as fluorescent lighting, can cause pink or green color casts. A daylight bulb does not do this because the light contains all colors from the color spectrum. Daylight bulbs are useful for portrait, product and videography and come in the form of flash bulbs or continuous lights. Nowadays LED lighting as continuous light is taking over.
There are many different types of daylight bulbs, such as halogen bulbs, LED bulbs, spiral bulbs or tube bulbs. For professional daylight bulb holders, a tube bulb or LED bulb are good options. These allow you to light your entire studio. LED bulbs are among the most economical and energy-saving lighting options. Spiral bulbs are energy-efficient and generate less heat. The spiral bulb is recommended for film shoots for example, but this bulb offers no options in color temperature. Halogen bulbs have the highest wattages and are infinitely adjustable. Ultimately the choice of bulb type is a personal one and you need to think carefully about the intended result.
Color temperature
When you want to know which color temperature you need, it's best to remember: high is cool and low is warm. So the higher the number, the cooler the light and the lower the number, the warmer the light.
- 3200K Warm light (such as direct sunlight, late afternoon)
- 4000K Everyday light (most common for indoor use, gives warm but not overly warm light)
- 5500K Neutral white light (such as on a cloudy day, 12 noon)
- 7000K Coolest color temperature light (almost blue light such as at dusk or moonlight)
Why is a daylight bulb important?
Now that you know a little more about what a daylight bulb is and what the different color temperatures do, it's useful to know when to choose a daylight bulb.
Influencing appearance
With a daylight bulb at the right color temperature you can influence the appearance of your subject. For example, with a lower color temperature you can make someone with a pale complexion look a little healthier.
Matching a mood
By mood we of course mean the atmosphere you want to achieve with the photo. This is especially useful when working with a green screen. If you want to add a background of a tropical beach later, it's useful to shoot the shadow on your subject at a low color temperature rather than a high one. Conversely, a night scene is best lit at the highest color temperature.
Creating your own atmosphere
With a neutral background you can give your subject its own atmosphere by playing with light and color temperature. You can then play with the shadows and mood of the photo by simply changing the color temperature of the light.
Advantages of continuous light vs. flash light
Advantages of continuous light
Power consumption. LED continuous lighting in particular uses considerably less power than a flash bulb. This can be an advantage when working on location and relying on a generator.
Mood. A flash bulb can 'flash away' a carefully built-up atmosphere and change it dramatically. This is not an issue when using continuous lighting.
Fast workflow. You don't have to wait for the bulb to recharge like with flash. With continuous light you can shoot one after another.
Color temperature. LED continuous bulbs in particular have the major advantage of offering a very diverse color temperature range. You can set LED lighting to virtually any color temperature and avoid color casts.
Suitable for video. Continuous light works well for recording video. This is because the light from a flash bulb is often too weak to achieve a good result.
Instant feedback. You can immediately see what the result looks like.
Ease of use. It is easier to use as you have fewer buttons and settings to deal with.
Light meter. With continuous light you can use your camera's built-in light meter. With flash bulbs this needs to be done with a separate light meter, which measures the 'incident' light rather than the 'reflected' light.
Comfort. Especially for models, LED lighting is a relief. Other bulbs can get quite hot, and with continuous light the model no longer needs to blink from the flash.
Advantages of flash light
Freeze motion. With flash light you can 'freeze' the moment and work with a shorter shutter speed. This means you won't need a tripod.
Light shapers. When using a flash you have a much wider choice of additional light shapers than with continuous light.
Cost. A flash bulb is (generally) cheaper than a daylight bulb for an equal amount of light.
Size. There are very handy and compact flash units available, which can be a great advantage for shoots on location.
Other light shapers
Besides the right bulb at the correct color temperature, there are plenty of other useful tools that can help you achieve the best possible result. Be sure to check out the options in our webshop:
