What Light Setting to Use for Filming in Yellow Lit Rooms?

Filming in a room that appears to have yellow lighting or a yellow tone can certainly pose some challenges. As you may already know, yellow lighting can really throw colors off not just when filming. But in real life! Rooms that have yellow light are said to have a higher kelvin temperature which gives off the yellow-orange glow. While this lighting is ideal for some situations. It’s not for others. Finding white balance in rooms with yellow tone can be challenging. And determining what light setting to use for filming in yellow lit rooms will almost certainly lead to some questions. Especially if you’re new to color temperature and the impact that it can have on your footage.

What Color Lighting is Best for Filming, Yellow or White?

Yellow lighting, such as that which comes from Tungsten light bulbs, can cast a very yellow light shadow in the room and any surface that the light bounces off of will become a mix of its original color plus the yellow tone of the light.

Color Temperature

Therefore, a room with yellow lighting will add yellow tones to the actors, their clothes, and the surrounding surfaces throughout the set if you’re not careful. 

This is called color temperature. And although our brains and our eyes may not really notice much difference as we adjust to the perception and barely notice the change, camera sensors will certainly recognize the yellow cast over everything in the room.

And, if you’re not careful, your footage will appear yellow. When filming, choosing between yellow and white light tones is really a matter of what you’re filming, the time of day you’re trying to portray in your film, and the look you’re trying to achieve. 

Ideally

White light is ideal, because it is the easiest to manipulate with gels and other elements to achieve the desired white balance for the room. Digital cameras provide white-balance control which cinematographers can use to neutralize color casts.

Like those that come from a yellow lit room. However, with actual slide film, cinematographers were required to choose the most suitable film for the light they would be shooting in. Which meant choosing a different film for a room with a warmer light tone versus one with a cooler tone.

Setting White Balance

To counter the yellow lighting in a room, you have several options. First, you can adjust your white-balance so that it neutralizes the yellow lighting in the room. 

Keep in mind though, that choosing an incorrect white balance setting on your camera can lead to footage that appears unnatural, causing your actors to have poor skin tone and causing other color shifts in your footage.

Setting your white balance to properly accommodate for the color temperature of the lighting in the room is important. Adjusting the white balance to the appropriate setting for the color temperature in the room that you’re filming in will ensure that your images look most natural.

Adjusting Color Temperature with Gels

Gels are low cost, transparent sheets of colored plastic that attach over lights to change the hue. The use of gels to balance out lighting, especially when you’ve got yellow lit tungsten bulbs and other lights.

Things such as fluorescents which have clashing hues, can balance your light colors so that your camera sensor doesn’t pick up on the different hues.

In fact, if you’re trying to figure out what light setting for filming in yellow lit rooms that not only have tungsten lights but that also have cooler fluorescent lights too, consider adding a daylight blue gel to the tungsten light so that you can match the fluorescent light tones.

Then all you have to do is set your camera for the sunlight tones and your footage will be properly balanced, even though you started off with a yellow lit room.

Inexpensive & Reusable

Since gels are available in a variety of color options and with preset Kelvin ratings. They’re a great way to adjust your light setting and they’re inexpensive and reusable, too.

So, if you’re trying to figure out what light setting for filming in yellow lit rooms? Your best bet is to adjust your color hue with gels, adjust your white balance to the appropriate setting for your room color, or adjust your lighting so that your footage will appear most natural.