What is the difference between color temperature and Kelvin temperature?
They are both the same. The concept was developed by William Thompson, Lord Kelvin. When you heat a black body (a piece of carbon or black iron), the color of the object becomes cooler as the temperature increases. A one degree change in Kelvin is the same as a one degree change in Celsius. The Kelvin scale starts at 0 which is the same as -273 C. The light from a candle is about 1500 K, tungsten photo floods and quartz lamps about 3200 to 3400 K, sunlight or white light and electronic flash are about 5500 K and blue sky is about 9000 to 12000 K. Daylight film is balanced to about 5500 K which is the same for the light from most electronic flash units with UV corrected flash tubes. If you are shooting film you can compensate for differences in color temperature by using color correction filters over the lens or over the light source. Digital cameras will allow you, in most instances, to make color corrections by changing your white balance. However, you cannot mix light sources without
