An indoor scene is lit primarily by tungsten bulbs. To achieve accurate, neutral colors without color grading, what Kelvin temperature range would an expert manually set on the iPhone?
The Kelvin temperature scale is used to measure the color temperature of light, which describes its perceived warmth or coolness. Tungsten bulbs, also known as incandescent bulbs, are characterized by emitting a warm light with a distinct yellowish-orange cast. The typical color temperature for common household tungsten bulbs ranges from approximately 2700 Kelvin (K) to 3000K, while professional photographic or video tungsten lamps are often standardized at 3200K. To achieve accurate, neutral colors, meaning that objects that are truly white appear as pure white in the resulting photograph, the camera's white balance setting must precisely compensate for the inherent color cast of the light source. White balance is the process of digitally adjusting the colors in an image to ensure that white objects are rendered correctly under different lighting conditions. An expert would manually set the iPhone's white balance Kelvin temperature to directly match the specific color temperature of the tungsten bulbs illuminating the scene. For example, if the tungsten bulbs emit light at 2700K, the expert would set the iPhone to 2700K. If the bulbs are 3000K, the setting would be 3000K. If they are 3200K, the setting would be 3200K. Therefore, the Kelvin temperature range an expert would manually set on the iPhone to achieve accurate, neutral colors in a scene lit primarily by tungsten bulbs would be between approximately 2700K and 3200K, specifically matching the exact color temperature of the dominant tungsten light source present.