PhotoStar Loc: Calgary, Alberta

Had to take the new 5D mark iii outside for some low light shots to see if it really does stack up for being more sensitive. And indeed it does. The only blurring I encountered was from hand holding at 1/8th of a second in the occasional image. I don't really shoot too much with street lighting as I don't like the overly orange glow from them. They aren't incandescent so what are they color temperature wise?

I left the camera on auto white balance for this go round. Next I'll set it to tungsten and see what that does, or should I do something else? ( Thinking custom white balance next ). What do other photographers do with this type of lighting? I'd appreciate your response.

Erik_H Loc: Denham Springs, Louisiana

We have horrible orange colored mercury vapor lighting outside mt apartment and I have found that the best way to go is with a custom white balance.

robert-photos Loc: Chicago

The orange high intensity discharge (HID) street lighting you see are high pressure sodium (HPS) lights not mercury vapor and have a color temperature between 2000 deg K to 3500 deg K and a CRI of 22 depending on the bulb. The color temperature also varies on start up.

CRI is a quantitative measure of the ability of a light source to reproduce the colors of various objects faithfully in comparison with an ideal or natural light source (CRI = 100). For comparison sunlight has a CRI of 100 and incandescent lighting a CRI of 95. The bottom line is that HPS is crappy at rendering colors and obtaining a color balance whether in camera or in post processing.

If the lights are yellow those are monochromatic low pressure lights (LPS) and it is impossible to correct the color balance in camera or in post process. There is only one color, yellow. Color correction of a LPS lighted object photo is the same as color correcting a BW photo. There just isn't any color to work with or adjust.

As to HPS lighting, setting a custom white balance is your best bet although it can be done in post. My experience is that if done in post colors turn a bit muddy but my PP technique may be off.

I occassionally shoot a venue which has a variation of high pressure sodium, the White SON, for lighting. This lighting has a color temperature of 2700 deg K and a Color Rendering Index (CRI) of 85.

I built you a watch when you asked for the time but I hope it helps. :lol:

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

I agree with robert-photos except that I would be inclined to set a Kelvin temperature of 2100-2200°K. Bear in mind, however, that this is a small difference and not worth any amount of anguish.

PhotoStar Loc: Calgary, Alberta

I don't know my outside lights very well. But I fully understand the effect of a lights color rendering index on the faithfulness of accurate color. Thank you for reminding me of that. From the back of the camera, I'd say there is a strong yellow component to the light. Think I will call the city and find out more about the lamps in our neighborhood. So a good chance they might be LPS as you suggest. I appreciate the extra info you shared, as its something I can work with, and it gives me some other options to explore. Thank you Robert.

Frank T Loc: New York, NY

Photo, I wouldn't stress over it either but the truth is that mercury vapor isn't the only kind of lighting used. Here's a list of all of them: http://www.eskimo.com/~jrterry/lampspage.html
The good news is that many jurisdictions will be switching over to led's and they're balanced for daylight.

heyrob Loc: Western Washington

I once shot a bridge after dark, since it was several hours from home and I wasn't about to chance not getting a good shot, I spent quite some time there. I have no idea what type of lighting they have on the bridge, so I shot a number of different compositions, and cycled through a number of different white balance settings for each composition. While some settings provided an image that was essentially what my eyes saw, others provided some very cool effects.

My point is experiment! Try different settings and see what the results are after you can view them on your monitor; the little screen on the camera will not really give you the full effect.

Dun1 Loc: Atlanta, GA

Your best bet is to use Custom White balance to correct for lighting. I use an Expo Disc in most situations, inside, and outside to correct the lighting. Using the correct color balance will save you time in post editing, and once you find a setting you like that depicts the situation you can cut and paste the setting from one image to the others that you shot. Inside situations are as difficult based on the lighting, whether of not it's flourscent, sodium vapor, or mercury vapor lighting, in some instances indoors you will find combinations of indoor lighting