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Film vs Digital Imaging
Film - Part II - Colour Film Colour film is considerably more complicated than black and white because it has to have the three light sensitive layers and dye layers and because film records the colour of the light more specifically than the eye does. That is to say we interpret colours as we know them to be rather than how they appear in the various light situations. Film records colour and the existing light more specifically. More on this later.The details of colour film specifications, manufacturing, and processing fill many books and journals so it would be beyond the scope of this article to try to be comprehensive in any way. The manufacturer decides on a colour pallete: this is why Agfa, Kodak and Fuji films have a different look as a result of the dyes used and the choices made. Agfa tends towards the Old Masters looks with more browns, Kodak tends towards hyper-colour with it's Kodachrome while Ektachrome and Fujichrome have a more natural look but with definite characteristics. Colour negative films have their own characteristics but they also facilitate fine tuning colour in the printing process. As with black and white films, slower films have smaller grains of silver and are capable of recording more detail while faster films have noticeable grain artifacts. All of the silver image is bleached out of the film and is replaced by dyes. The combination of the three dye layers gives the full colour image. The dye images tend to mask the grain artifacts. Colour films are inherently less sharp because of the thickness of the three layers of emulsion.
Daylight colour film is balanced for noon day sunlight (5,500 degrees Kelvin) and electronic flash. All other lighting conditions would require corrective colour filtration to get "correct" colour balance. In a shot lit by a clear blue sky the colour temperature would be much higher (10 to 15,000 K) and would require a warming orange filter to get a "correct" colour rendition. In a shot lit by a rising or setting sun would have a much lower colour temperature (3,500 to 4,000 K) and would require a blue filter to get a "correct" colour rendition. In practice, we don't like "cool" or blue tinted pictures but we are inclined to accept "warm" or orange tinted pictures especially if the effect is not too drastic and it adds to the feeling of morning or evening sun. As well as the colour correction that may or may not be needed there is an exposure compensation required if the film is being used under the "wrong" lighting conditions.
Tungsten colour film is balanced for use with tungsten filament artificial light (3,200 degrees Kelvin). All other lighting conditions would require corrective colour filtration to get "correct" colour balance. This is a specialized film designed for studio use but it is much closer to correct balance for early morning or late evening shooting if the desire is to get "correct" colour rendition. I am using "correct" in quotes because a lot of artistic licence can be taken with "correct" colour.
If one is managing colour very carefully then you need an expensive specialized light meter called a colour temperature meter.
Posted July 20, 2004
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The next segment describes Special Film.
