Editing on screen at night with 50 Watt Halogen light bulbs

[Jansos]

Now that the summer months and the late evening daylight are fast disappearing, can anyone recommend how best to edit in LIghtroom with 50 Watt Halogen lighting as background supplemental room light? Perhaps, I should just stick to daylight hours when light is more consistent but what if you have a rush news job to submit? I don't feel confident that what I'm seeing on screen is an accurate. Any advice?

[MDM]

Daylight is anything but consistent in terms of colour temperature which changes significantly over the day and also depends on the weather - overcast, sunny, shade etc. You can use your camera and a gray card or the like to see how much the colour of daylight changes. Obviously daylight also changes in luminance. The important thing is consistency - a darkened room during the day with a dim constant light source and no light shining directly on the screen. Needless to say, screen calibration is vital for consistency. 

Edited October 2, 2023 by MDM

[Gorilla Dave]

...do you have to use 50 Watt Halogen lighting ?

There's plenty of daylight simulation bulbs on ebay.

[Jansos]

12 hours ago, Gorilla Dave said:

...do you have to use 50 Watt Halogen lighting ?

There's plenty of daylight simulation bulbs on ebay.

I didn't know there were such things. Thanks, I'll switch ASAP!

[Jansos]

12 hours ago, MDM said:

Daylight is anything but consistent in terms of colour temperature which changes significantly over the day and also depends on the weather - overcast, sunny, shade etc. You can use your camera and a gray card or the like to see how much the colour of daylight changes. Obviously daylight also changes in luminance. The important thing is consistency - a darkened room during the day with a dim constant light source and no light shining directly on the screen. Needless to say, screen calibration is vital for consistency. 

Thanks MDM. I didn't word that particularly well. What I meant was that when you have good quality, consistent light during the day it is a lot easier to edit photos, under the right conditions, than trying to do it at night using an artificial light source. Definitely going to go out and buy some daylight simulation bulbs on ebay though. Hopefully, they will make the job a little easier.

[MDM]

10 minutes ago, Jansos said:

Thanks MDM. I didn't word that particularly well. What I meant was that when you have good quality, consistent light during the day it is a lot easier to edit photos, under the right conditions, than trying to do it at night using an artificial light source. Definitely going to go out and buy some daylight simulation bulbs on ebay though. Hopefully, they will make the job a little easier.

 

OK I took what you said literally. However, you don't necessarily need daylight bulbs when looking at a screen. Daylight simulation is vitally important if examining prints but I don't think it matters so much when looking at a screen. I prefer a nearly dark environment anyway so the light from the screen greatly overhwhelms the ambient light. That said daylight simulation bulbs give a more pleasant light and are definitely preferable. There may even be heatlth benefits.  

[StanRohrer]

On 03/10/2023 at 05:11, Jansos said:

I didn't know there were such things. Thanks, I'll switch ASAP!

Daylight bulbs are very viable in my book. LED versions are now readily available in the USA. Also look to see if they have a decent CRI (Color Rendering Index). A CRI of 90 or higher seems to be good at providing all colors in the spectrum. I find them most useful for lighting a print and then comparing the print to the screen image. So screen brightness and color white balance also come into play when doing edit/print comparisons.

[Steve F]

I use daylight bulbs, and yes, try to avoid them shining directly on the screen.

[M.Chapman]

Can also be helpful to set the photo editor's background to a neutral grey (not black or white) to serve as a visual reference.

 

Mark

[Jansos]

Great tips - thx everyone! :-)