Datacolor LightColor Meter – Rethinking Color Temperature and Exposure

Our “Friend with Vision” Martin Koswig recently traveled to the Caribbean for a client project. His mission, to capture an incentive trip through photography and preserve the most beautiful memories for all participants. To ensure the images don’t just show scenes but evoke real emotions, they need to capture the atmosphere on location, the light of the Caribbean sun, the warmth of the sand beneath your feet, and the salt on your skin.

This mood must not be lost during post-processing. Photos trimmed to a neutral gray quickly look sterile and make emotions fade. But how can you preserve the vibrant colors and the feeling of the Caribbean when you’re back at your desk in often gray Germany?

Light moods are crucial for the atmosphere of a photo. A key factor here is color temperature, as it influences the color rendering and thus the emotional impact of the image. Warm color temperatures – like the gentle morning light – create a cozy, calm, or romantic mood. Cool light, on the other hand, conveys a more objective, distant, or fresh atmosphere. The right color temperature is therefore not a minor detail but an essential design element to enhance the desired feeling in a photo.

Technical approach
Martin deliberately starts his work in a neutral way. He first photographs with a gray card to ensure that all images have a neutral starting point. This allows him to begin post-processing from “zero” and build the desired mood step by step. During the shoot, he consciously avoids using the camera’s automatic white balance. This gives him maximum flexibility for later color grading.

This is where the new LightColor Meter comes into play. With this tool, Martin keeps an eye on color temperature throughout the entire shoot. This way, he always knows how the light on location truly behaves and can use this information later to authentically recreate the mood.

Perfectly suited for monitoring color temperature
Martin’s experience shows that there is almost always a difference between the camera’s color temperature readings and the measurements from the LightColor Meter. The LightColor Meter transmits its results in real time to the accompanying smartphone app, allowing Martin to conveniently document the Kelvin values via screenshot. This makes it easy to track the progression of color temperature throughout the entire shoot.

These discrepancies are not surprising: cameras measure color temperature only indirectly via the image sensor, whereas the LightColor Meter is specifically designed for precise measurement of color temperature and exposure. Due to its method of measuring direct light rather than reflected light, it is less prone to error compared to camera-integrated light measurement —a crucial foundation for authentic post-processing.

Post-processing using screenshots from the LightColor Meter
Back in Germany, Martin sits at his desk and begins editing the Caribbean photos. Next to him are the screenshots from the LightColor Meter app – his reference for the actual lighting conditions on location. These values help him gauge how far he can deviate from the original color temperature during editing without losing authenticity.

To better illustrate, Martin recreated the scene at home in his studio—using an image from another project, but the approach is the same. No more guessing the color temperature on the computer; instead, simply transferring the measured values from the LightColor Meter into Lightroom.

The LightColor Meter provides precise information: How bright was it? What was the color temperature? What light mood defined the scene? Martin compares this data with his own memory. When the image on the monitor matches the feeling he had on site, he knows he’s on the right track. The measured values bring the editing “back to reality” and slow him down whenever the deviation becomes too great.

In the end, it’s all about emotions. We all perceive a beach bar in a certain way. The color temperature, the sand, the water’s hue. And time and again, it turns out that everyone involved experiences the mood surprisingly similarly. This very consistency makes precise work with light and color so valuable.

If you stick to a neutral gray starting point, the camera images won’t reflect actual perception. Neutral gray doesn’t capture the mood – neither the warm glow of the sunset nor the intense warmth or the breathtaking blue of the water. This is exactly where Martin’s real task begins. He must edit the images so they authentically convey the atmosphere and emotions of the location.

The LightColor Meter – The digital gray card for post-processing
Martin aims for perfect images that impress the client. This is where the new Datacolor tool comes into play. A conventional light meter provides values but offers no way to capture the lighting situation via screenshot. Some devices have electronic displays, but they’re hardly practical for quick documentation.

The LightColor Meter makes things easier. During the shoot, Martin regularly checks his smartphone anyway and uses the LightColor Meter app to take a screenshot with a single tap. The data is transmitted in real time, and the compact device doesn’t get in the way, even when clipped to a shirt. This way, Martin always has precise information for color temperature and exposure on hand.

In principle, it doesn’t matter which user interface you prefer, since all of them display the measured color temperature.

By regularly taking screenshots that capture the LightColor Meter’s real-time data, the lighting situation can be tracked throughout the entire day. While the device cannot directly tell you what the mood on location was, that mood is strongly influenced by color temperature. This is precisely why the documented values are so valuable. They form the foundation for authentically recreating the atmosphere later and preserving the emotions in the image.

If the LightColor Meter shows a color temperature of 5,950 Kelvin, Martin sets the same value in Lightroom. This way, he quickly achieves a neutral starting point far more accurately than if he relied solely on the camera and its automatic white balance.

Tip: Recording Measurement Data
Martin has fully integrated screenshots into his workflow. While this wasn’t the originally intended method, ultimately everyone decides for themselves how they work as long as the goal is still achieved. However, there’s another option: The LightColor Meter automatically logs all measurements. This data can be exported as a CSV file and then transferred into an Excel spreadsheet. This provides a complete overview with date, time, and all recorded values.

Depending on the set measurement interval, large amounts of data can accumulate, which can later be matched with the timestamps of the image files. This creates a precise link between the lighting conditions on location and the corresponding shots—ideal for authentic post-processing.

About Martin Koswig

Self-employed since 1997, Martin works as a freelance photographer both on location and in his own studio in Freiburg. His clientele of business and private customers extends beyond Germany’s borders, and his assignments take him around the globe.

At the heart of his photography is the human element. Business and artist portraits are his passion, as are reportage-style shoots of corporate events, travel, and projects.

Martin is a member of the BPP – Association of Professional Portrait Photographers – and has held the BPP Certified Photographer title with top ratings since 2018.

https://www.koswig.de/

Datacolor LightColor Meter – Rethinking Color Temperature and Exposure – A Real-World Case

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