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Why daylight is NOT 5600K Filmmaker Rob Ellis uses real-world measurements to reveal that recreating convincing daylight is a skill that can be mastered if you use the right kit
LED lighting
real daylight
any filmmakers believe accurately recreating natural daylight is simply a matter of setting the LED lights to 5600K
Datacolor LightColor Meter adds another crucial dimension by measuring the space’s colour characteristics. This is all thanks to communication with a smartphone over Bluetooth. Sun plus sky The first measurement was direct midday sunlight in the garden outside the location using the Datacolor meter, which read 5760K - explaining why somewhere around 5600K has become shorthand for ‘daylight’. But direct sunlight is only part of the illumination. Look away from the sun and there’s an enormous source surrounding it – the blue sky – and its light is cooler. Ellis moved into shade to remove much of the direct influence of the sun and measured again. This time the LightColor Meter said 9980K. To mimic the direct sunlight, Ellis used a 500W fixture fitted with a fresnel, focused through the window and set to the measured 5760K. A net curtain helped with
Fake it ’til you make it The shot taken in real daylight at noon was replicated at night by using four lights, at different colour temperatures, all measured by the Datacolor LightColor Meter diffusion to let some of that light bounce around the room. The sky required something very different, so a second fixture at 9980K was directed into a 6x6ft frame of bleached muslin above the window, creating a much larger and softer source. Then Ellis compared the result with a shot captured in the same room under genuine daylight using the same camera white-balance, but the artificial version was much too cool. When the numbers lie The 9980K reading had been taken in an area of shade, but that’s not necessarily the same colour of light that was actually entering the window. Ellis took another measurement in the garden and obtained
and hitting record. But the reality is far more interesting, and doing it right can transform the look of your films. One of the most experienced filmmakers at mastering a realistic daylight look is Rob Ellis. Armed with the Datacolor LightColor Meter, he tells Pro Moviemaker all about his failsafe method and how to recreate it inside a small room after dark. When Ellis set himself this challenge, he proved recreating natural light was less about finding one ‘correct’ daylight Kelvin setting, and more about understanding all the different colours that combine to create what our eyes perceive as daylight. His starting point was accurate measurement. A conventional light meter measures the intensity of light falling onto its lumisphere, giving you the information needed to set the right exposure. But the
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September/October 2026
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