[interested_observer]

The decision by the city of Los Angeles last year to replace its high-pressure sodium streetlights—known for their distinctive yellow hue—with new, blue-tinted LEDs might have a profound effect on at least one local industry. All of those LEDs, with their new urban color scheme, will dramatically change how the city appears on camera, thus giving Los Angeles a brand new look in the age of digital filmmaking. As Dave Kendricken writes for No Film School, "Hollywood will never look the same."

• How LED Streetlights Will Change Cinema (And Make Cities Look Awesome)

[savoche]

leading to sleeplessness, shortness of attention span, and irritability, its citizens wandering around at night, sullen, introverted, and plagued with insomnia, being slowly driven insane by the streetlights casting blue-tinted shadows all around them...

An interesting read

[Na Horuk]

What I noticed is that during winters, the sheen above the cities is no longer orange, but an odd blue-green. Not sure I like it, but I never thought about its impact on cinema/photography. I guess things will look "cooler" - because of the lower K

But I dunno, I don't like the look of LED to begin with, and in photography they are a nightmare. Even that article points out the problem of non-continuous light spectrum.

[OldNoob]

What I noticed is that during winters, the sheen above the cities is no longer orange, but an odd blue-green. Not sure I like it, but I never thought about its impact on cinema/photography. I guess things will look "cooler" - because of the lower K

But I dunno, I don't like the look of LED to begin with, and in photography they are a nightmare. Even that article points out the problem of non-continuous light spectrum.

They used to be blue-green white before they went orange. I remember in the early 80's when my home city was swapping out the street lamps with the energy efficient orange lights
somewhere around 1982/83

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Last edited by OldNoob; 02-04-2014 at 11:59 AM.

[Na Horuk]

Ah interesting. I guess this really depends on the region/city, and the current policies

[Kerrowdown]

How LED Streetlights are Changing Los Angeles

They certainly seem better it terms of seeing more detail, I wonder what they're like to drive under in real life.

[Boris_Akunin]

Even that article points out the problem of non-continuous light spectrum.

Aren't most older city lights sodium-vapor lamps? Those are almost monochromatic! (depends on the pressure)

[donfenix]

Something similar occurred in France in the 90s. All French cars used to have yellow headlights (supposedly better for fog). European integration meant they all became white eventually and the look of streets and roads completely changed.

[DAZ]

With incandescent lights you get all the colors but it is predominately more to the red end of the spectrum. With sunlight you also get all the colors but shifted more to the yellow. With flash you get all the colors but more to the blue. The colors are in a curve the resembles something called a “black body radiation” This is the curve that resembles an object radiating light at a given temperature. So to change the WB we can say to the camera/computer that this temperature is some other temperature. This is a lie but we like the way it looks. What is really important here is that ALL the colors are available. This high quality light is what will make the photos look good not just “white”.


Florescent light has only some of the colors. This is not the same as a black body even if there is a color that is more predominant then others. You can shift the temperature to get white but there are holes in the spectrum so it still doesn't look right. Setting the the WB on a gray/white object is better as is moves 3 colors which ever way needed to get white but with the holes it will not look as good even if you turn up the color. The problem is the color is just not there.


Hight-pressure sodium lights are the worst. Most of their light is in 2 small bands right next to each other. The light is almost monochrome. It is not about shifting the colors around to get white because there is just no other colors to work with. If you set the WB on a gray object (like concrete) you can usually cancel out the predominant yellow/orange color and see the other colors of the city. Astronomers use a filter to do this and it help reduce the problem of light pollution for them in the sky. They can do this because hight-pressure sodium lights have only the 2 bands. With the coming of LED streetlights they are going to have more problems.


LED lights (white) is somewhere between full spectrum light like the sun and florescent lights. It has more of the colors but still not all. This is why it looks better to the eyes then florescent light but for photograph can still have problems. Cheaper LED may not have as many colors but high quality LEDs can have very good light and can be extremely easy to work with. Florescent light can also be full spectrum (like lights for fish tanks) but most don't pay for those lights.


As for the change in colors of the night lights of the city, it is all a lie so if someone has the money someone will write an algorithm to change the color. Maybe we will even see a return of the “rose colored glasses” of the past.


DAZ

[OldNoob]

Here are some street lamps in Tampa circa 1986 You can see some of the "Energy efficient" orange lights dotted in amongst the white ones.

[reeftool]

LED's can have some strange color casts. Since they use very little power, as time goes on they will be everywhere. There are LED lights that are color corrected and photo friendly but I suspect most municipal street lights are purchased from the low bidder and photographers aren't a concern. LED Christmas lights are very strange and look very odd on photos. At least mine do anyway.

[TER-OR]

One big benefit for some of us photographers is the LED is much more darksky friendly. I'm not sure whether they're better or worse for plants, though.

[rrstuff]

They provide a pretty hard light, compared to yellow bulbs. I noticed that change right away, but I am not sure if I like it, from an aesthetic perspective.
It's the right thing to do of course, LEDs are much more thrifty source of light.

[OldNoob]

here is a sample of how different LEDs affect my k-30. The white isn't so bad, but the primary colors are so harsh at the source, they don't transition well