The Lighting of Color Prints

When we view a Cibachrome print what we see is light reflected from the print so the choice of viewing lights is very important. Colors change hue, saturation, and brightness with the quality and intensity of the viewing light.

For creating the ideal viewing conditions, track lighting gives the most options and flexibility but a tiltable ceiling light can work.

Light bulbs are rated by color temperature, (2,700°K is what you need), and CRI, Color Rendering Index. CRI indicates how accurate colors appear. A perfect score is CRI 100, which halogen lights have but these are difficult to find.

The Soraa brand makes LED lights with a rating of CRI 95. There are other bulbs with CRI 92, which is the minimum for proper viewing. It’s worth the extra money for CRI 95, since the bulbs last a long time. Fluorescent lights are not recommended. 

The lighting fixtures should be about 30° to 45° from the print, placed to eliminate reflections from the glass. If your fixtures are more than four feet from the print, you may need to two two lights to achieve this. A uniform overall lighting without ‘hot-spots’ is the goal. Generally, floods are better than spots, but if the lights are over 6’ from the print, spots may be necessary.The light on the prints should read around 75 footcandles.

If we think of the Cibachrome print as the performance of an image, when you supply the proper lighting conditions you insure a “command performance.”