Question about warm or cold subjects

[RumDaddy]

When a person is considered warm or cold what do they mean by that? And what setting makes them warmer or colder?

Im assuming its about skin tone.

Also why does this look so white? What setting did I neglect or not set right?

I cant dial in the white backdrop as good as I know I should! HELP!

 

[robertwsimpson]

just go into photoshop (or your raw editor) and do a select point white balance off of different parts of the background until you hit a white balance that is more pleasing to the eyes. I'd say somewhere in the bottom left area would be the best.

 

[Big Mike]

A 'warm' image tends toward red/orange while a 'cool' image tends toward blue.

You can use those to portray feelings or even actual temperatures in an image, as we tend to associate those things with the tones we see.

Slightly warm tones sometimes tend to be favored when shooting portraits, partially because it can make people's skin look better.

'Warming filters' were very popular in the film days when we couldn't shoot RAW or change the WB on a whim.

When people say a photo is too warm or cool, they are probably saying that they thing the WB is off. In your example shot, the sheet, which I assume is white, has a pink hue to it...telling me that the WB was off. The skin tones, which should naturally be a little pink, look to be too pink/reddish.

Of course, to see/edit this type of thing...you really need to make sure your monitor is calibrated properly.