Tungsten light, more commonly known as incandescent light, has a color temperature of 3200K. Until recently, it was the standard indoor lighting source for not only home and office use but for film and video indoor production. Film cinematographers utilize a specially manufactured film type for use with tungsten lighting, what is called "tungsten balanced," as opposed to film that is "daylight balanced," for use when filming outdoors.
When working in video the internal electronics of the camera are designed to adjust to the lighting source in what is called "white balancing," where whites and blacks are used as a standard to determine proper color. This is done automatically by the human eye and is the reason you don't normally notice a light's color, even going from, let's say, inside a house to outside. To white balance your video camera fill the screen with a white source of some kind, such as a white card at least 8X10 or larger. Place it under the light being used and then press the "white balance" button on the camera. After this procedure the camera should show an image with the proper color range as the live subject.
If a camera is white balanced for one kind of light and then moved to a different light source the image will show that the color range has drastically changed and the image will not match the live subject. Tungsten light is in the warm color range and gives off a yellow-orange tint. If a camera adjusted for tungsten is taken outside under daylight the image will then appear blue, because daylight is a "cool" light source or in the range of 5600K. Likewise, if returning to work under tungsten lighting from outdoors before the camera is "white balanced" the image will look yellow or orange.
Generally, most studio-based or field lighting in video production is tungsten. Tungsten is more forgiving with people because it brings out skin color better than a cooler light temperature. If you have your own lighting equipment and can create a one-color temperature environment you should have no trouble with your video production. For a lot of field work, especially for those working in television news or documentary filmmaking, existing lighting sources are all you have to work with. Sometimes you have to compromise and hope your camera will be able to balance itself to give you the proper color range. The closer you are to a subject pick a tungsten light over a daylight or fluorescent light source to give the subject the so-called best light. The subject should stand or sit with the tungsten light source in front of her face. Avoid a light source directly above her as it will cast shadows on her face. Floor or table lamps are good light sources as you have more control in directing light on the subject.
If you become more sophisticated in your lighting setups get a light meter that reads color temperature. Generally, this is more important with film work, but for those who want to experiment with light and lighting scenarios a light meter can help determine the exact color temperature of your light sources so you can adjust your camera properly. This helps when you don't know the exact color temperature of your light sources. The drawback is that these devices are expensive. For most uses in video production, you can use a well-calibrated monitor to check for proper color.
Use different lighting sources and adjust your camera to purposely create a specific mood. For instance, if you are telling the story of a coldhearted person and want to evoke his nature visually, you could "white balance" your camera under a daylight balanced lighting source and then shoot your scenes under tungsten lighting, giving you a bluer or cooler image. You could reverse the process for a scene that required a "hot" feeling, such as a trek across the desert. More sophisticated camera equipment will let you manipulate the image without having to white balance under different lighting sources. You could also use your photo-editing software to adjust color while in post production if you don't want to mess around while shooting.