Question: How to adjust the flash to the correct white balance

[Sheiky]

Heya,


in a month I have to shoot at a wedding, my first.


At the wedding of my sister I also took some shots inside, but the flash output color didn't match the ambient lighting. So I'm looking for a solution for the next wedding. Of course I will try the high-ISO capabilities of my 5D2, but I'm wondering how you determine the right flash output etc.


How can I compensate best for ambient light? How do you determine what the right white balance is?


I use HONL filters on my flash. I have some creative color-filters, but I think I'm going to buy the color correction filters as well since the creative color filters are more for background lighting. Is that a good idea? Can these filters help me? And how do you use them?


I hope this makes any sense and thanks already,


Jan

[Sean Setters]

Taken from my my strobism tutorial:


Gels - Gels are a very important part of a strobist's lighting kit, yet they don't get as much attention as some of the higher-profile light modifiers found above. A gel is simply a colored piece of transparent material that you place on the end of your flash. When the light passes through it, it changes color. Gels are handy in allowing you to create special effects like in the grid photo above. However, they also allow a photographer to balance the light coming from his flash with the ambient light of the surroundings. This is a very important concept. Using an orange (CTO) gel when photographing indoors may allow you to balance your flash with any tungsten lights that may be providing fill or background illumination. In the end, if you don't like the color of the light in your photo, you can do a global white balance adjustment to find the color that works best. If you don't gel the flash, then your white balance adjustment will take much more time as you'll have to do individual adjustments on different areas of the photo. Take it from me--buy some gels and read the strobist's Lighting 101 section on gels. As for me, I'm a fan of Photogels.com. The 2x5 strips from Photogels fit well into the gel holder of my Vivitar 285HVs.


Yes, you can use a warming (CTO) gel to help balance your flash's output with that of the ambient tungsten lighting. I would strongly suggest checking out Photogel's packages as you'll likely be able to get a better deal on your gels there.

[Sheiky]

Thanks Sean, I knew I could count on you!


Very interesting stuff. Never knew about the light-frequency. Of course I learned it at school, but I never imagined it was such a big deal.

Take it from me--buy some gels and read the strobist's Lighting 101 section on gels. As for me, I'm a fan of Photogels.com. The 2x5 strips from Photogels fit well into the gel holder of my Vivitar 285HVs.

I will buy the HONL filters, but mainly because they are about the only brand I can buy at my local store [] They are also cut to size and already have velcro on them. I like them a lot. But I'm definitely buying a new set of gels!


I'm still not sure how to do the correct white balance though. Do you use a grey card or do you just pick the preset white balance levels for artificial light? I'm thinking of photographing a grey card, then using a preset white-balance which is about right. Then afterwards use the grey card shot on the pc to push the white balance to the exact right number. Does this sound alright?


Thanks for all the help!


Jan

[Sheiky]

Perhaps all of this will open my world to strobism. Right now it's a style I don't like, but that's probably due to lack of knowledge and skills[:P]

[Sheiky]

And question number 2: Would anyone advice me to use a diffuser? I probably won't use my flash other than some bounce-lighting inside. Is it recommended? Or is the effect barely visible when bouncing?

[Carlos Lindado]

.

[peety3]

At the wedding of my sister I also took some shots inside, but the flash output color didn't match the ambient lighting. So I'm looking for a solution for the next wedding. Of course I will try the high-ISO capabilities of my 5D2, but I'm wondering how you determine the right flash output etc.


How can I compensate best for ambient light? How do you determine what the right white balance is?

I use my camera as a simplistic (though slow) color temperature meter. I shoot a gray card (actually it's a Photovision white/gray/black card) in ambient light with the camera in Kelvin WB at 5200 and view the results with the RGB histogram. If the red channel is brighter than the blue, I lower the temp; if the red channel is darker than the blue, I raise the temp. I reshoot and recheck until the red and blue are over each other, then use the WB shift menu to adjust the green channel to align with the red/blue channels. Once I know the temp/shift of ambient, I then choose what level of CTO/CTB and +green/-green are needed to get the flash to match ambient. This has been my "money-maker" for accurate, consistent color.


As an alternative, you could go to the site during the relative times you'd be shooting and capture reference shots of your gray card. Take them home, load them into Lightroom or similar, and read the color temperature off the gray card. I've had to do this with cave photography, where the ambient was below the settable K range of my camera.


With practice using one of these methods, you'll learn how to guess and be close most of the time.

[Sean Setters]

I'm still not sure how to do the correct white balance though. Do you use a grey card or do you just pick the preset white balance levels for artificial light? I'm thinking of photographing a grey card, then using a preset white-balance which is about right. Then afterwards use the grey card shot on the pc to push the white balance to the exact right number. Does this sound alright?

Using a gray card is a good idea. But honestly, chimping works decently too. Throw a 1/4 CTO on your flash, take a shot, then look at the results on the LCD (it's better to use a laptop, but the LCD will work in a pinch). If the light hitting your subject is noticeably cooler than the ambient, then try a 1/2 CTO, and so on. Soon enough you'll be able to guess what you need (and be right most of the time).


Peety's way is certainly more technically accurate and will work fine. If I had the patience, I'd probably do it that way too. :-)

[Sheiky]

Thanks guys,


I think both of your methods work fine. I'm not sure which one will work best for me.


I think I will order myself a greycard set and some new gels and just start experimenting a bit around home with your suggestions. I think I will be perfectly fine during the wedding then [] Luckily they don't have high expectations [:P]


For the outside shots I'm planning on shooting a greycard. Get my whitebalance about right and do the precise whitebalance later with the shot I made of the grey-card. That way white dresses will not turn creamy etc []


I guess there's also some experience involved in knowing what light I'm in, so I'll start trying soon I hope. I think I will be ok then and if I would have more questions I'll make a sound []


Thanks a lot[Y]