White balance

[Freeday]

I use an off camera light sometimes for effects, but white balancing it can be challenging. The light has a 3200K bulb which is usually only usefull in low light situations. Obtaining a good white ballance with such a contrast in subject and background light can be very difficult. I would like to achieve a pure white highlight look on the subjectwhile maintaining a good background whitebalance, any suggestions would be appriciated. I have PS4 and LR as available tools.





thank you.


-stephen

[Sean Setters]

In order to maintain a proper white balance, first you'll need references--like a grey card or a white card. These allow you to calibrate the white balance in-camera or in post with decent results.


However, if you're using a 3200K bulb, it will be difficult to balance the light with other ambient light (assuming they, too, aren't 3200K bulbs). Once you shift the white balance, you're shifting it for all available light sources (no matter their color). Therefore, all your light sources need to be the same color before you shift (you can gel your light sources to balance them with ambient).

[Freeday]

Thanks, I have thought about getting a blue gel to bring it up to around 5200k but you lose about 60% of the light source. I will try that, but I was wondering if there were any post production tips for fixing conflicting light sources.