how to get white balance on flash and background?

[Fabian9931]

So im trying to learn more flash photography, and I have a question.

- In M mode, I set my Shutter, Aparture and ISO to expose my background.
- Then turn my flash on on ETTL and let it automatically light up my subject.

How would I set my White Balance on my image if my background is light up by tungsten ambient light and my subject is flash?

[JeffreyG]

You need to put a CTO gel over the flash to make the flash color the same as the lights. If you shoot it with a naked flash, there is no PP in the world that can white balance two distinctly different color temperatures in the same photograph.

[John E]

I had this problem at a recent wedding in a large hotel ballroom. The people up close looked fine but the people in the background were yellow. The camera flash produces white (daylight) light, whereas tungsten light is very yellow. As JeffreyG said, the only way to fix this is to put a yellow "CTO" colored gel (a piece of thin plastic) over the flash (usually adhered with velcro.) That way the light from your flash is the same color as the tunsten (all the same color) and corrected easily with software.

[Fabian9931]

ahhhh, very nice... i do have a set of gels which i would have about 20 different yellows to choose from. just eye ball the ambient tungsten light with the gel and put it on and fire away right? sounds good. i will try this tonite.

[ForHisGlory]

Go to photovision and get one of these http://www.photovisionvideo.com/store/shop.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=P&Category_Code=DCT

take your shot. go to custom WB off the menu. select the image you just took. Go to WB on the little pad on your camera on the right and click it. select custom white balance.

then you will have the perfect white balance, ISO and exposure the first time :)

[Player9]

Flash is rather blue and tungsten lights used in households are orange, so a gel is necessary. Many of the gels are matched to studio tungsten hotlights, which are higher in temperture than the typical household lights. Because of this, it may be difficult to find the perfect match, there will probably be some difference between the subject lit by the gel covered flash and the ambient light background, but it will be very minor.

[ANGUS]

ahhhh, very nice... i do have a set of gels which i would have about 20 different yellows to choose from. just eye ball the ambient tungsten light with the gel and put it on and fire away right? sounds good. i will try this tonite.

NO! It must be a proper CTO Colour Balanced Gel, Like the Rosco ones.

[troypiggo]

General concept:
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101-using-gels-to-correct.html
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=218280&highlight=gel+ambient

Fluro: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=460248&highlight=gel+ambient

Do an advanced search in this forum for "gel ambient".

[tmonatr]

Go to photovision and get one of these http://www.photovisionvideo.com/store/shop.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=P&Category_Code=DCT

take your shot. go to custom WB off the menu. select the image you just took. Go to WB on the little pad on your camera on the right and click it. select custom white balance.

then you will have the perfect white balance, ISO and exposure the first time :)
This won't work if you have 2 different temperature lighting sources.

[Fabian9931]

NO! It must be a proper CTO Colour Balanced Gel, Like the Rosco ones.


YES! that is the gels that i have, Rosco. Theres about 500 different colors, So ill just match one up to the ambient light and use that one.

[R-C-G]

YES! that is the gels that i have, Rosco. Theres about 500 different colors, So ill just match one up to the ambient light and use that one.
No, you'll want to use one of the first five in the pack, assuming you haven't disassembled it, that are labeled CTO and are gel number 3407, 3411, 3408, 3409, 3410.

[Fabian9931]

No, you'll want to use one of the first five in the pack, assuming you haven't disassembled it, that are labeled CTO and are gel number 3407, 3411, 3408, 3409, 3410.

Ok, i see what your saying, yes its still in order. I see the CTO gels in the front... I will try that.

[chawki12]

Suggest taking pictures in RAW and doing white balance later.

[Fabian9931]

Suggest taking pictures in RAW and doing white balance later.

i always shoot in raw. i love it raw :lol:

[René Damkot]

Suggest taking pictures in RAW and doing white balance later.
Unfortunately, like the CWB mentioned before, that will not help one bit in this case: You can get good WB for flash or for ambient, but not for both, unless you gel the flash...

[AB8ND]

You could set up a white balance card, something like the Better Balance, shoot a frame of it, then do a Custom White Balance. There are other white balance items you can get, some go on the lense, or some you shoot a frame with it in then use that frame to adjust the others in Camera Raw. I like the get idea others are talking about. But if you are using the flash on ETTL for a bit of fill I'm not sure how the gel will effect the image.

jack

[sleibrand]

White cards and custom white balance will not solve this problem. Picture this - shoot two people, one with an orange light and one with a blue. No matter how you adjust the color balance, it's not going to look right.

You've got 3 choices. 1. Just live with the mixed sources. Just reading an article by Chuck Gardner on another site. His position is that if the forground looks normal and the background has an orange cast, the eye will accept that. Depending on the situation, this may be an option.

2 - gel the flash so that the color of the flash is close to the existing lighting. Then use a grey card, custom white balance or sort it out by eye in post, it's all good.

3 - Again from Chuck's post - shoot raw and process 2 copies of the file - one for each color source. Combine them and use masking to select the appropriate sections of each. I haven't tried this but seems like a very good idea - now I'm wondering why I didn't think of it?

[René Damkot]

I haven't tried this but seems like a very good idea - now I'm wondering why I didn't think of it?

Probably because you didn't try; it might work okay in some cases, but it can be a hellish job if the ambient is also (partly) illuminating the subject.
Have fun masking that ;)