Did I use the correct gel for this evening shot?

This is my first time using gels outdoors.

I shot the first half of the pictures with no gel and then realized I had a 1/2 straw CTS in my bag and decided to try using that. On the LCD, the shots looked better, but now that I see the large ones, I'm not sure if it makes the subject look too warm. I obviously want to invest in some more gels, but this is all I had at the time.

Thoughts?

6:30pm
Temp 4300
1/2 Straw CTS gel

I would say the background looks a bit blue, and she looks a little warm (I am on my iPad though, so it is probably a bit off)

I have used a 1/2CTO on a flash in daylight, but ony as an accent light to put a ray of "sunshine" on a trumpet players face on an overcast day - I normally shoot outside with no gels

The missing half of the equation here is the color temp setting used (either by the camera or the RAW converter) to process the image.

If you shot in RAW then you can probably lower the color temp a couple hundred degrees and the background would still look fine. Shaded areas will always look blue by comparison.

Usually 1/4 CTO or 1/4 CTS is plenty for midday sun.

Curtis, the temp I took the picture in was 4300.

You also answered my next question, which was if I had used a 1/4 CTS whether that would have worked out better. However, this was in the evening (6:30pm) and not midday. Do you always shoot outdoors with a CTO or CTS? I thought midday sun light was about the same temp as the flash (~5500)?

I would use the gel to warm up a photo where the background is sunlit and the face is more in shadow. The gel would warm up the subject correcting the imbalance between the background and foreground. Here, I'm not sure that the gel was necessary.

Personally I usually have 1/8 CTO on a flash unit simply to reduce the inherent coolness of speedlights, compared to nominal daylight temp. I would put 1/4 CTO on a speedlight if it is a key source of illumination for a portrait.

[edit] The preceding practices were put into place by me in my film days decades ago, before digital cameras were invented. I first wrote about it on POTN four years ago.

I just did a test, at 10:30am shooting a gray card in direct sun on digital, and under low level ambient illumination with direct flash using Metz speedlight.
The result was that using the LR eyedropper

• WB tool used about 5100K for the sunlight shot ( depending upon exactly what pixels were chosen) whereas
  
• the WB tool for the the flash shot (without any CTO gel) used about 5900K.
  

Thank you everyone for the feedback and great information.

Just for reference, here's a shot where I didn't use the gel. When I look at the light coming off the hair, it looks much warmer than the face lit by the flash. This is why I thought that if I added the gel to the flash, it would correct it somewhat. Am I going about this all wrong?

Shot at 4300
WB adjusted to 4800 in post

Given the fact that shade is cooler than direct sun, having fill a bit cooler than the backlit hair does not look very 'unnatural'...it is the effect replicated in the coolness of the waterfall area, right?! It is why my usual flash fill has 1/8 CTO:
flash at 5900K - gelled correction of 600k = 5300K (vs. full daylight at 5100K)

Very interesting, I never thought about how the shaded areas appear naturally cooler. Wilt, so if you had take this shot, you would have only added a 1/8 CTO, correct?

NoahKrueger wrote in post #14559231
Very interesting, I never thought about how the shaded areas appear naturally cooler. Wilt, so if you had take this shot, you would have only added a 1/8 CTO, correct?

Like I said in both my prior posts of this thread, my flash normally has 1/8 CTO.

Seeing as the white balance is now a bit off, is it something that disctracts enough to consider this one a practice shot and throwaway or is it something that dropping the temp 500K can make look better?

It's your picture.
Tweak it and see.
You captured an important time in a young lady's life. It's properly focused, well composed to show the setting, properly exposed and the subject looks happy. That's success in my book. Don't get too anal about this white balance stuff.

What was the reasoning behind the CTO in this shot? Just to try it out?

I'd have saved it for a shot where the sky was dull and there wasn't a lot of color in the background.... it basically throws everything not hit by the CTO out of whack...

I was just curious about how it would look. It is my niece so the expectations are not high and this was not for pay. It was right after her graduation. The good news is half of the shots are without the CTS. I'll try playing around with the WB in LR and see if I can use an adjustment brush to adjust at least her skin. The gown is already very gold so that color looks fine as is.

Thanks everyone for the input!

I have dropped the WB from 4300 to 4000 and applied an adjustment of -20 Temp and -20 Tint to the subject. Can someone please let me know if this looks better? Do I need to drop the temp more?

Thanks!

Old