flash , raw and white balance

Sofar i have been using my camera without flash and shooting in raw. I always had the opportunity to correct any WB issues in light room.


Now i want to use an off camera flash. will shooting raw helps in correct White balance issues even when i am using a flash?

tx in advnace

sanil

Definately. Shooting raw allows the best opportunity for post correction, and basically flash is near a daylight balanced light color, although some vary warmer or a touch cooler. Either way, you should be able to correct.

thanks very much

sanil wrote in post #7942927
Sofar i have been using my camera without flash and shooting in raw. I always had the opportunity to correct any WB issues in light room.


Now i want to use an off camera flash. will shooting raw helps in correct White balance issues even when i am using a flash?

tx in advnace

sanil

Camera sensor is grayscale, so is the RAW files. All WB settings issues can be resolved in post-processing.
This, however, does not help when you have a mixed color temperature shots. Those are usually near impossible to fix even in Photoshop.
Using a flash can get you into this trouble. You have to gel your flash to correct the color.

Green Li wrote in post #7943361
Camera sensor is grayscale, so is the RAW files. All WB settings issues can be resolved in post-processing.
This, however, does not help when you have a mixed color temperature shots. Those are usually near impossible to fix even in Photoshop.
Using a flash can get you into this trouble. You have to gel your flash to correct the color.

Yes, this is what i was expecting. thank you for the answer.

sanil

so i should basically never use flash?

BigWebb83 wrote in post #8092921
so i should basically never use flash?

why? simply avoid mixed color lighting. gel the flash if necessary.

Green Li wrote in post #8092931
why? simply avoid mixed color lighting. gel the flash if necessary.

At the risk of sounding dumb, what does 'gel the flash' mean?

steve547 wrote in post #8094095
At the risk of sounding dumb, what does 'gel the flash' mean?

Sorry for the quick answer . Here is more detailed explanation:
You can use gels (also called filters) with a flash to match the color of ambient light (and of course do special effects). Check tihs out: http://www.lumiquest.c​om/products/fxtra.htm

Save the gels for special effects. For perfect color balance EVERY time simply place an 18% gray card in the scene meter the lights and make an exposure of the gray card. You will of course be shooting in Raw. Then in ACR load the images, click on the white balance eyedropper then click onto the gray card, then "Synchronize All" and instantly you have absolutely perfect white balance.

If you use different lights at any time during the shoot (or if you move to a different outdoor location) you must shoot the gray card again. Make sure you meter accurately and make sure you have the camera's aperture/shutter speed set correctly.

Benji

Green Li wrote in post #8094590
Sorry for the quick answer . Here is more detailed explanation:
You can use gels (also called filters) with a flash to match the color of ambient light (and of course do special effects). Check tihs out: http://www.lumiquest.c​om/products/fxtra.htm

Thanks for the explanation. I use a different approach since I'm a bit color blind and matching or editing colors can get ugly. So I force the flash to put out it's maximal power. This assures a color balance of 'Daylight' regardless of the ambiant light. One way to do that is to set the camera to manual and use short exposure 1/100 to 1/250, and a small aperture f8 or higher. The ETTL 2 then has to fire the flash at high output. It's a compromise but it works with direct flash not bounce.