Daylight white balance with flash?

suggestions for setting WB when using flash for fill in daylight? I've tried Auto, and custom - haven't tried the "lightning bolt" since I felt that was for the temp of the flash and might be off with a lot of ambient light.

I need to shoot where i'm going from shade to sun - or passing clouds give me shadow then sun and I need to work as quickly as possible so it doesn't leave me with time to make more changes other than exposure.

Any input greatly appreciated.

Peace,
D.

Put it in daylight mode and shoot raw so you can make minor adjustments. Flash and daylight are close to same color temp

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=836702

DarenM wrote in post #11234858
Put it in daylight mode and shoot raw so you can make minor adjustments. Flash and daylight are close to same color temp

My problem is I need to shoot JPEG - this isn't my choice; I do this specific work for TSS,which is a national company. They want the pics right out of the camera - obviously for economic reasons. Has to be JPEG.

I thought shooting in RAW the WB setting wouldn't really matter since any setting would be easily corrected in post processing - at least I've never had a problem - not even with the horrendous orange cast from incandescent lights from AWB indoors using ACR or DPP. (with no flash).

TopHatMoments wrote in post #11235210
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=836702

Thanks for the link..interesting read.

One problem I have is that I don't get to see the images - I shoot on a card they give me and when I'm done I hand it in - so all I ever see is the hard to see image on the LCD - sometimes close to impossible to see in direct sun which is often - (I am more concerned with looking at the histogram - at least it gives me useful input).

I thought AWB would be good since I have constantly changing light. Then recently the local franchise owner told me his "expert" looked at my EXIF info and said I should use "custom" or "lightning bolt" for WB - I've been using custom, and I haven't had any complaints, but it seems that with the different lighting I get that changes so rapidly, the "custom" would be fine in the shade if that's where I set it, in the sun if I set it there, but I don't have time to re-set it when I have 40 kids lined up and team coaches rushing everyone. And clouds passing over off and on constantly. If I have a completely cloudy day or a completely clear sky that would be fine, But it's rarely the case.


I guess I can try the "lightning bolt" setting - I just thought it might be a bit blue in some lighting conditions. I really thought the few images I did see that I took with AWB looked fine. But as they say "I just work here".


Peace,
D.

Delija wrote in post #11235347
They want the pics right out of the camera - obviously for economic reasons. Has to be JPEG.

It looks like they went through a lot of trouble just to save money on photography part. I would assume that they have staff to handle the rest of the process, crop and resize the images, etc.
If you want to use custom WB, there's no quick and easy way to do so, whenever there's a lighting change, you'd need to go through the process to make sure the color accuracy even if you use flash all the time for outdoor shoot.

Put a 1/8 CTO gel on the flash and set the camera to Daylight.

1/8 CTO will convert 5500K daylight to 4900K according to Rosco, or about 600K shift.

If you're on AWB with the pop-up flash or a dedicated gun switched on, the camera automatically switches to flash white balance whenever the unit is charged and ready to fire.

Hoppy1 wrote in post #11236999
If you're on AWB with the pop-up flash or a dedicated gun switched on, the camera automatically switches to flash white balance whenever the unit is charged and ready to fire.

I believe the body has to support the AWB flash reporting and that lesser bodies (lower than 1D series) do not have this feature.

And while AWB flash reporting would set the WB when flash is the main source of illumination, that would not balance the fill flash to sunlight ambient light, which is the purpose of using the 1/8 CTO gel on the flash.

Wilt wrote in post #11240661
I believe the body has to support the AWB flash reporting and that lesser bodies (lower than 1D series) do not have this feature.

I was apparently in error in stating that the AWB reporting was not in lower bodies.

In the EOS Flash Bible:

"Automatic white balance compensation.

"The colour temperature of a flash tube can vary subtly depending on its precise voltage. The more recent Speedlite flash units can monitor power levels and communicate with compatible cameras to compensate automatically for slight variations in colour temperature.

"Camera bodies which support automatic white balance compensation:

"EOS 20D, 20Da, 1D mark II, 1D mark IIN, 1D mark III, 350D/Digital Rebel XT/Kiss Digital N, 5D, 5D mark II, 30D, 40D, 50D, EOS 400D/Rebel XTi Digital/Kiss X Digital, EOS 450D/Digital Rebel XSi/Kiss X2, EOS 500D/Digital Rebel T1i/Kiss X3, EOS 550D/Digital Rebel T2i/Kiss X4, EOS 1000D/Digital Rebel XS/Kiss F, 7D, 1D mark IIN, 1D mark III, 1Ds mark III, 1D mark IV.

"Flash units which support automatic white balance compensation:

http://photonotes.org/​articles/eos-f....htmlSpeedlite 430EX, 430EX II, 580EX, 580EX II."

Wilt wrote in post #11235767
Put a 1/8 CTO gel on the flash and set the camera to Daylight.

I get a better result with 1/4 CTS (Color Temp Straw) with my 50D. The CTOs produce too strong a red channel.

vincent_su wrote in post #11235758
It looks like they went through a lot of trouble just to save money on photography part. I would assume that they have staff to handle the rest of the process, crop and resize the images, etc.
If you want to use custom WB, there's no quick and easy way to do so, whenever there's a lighting change, you'd need to go through the process to make sure the color accuracy even if you use flash all the time for outdoor shoot.

Yes, they do everything the least expensive (most profitable) way possible. There's no cropping - every shot has to conform to their composition guidelines. I don't think they need any resizing since they just tell the lab they use what size to make the prints so I believe that's done automatically.

Your point about using custom for WB is why I felt I got bad information from the "house expert". Just makes no sense.

Thanks to all for the input. From the few images I did get to see, I thought those shot in AWB seemed to look the best and have the most consistent color in all different brightness situations....and they can vary greatly with the S. Florida sun -

Peace,
D.