 Gerald Pope |
changing color temperature of an external flash. I have recently started doing some wedding photography, and occationally I have had trouble blending the fill flash with the available light in slightly dimmer indoor situations. I suppose the problem is the difference in color temperature between the halogens and my flash, but I am not sure how to fix it. I end up with pictures that have either red or blue highlights depending on the WB setting. Is there anything I can do to change the color temperature of the external flash to match available light? Do they make gels for external flashes?
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robert G. Fately |
Interesting question , Gerald - I would imagine the easiest thing to do would be buy some gel filters in the same orange cast that you would use to take indoor photos with daylight balanced film. What was that - an 81C color? Basically you want to redden up the 5000K light from the flash tube to be closer to the 3400K cast of the halogens. I'd say the only way to know for sure is experiment, though - I've never seen filters made for this purpose (probably because in most instances the subject is illuminated by the flash alone and the background dipping into the red tones is less distracting).
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Jon Close |
Ditto Bob's answer of putting a filter on the flash, except the color correction would be 85-series. 85C corrects 5500°K to 3800°K. Some cameras automatically set White Balance to match the flash. Depending on model, you may have to manually set the White Balance to Tungsten or 3800°K when using the 85C on the flash.
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Mark Feldstein |
First Gerald, before you correct anything, you really need to be sure about approximately what color temperature your ambient light source really is. And, is this something you shoot under all the time or just once in awhile or even just once and what's the source of your ambient lights? Ceiling lights, parking lot, you sure they're not flourescent can lights of one type tube or another? Mercury or sodium vapor can also fool ya. Can you actually see the color of the lights or are they mainly white in appearance? Correcting ambient light temperature to either tungsten or daylight can be tricky without a color temp meter. Rosco Corp. makes Cinegels that are used to correct the light temperature of any lamp to either true tungsten film temp of 3400 K or 5500 K for daylight. And sure, you can wrap your strobe head with one of those and try for correction by trial and error. But remember, when you add gels to your strobe, as with any light modifier, you're going to lose some light output. otoh, it might also be that your flash isn't putting out sufficient light to overcome the ambient light by say 1/2 to a full stop. So your solution might best be found in a more powerful strobe, probably one with fast recycling times or an external battery set-up. A power strobe, say 200 W/S or so, aimed at an 8 or 9 ' pure white ceiling can do a lot to minimize the effects of the ceiling lights, no matter what their color temperature, AND give you a nicer diffused light to work with while brightening your subjects a bit as well. Let us know what you think about those possibilities. Mark
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Gerald Pope |
Wow, thanks for the propt responses! I think the solution may be a few of the above suggestions. I probably need to rely a little more on my flash to illuminate the subjects rather than using it as a fill flash. But a diffuser is definitely a must , whether it's the ceiling or something attatched to the flash. I guess I was just hoping there was someone who makes some sort of gel I could attach to my 550ex to get the flash and the avaiable light a little closer in temperature, even if it's not exact. I use a DSLR and can customize the WB, it just doesn't help much with two different light sources/temperatures. I'm sure the lighting is going to be different every time I shoot a wedding, so unfortunately there probably isn't a one size fits all answer....
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Pete H |
I have to ditto Mark's response. You need a flash to overpower any ambient interferance.
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Craig Salmond |
I saw a DVD produced by Nikon where Joe McNally used Nikon speedlights in several sifferent settings. It was really cool; I'd recommend it to anyone. He said that a Nikon speedlight SB-800 comes with a flouresent correction filter that resembles an Omnibounce diffuser in appearance. I guess that there is a camera setting and it is used in conjuction with the diffuser to compensate. I also believe that he said that there was a Tungsten filter and setting to do the same thing. My problem, like Gerald's, is that I use Canon 580EX flash units, and they don't come with the filters like Nikon's do. Any idea what I would use to balance fllouresent lights? Are there any diffusers made for Canon speedlights that are similar to Nikon's?
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Jon Close |
While the 580EX does not come with those accesories like the SB-800, you can duplicate them. You can buy the Nikon filter set SJ-1 separately (~$20 here, which are close enough in size to use on the 580EX. Or you can get the sets of free swatchbook of sample cine gels from Roscoe (
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Jon Close |
sorry, screwed up the last line. ... sample cine gels from Roscoe mentioned earlier in this thread, which are just the right size to cover the flash.
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