Thread started by trickmilla at 03.6.09 - 10:58 am

A thread for your photo tipz for your fellow image junkie ridazz.

USING FREE LIGHTING GEL SAMPLES TO BALANCE STROBE AND AMBIENT LIGHT SOURCES

Lots of us shoot in mixed lighting. Artificial lights provide the ambient light while an on camera flash (balanced to daylight) provides the the main illumination of the subject.

Very rarely are the 2 light sources the same color temperature.

The resulting images usually have the background dominated by a strong color while the foreground that is lit by the flash is "properly" color corrected. There is nothing wrong with this of course, and depending on the photo it can provide for a dramatic image.

However, if you want to, it's not to difficult to balance the color of your flash with the ambient light (or at least get it much closer). Which will have the effect of having a background with more "normal" colors, and generally better contrast, and detail.

The picture above is of a rosco gel sample kit. The full-sized gels themselves are $6 a piece at places like Samy's, Mole Richardson, or Bulbtronics. But the sample kit is usually free and perfectly sized to fit over a camera flash.

- Determine the light source: ie. fluorescent (green light)
- Set the light source in the white balance setting of your camera
- pick the appropriate filter to "correct" your flash and make it the same color as the light source (an FLD or light magenta filter corrects for fluorescents) and attacth to your flash.
- shoot away.

I'll try and provide some samples soon.

PS: of course the same gel samples can be used to do many creative things other than "correcting" white balance. get some, and experiment, they are free.


xoxox
trickmillz




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Samplezz


Photo with flash on auto white balance.

Photo with flash on white balance set to: incandescent/ tungsten setting.

Photo with flash + orange Daylight to Tungsten filter white balance set to incandecent/tungsten.

These are straight out the camera with no color correction.



trickmilla
03.6.09 - 11:33 am

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Cool kitteh!!!



toweliesbong
03.6.09 - 11:35 am

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I just made a Delicious page to collect myphotography links for my students.




trickmilla
03.9.09 - 4:58 pm

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I pretty much always put a CTO on my flash now...

But it's pretty hopeless trying to correct Sodium lights so now I just embrace the orange.



stevestevesteve
03.9.09 - 5:20 pm

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