White balance, balance

krazy_horse

krazy_horse

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Edit My Images
Yes
No i haven't accidently typed it twice!

I was taking some pics of my niece last weekend, and all seemed ok at the time, but looking back at them now, i think i made a mistake.

I was shooting onto a white background with an Interfit cool-lite to the right of the subject and my SB600 tethered to one side. Now looking at the pictures (from RAW) I can't seem to get the white balance correct, is it because i used 2 different light sources?

Not sure why the white background is not "white" ?

JB

Straight from camera:

DSC_2510.jpg


Clicking on auto white balance from RAW:

DSC_2510_1.jpg
 
depending on which software you are using.... apart from preset white balance settings.. you should be able to use sliders to get the tone just how you want it.
 
Actually your corrected pic looks about right as far as the skin tones are concerned. You're also getting a pretty good white in that foreground rug, so I suspect your background was never white to start with. You really need a good blast of light on that background to get a clean white.
 
It looks about right to me, this is not optimised of course....

DSC_2510_11.jpg
 
The "corrected" background is far from neutral, I'm seeing a definite blue cast and checking the RGB values confirms it. However the cast on the background isn't consistent and there's a noticable change towards the bottom area so depending on where you click for the WB balance you'll get it right for one place and wrong for another.

Here's what I got after a couple of quick tweaks.

Before / After

DSC_2510.jpg
krazy_horse.jpg
 
Thanks for the replies, and i see what you're saying, it can be "done" in software, but i would like to achieve this before it even reaches the camera, i will try again with CT's advice re the strong flash on the background.

Would the following schematic be a better approach sorry for the poor graphics...(don't laugh)

JB

Studio_Set_Up.JPG
 
In all honesty it's yonks since I did any studio work, but your setup looks OK to me. The main thing is that you really need to set your bg flash 2 or 3 stops brighter than your main subject to really blow out that bg and get a good white.
 
Perhaps Swap Around The Lighting And Se The Two Big Uns For The Backgrond So That It Is Well Lit And Even And Your Speedlight For The Person With A Reflector? (just A Guess)
 
fletch5 said:
Perhaps Swap Around The Lighting And Se The Two Big Uns For The Backgrond So That It Is Well Lit And Even And Your Speedlight For The Person With A Reflector? (just A Guess)
Click to expand...


I could try that method, but would i get enough flash from my SB600?

Plus i feel i would be wasting the money spent on lights if i'm just using them to illuminate the background :thinking:


cherryrig said:
You could use some gels to balance the flash light so that it matches the natural colour rather than having that un-natural colour.
Click to expand...

Please explain, what are gels, and how can they be used?

JB
 
Wait...what...when...back to the begining, you said you were using an inter fit light or something and flash.
In my experience, life is just too short trying to balance w/b on shots like this, if your anything like me, you can faff about for yonks and it still doesn't look right.
Getting the temperatures matching in the first place is best.
What is the temperature of that interfit thing ?
 
5500k

and that looks about right, seeing the edits show some blue on the nipper (flash) when balanced for white background (interfit)

I know this crap because I have a big product shoot coming up, some of the items are glass and will be shot in a tent, I dont have enough SB's so I need some balanced lamps to match my SB...5500K

edit, I looked it up...highest and lowest power settings are from 5650K (max) to 5900K
 
Buy the correct temperature lamps to match the flash is the way I'm looking at it.
I'm almost certain my last lot were 5500k 2ft tubes:shrug:
It doesn't always matter with backlighting if your gonna howitzer everything with flash and blow the background.
 
I agree, if you've an imbalance in the colour temp of your lights - you'll never get it right - you can only set the wb for one temp.
 
krazy_horse said:
Please explain, what are gels, and how can they be used?

JB
Click to expand...

Gels are colour sheets which change the colour of the flash or lights which you are using. Some gels such CTO are used to change the colour temperature of the flash to try and match the natural colour of the surroundings. More info on gels here. Such a useful bit of kit to have ;) I have two packs so :LOL:
 
Ok you are not going to like this but to get the background white and no colour cast on the subject you will have to use identical light sources on the subject and the background.The background should be lit 1/2 stop brighter than the subject.
If you do not you have to put up with either a cast on skin tones or white backgrounds the camera can only set one light balance. When using lighting like this the camera should be set to custom WB to balance with the colour temp of the flash.
 
Paolo said:
Ok you are not going to like this but to get the background white and no colour cast on the subject you will have to use identical light sources on the subject and the background.The background should be lit 1/2 stop brighter than the subject.
If you do not you have to put up with either a cast on skin tones or white backgrounds the camera can only set one light balance. When using lighting like this the camera should be set to custom WB to balance with the colour temp of the flash.
Click to expand...

Spot on Yhe background must be brighter than the subject. I use 1 stop differance and dont worry about a bit of burn out as I want the background to be pure white anyway.
 
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