** What was the photog's white balance set to at mass? **

Hi everyone,

 

Just wanted to ask you guys a question. Recently went to mass and

someone was being confirmed. There was a photog there, with a 1series

D-SLR. Humungous hulking thing. With what looked like a 550ex as a

master in the hotshoe, and a slave 550 on a lighting stand to his

right with a Stofen diffuser.

 

My question, is what was his white balance set to, as there were a

lot of fluorescent tubes/strip lights lighting the church.

 

thanking you,

 

Alex Koo

What it should have is one thing. What it was is another. Should have asked ...

He probably shot RAW and changed it after.

As the main lighting was coming from strobes, I'd guess he'd set the white balence to the strobe output and let the light in the church fall wherever, or he may have just composed tight without too much background to avoid problematic color casts.

 

If one wanted to match the strobes to the ambient light, one could gel the strobes to match the fluorescents, but chances are there will be a mixture of daylight, fluorescents of various types, incandescent, candles, etc. in a church, and correcting every light source in the place would be a major Hollywood production.

I would bet that white balance was set to auto. Especially if flash was the main source of light.

I also wanted to ask if you have seen the final prints/images? That should tell you a lot.

It's pointless to guess what the anonymous photographer did. A better question is "how would you set the white balance in this situation."

 

There's no good way to balance incandescent and fluorescent light simultaneously, so the photographer should determine which light will dominate the illumination of the subject(s) and set the white balance accordingly. In most cases, that will be the flash. Even with a relatively low-powered 550, you can control the ambient light with the shutter.

 

Incandescent light in the background adds warmth and depth to the image. Fluorescent lighting is problematic, because it is greenish-yellow compared to daylight.

 

If you are far enough from the subject, the flash will illuminate the background, and you're all set. If you're too close, and want to brighten the background using ambient light (by pulling the shutter), you can add a gel to the flash for a better color match. That's easy enough if the ambient is predominately one source - incandescent, fluorescent, or whatever.

 

For really nasty light, like high-pressure sodium, it may help to do a custom balance using a grey card (that's a feature in a D1x). More often than not, it's not worth the effort. I convert to black-and-white, using SilverOxide, and forget about white balance.

 

In a large space, there is relatively little bounce-fill from the Sto-Fens. Used vertically, a Sto-Fens would increase the dispersion for better coverage, like a bare flash (and comparable light loss). Head-on, a Sto-Fens has an hot spot, and offers little improvement on the flash itself.

Great response, Edward. I'd guess with two flashes and relatively low ambient light levels that Auto WB would get the job done.

With that equipment (and I would not have set up like that), gel the strobes close to the strongest ambiant light in the room, set custom white balance to the strobe. Shutter speed slow enough to show some of the ambiance of the hall but not contaminate the skin tones too much... t

I shoot RAW with Auto white balance and tune up in ACR. For portraits I use a custom white balance, though I still tune it up for the most pleasing effect.

Hi everyone,

 

Thanks for posting all those replies. I've been trying to post something back for a few days now, the network must have been down.

 

I never did see the final images. But was just curious as to how he'd setup. I'd loved to have seen them, as there was light entering the church from the stained glass windows, fluorescent tubes, aswell as his strobes.

 

A question. I should probably try this by myself in a local fast food restaurant... but might try asking you guys... is what happens if you do try to auto calibrate the white balance of 3200 and 5500K together? is there a formula to do this and what would this setting be?

 

thanking you,

 

Alex