alex_koo Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgo Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 What it should have is one thing. What it was is another. Should have asked ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
continuity Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 He probably shot RAW and changed it after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_goldfarb Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_nelson___atlanta__ga Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 I would bet that white balance was set to auto. Especially if flash was the main source of light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_nelson___atlanta__ga Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 I also wanted to ask if you have seen the final prints/images? That should tell you a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_Ingold Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_muntz Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 Great response, Edward. I'd guess with two flashes and relatively low ambient light levels that Auto WB would get the job done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twmeyer Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben_rubinstein___mancheste Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_koo Posted January 13, 2005 Author Share Posted January 13, 2005 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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