White Balance Setting: Fill Flash in Sun

[david_king11]

I have a Nikon D200 and I mostly shoot with the 17-55 2.8 lens. When in the

sun, I will typically set my SB800 to -1.3 to -1.7 TTL for fill flash. I like

the results of the fill flash, but I am always having problems deciding on a

white Balance setting that works for both background and the subject.

 

What WB setting do you use when shooting outside in sun - with fill flash?

[dave_hoffmann]

Daylight

[nolan_ross]

I typically will set my D200 to Direct Sunlight (WB 5200K) for use with or without flash in the Sun. The Flash WB (5400K) is fine also. Slightly redder. I tend to forget about it and leave it on daylight and then adjust in my RAW program.

[Rick Waller]

shoot raw and you can fix anything after the fact!

[spritestress]

Always shoot RAW and always use AUTO white balance, because the white balance of each photograph is unique. Use Adobe Lightroom to make fine white balance adjustments, and other adjustments, for each of your photos.

[lex_jenkins]

Shooting RAW won't solve the imbalance between flash, which is nominally "daylight balanced" and certain daylight situations. Actual daylight color temperature varies throughout the day.

 

Sometimes gelling the flash is easier than custom white balancing for certain situations.

 

I also tend to use auto WB with fill flash, but can't recommend it. Each photo will tend to vary slightly and this technique transfers labor from the shooting to the editing process. For casual flash photography, especially when I'm shooting mostly JPEGs to be printed directly at the minilab without interim editing, it's fine. For more critical sessions it makes extra work.

[david_king11]

Not saying that everyone else is wrong, but I agree with LEX. My point was balancing the entire shot is my problem. With two types of lighting involved, what WB is best to meet both half way without anything looking too out of balance?

 

I shot hockey game once, which is a good example...two types of light in the ceiling (yeah, it sucked) and white balance was correct in half the shot and the other shot the ice was pink. When adjusting for that WB, the opposite ice became blue. Point being, WB cant fix everything.

 

I don't shoot in RW just because I am not going to adjust 500 images from a 1 hour high school prom shoot that I made $100 doing. I really wanted just a "whats best" type of answer.

 

I think just shooting with sun WB is best - or shade, depending on what the ambient light conditions are.

 

Thanks ALL!

[russ_konrad]

<b>"...I don't shoot in RW just because I am not going to adjust 500 images from a 1 hour high school prom shoot that I made $100 doing. I really wanted just a "whats best" type of answer...."</b>

<p>

Shooting RAW is really "what's best". If you are getting paid for photography - you really should approach this like a professional. If $100 is not enough, then charge more and do it right. And with Capture NX (esp version 2.0) working on a RAW file goes very fast once you learn the program.

<p>

For outdoor settings with flash - I will always use the Auto WB or the "cloudy" setting. The D200 is a little more sensitive than the D300 or D3 but they are very similar.

<p>

Here is a shot outdoors with fill flash (D3, 85mm f/1.8 lens, taken at f/2.8, 1/6400 or a sec., -.7 compensation on the camera) Straight out of the camera - just converted to JPEG from RAW in Capture NX.

<p>

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3098/2556010370_c54c138a73.jpg?v=0">

[lex_jenkins]

Folks, David has given a valid reason for his preferences. Having myself shot high volume, short deadline sessions - as also do many photojournalists and sports photographers - shooting JPEGs with in-camera corrections is often the only practical solution and *is* perfectly professional. There's nothing inherently "professional" about shooting raw and it is absolutely impractical for some deadline situations. If you don't understand this it's almost certainly because you haven't had to work under such conditions.

 

Unfortunately, David, what works for me may not work for you. My D2H has very different responses to certain WB situations compared with the D200, and not necessarily for the better. It's difficult in typical school gym lighting. OTOH, it works very well with auto WB for JPEGs in outdoor daylight fill flash situations.

 

I don't know whether this is possible with the D200 (haven't checked it very closely), but you might be able to custom WB it against a white or neutral gray card even with flash. Once set, it should be close for all shots in the same lighting.

 

For the worst types of artificial lighting situations the best solution may involve custom WB for the ambient light and gelling the flash.

 

Personally, I'm not good at judging color by eye on the spot. When unsure, I'll set the camera to neutral WB (daylight), shoot a white card and check the LCD or, if there's time, review the test photo on a PC. The tint will give me an idea of whether gelling the flash might help.

 

Another tricky factor is that some artificial lighting can change over time. For example, if the lights in a school gym have just been turned on, the color temperature will change during warmup. I encountered this problem at a wedding in what was essentially an industrial warehouse type building with industrial lighting, including three totally different types of artificial lighting. The only solution was to ignore the ambient lighting and use an extra wirelessly triggered flash to overpower the horrible ambient light. I don't mind warm ambient color temperatures but don't much care for green and blue.

[russ_konrad]

If a photographer is very confident and very good at setting the proper white balance - then yes - shooting JPEG can be a viable, "professional" alternative.

 

If there are doubts about how to set your digital camera to get the correct white balance - then shooting JPEG is a recipe for disaster.

 

As always - just my humble opinion.

[aaron l]

I shoot in between daylight and flash if I can't decide, that way you don't get that blue palor to the skin but everything else doesn't go too warm.

 

I shoot JPG most of the time if I can, the RAW data volume and processing time is a killer. RAW will -not- save you in mixed lighting conditions. Get a daylight balance gel for your flash, then you won't have an issue.

[russ_konrad]

<b>"...RAW will -not- save you in mixed lighting conditions...."</b>

<p>

But if the action is too fast for you to get the proper gel in place - adjustments on the RAW file can salvage a shot that would be totally wrecked if shot in JPEG