Filter Decisions

[edo_t]

<p>Hi!</p>

<p>For using CTO filters to balance a flash in daylight I was wondering if there are certain times of the day in which it is best to use different degrees of the filter.<br>

For a balanced color in the light of the scene would it be best to say use 1/2 CTO at noon, and maybe Full CTO during day break and sunset?</p>

[iversonwhite]

<p>Flash is already daylight balanced.</p>

[scott_ferris]

<p>Iverson, </p>

<p>"Daylight" covers a wide range of temperatures. At dawn and dusk a CTO or 1/2 CTO can be used effectively to match the "golden light". But generally full CTO's are for making flashes closer to tungsten. I would never use CTO's outside during normal hours unless I was trying to make the sky artificially blue.</p>

[paco_rosso]

<p>I do not understand any ¿Why do you want turns orange the light of a flash? In CTO the O stands for "Orange".</p>

<p>If you are trying to give some yelloish character to your flash best look for a CTS filter than a CTO.<br>

(S for straw).</p>

 

[brooks short]

<p>"...I do not understand any ¿Why do you want turns orange the light of a flash? In CTO the O stands for "Orange"....."</p>

<p>It's a creative choice. Sometimes you want to simulate warm sunshine streaming through a window. This image was shot on 4x5 E6 daylight transparency film with a 1/2 CTO on a 13" fresnel spot.</p>

[brooks short]

<p>Like this.....</p><div></div>

[indraneel]

<blockquote>

<p>(S for straw)</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Straw does not look all that good, at least to me. Orange definitely looks better. 1/4 or 1/2 has a golden light quality (as shown above).</p>

[scott_ferris]

<p>If you are doing a set up like above, there is no point in gelling, if you shoot RAW you can set the WB anywhere you like in post, the point of gelling is to either match mixed light sources, or create effects by deliberately not matching light source temps. </p>

<p>Mixing CTO gelled flashes and daylight will, but for very early and very late, create a mismatch, if that is the artistic intent then it is a good thing, if it is not then the ambient will be much bluer than the flash. If you neutral balance for the flash the sky will turn deep blue, if you balance for the ambient the flash illuminated subject will be very orange.</p>

<p>CTS is not a common gel colour, CTO is ubiquitous.</p>

[brooks short]

<p>"...If you are doing a set up like above, there is no point in gelling, if you shoot RAW you can set the WB anywhere you like in post,..."</p>

<p>As I said in my the description of the photograph above, I was shooting daylight balanced film, not a digital raw file.</p>

<p>".... the point of gelling is to either match mixed light sources, or create effects by deliberately not matching light source temps...."</p>

<p>I wasn't gelling to match or not match light sources, I was gelling to create a lighting color effect that would mimic warm daylight in a studio shot.</p>

[scott_ferris]

<p>Brooks,</p>

<p>It was a broader comment than just your image, it was not a personal attack or critic of your workflow. However we are looking at the image digitally so it has been scanned, though even in my film days when I was wet printing, it is very easy to correct WB via the enlarger, IF all the lights are the same colour. Now if you could only project your slide then you have to get the WB of all light sources as you want them to look.</p>

[brooks short]

<p>Scott,</p>

<p>I'm not taking your comments as a personal attack or criticism. My point was that the use of color gels isn't always about balancing light sources. It can also be a creative manipulation of the color quality of the light to enhance a mood or create a feel for the time of day in an image.</p>

<p>I was simply objecting to your statement..."If you are doing a set up like above, there is no point in gelling, ...." In fact, this image was shot 10 years ago before digital capture was widely available and it was photographed on transparency film, not color negative film so there was no wet printing and subsequent color manipulation.</p>

<p>The transparency was the final product. Optical separations not scans were made from the original transparency for printing on a 4 color press. The point being that the use of a gel was necessary to create the color effect that you see here. All color balance, exposure, contrast, focus, all characteristics of the final shot were done in-camera by manipulating the lighting. The transparency served as the "original" and it was used for matching to the final printed 4-color piece.</p>

<p>Today the process can be more easily manipulated after the exposure. When this shot was done it was all about getting any lighting or color effect on the film at the time of photography. In this case the creative use of gels was the best way to do that.</p>