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White balance & flash

nikon d800

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4 replies to this topic

#1
bobbyjo007

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If you guys are using flash outdoors on a clear, sunny day in order to eliminate shadows, would you prefer to set your white balance mode to about 5500 Kelvin, or would you set "flash" white balance mode? Just curious to know what is your preference is in this situation, and why.  Thank you!

 

 



#2
Merco_61

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I usually gel the flash with a Lee 102 light amber gel and set the WB to daylight.

#3
bobbyjo007

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I usually gel the flash with a Lee 102 light amber gel and set the WB to daylight.

 

I've never heard of flash gel!

 

But suppose you only have a basic flash (or speedlight) mounted on a Nikon digital SLR... would you still prefer to use a WB set to daylight?

 

Thanks for your input!



#4
Merco_61

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On a speedlight, the swatches that can be found for free or cheaply are big enough to cover the flash head. As you are in the US, Rosco gels are probably easier to find than Lee. 

 

One source is B&H. https://www.bhphotov...Swatchbook.html

 

Another way is to use Rosco's dealer locator and find the closest dealer. Where To Buy | Rosco. Rosco don't handle swatchbook requests themselves anymore, so you have to go through a dealer.

 

With the naked flash, which WB setting works best will depend on whether the artificial light is the dominant light source or not. If you have the time, shooting a colorchecker at the most important part of the scene and profiling the light from that can give you the most pleasing result.



#5
Ron

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I've used daylight balanced fill flash with both Auto White Balance and Daylight White balanced settings and could barely tell the difference.

 

On a sunny day, Nikon's iTTL daylight balanced fill flash is magic.

 

--Ron







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