Have 2 500 watt hot lights. . .need help
I have two 500 watt photoflood lights with 12 inch reflectors,stands and soft diffusers for each reflector. I only do occasional portraits of friends, family and flowers objects,etc... I have tried shooting a roll of fuji reala 100 film during a portrait shoot and have noticed a greenish colorcast on most of the shots I was told to use an 80a filter on my lens. Anyadvice would be appreciated.
By the way, I shoot with a Cano elan 7 and also have a Speedlite 420EX is it possible to use the 420 as a front fill while have the floods off to the sides?
A question of (color) balance...
Hmm, maybe someone will get how clever my title is. Maybe not. No matter, sometimes I just amuse myself... :D
Anyway, what we're talking about here is balancing the color temperatures in your shots, usually to get the best skin tones in your subjects.
Color has never been my strong suit, and to me, a greenish cast is more associated with fluorescent lights, but the bottom line is your film is balanced for DAYLIGHT, which has a different color temperature than TUNGSTEN or QUARTZ lights.
So, you have a few options. One, try the 80a filter on the lens. Two, use correction filters over the light sources themselves. Or three, use a tungsten balanced film when shooting with these lights.
Now if you decide to add the flash, that changes everything, because the flash WILL show correct color balance with daylight film.
What you describe, with the flash being your main light and the hot lights used in the bg is a very common setup. It often works because the skin tones of your subject will look right, and the color shift on any bg elements usually looks good too.
You should play around with this and let us know what results you come up with...
Quote:
Originally Posted by gahspidy
I have two 500 watt photoflood lights with 12 inch reflectors,stands and soft diffusers for each reflector. I only do occasional portraits of friends, family and flowers objects,etc... I have tried shooting a roll of fuji reala 100 film during a portrait shoot and have noticed a greenish colorcast on most of the shots I was told to use an 80a filter on my lens. Anyadvice would be appreciated.
By the way, I shoot with a Cano elan 7 and also have a Speedlite 420EX is it possible to use the 420 as a front fill while have the floods off to the sides?