430EX Flash/yellow images question

[stephenjames716]

Hello,

Thanks for taking a look at my post. I have a Canon 430EX Speedlite Flash that I use with my Canon digital rebel xt. I tend to have the flash pointing straight up and bounce it off ceilings when taking pictures.

Most of the time this yields great images with really nice soft lighting. Sometimes though, when the bounce situation is not ideal, and I have to angle the flash at a 45 degree angle, the images come out very yellow/orange.

I don't really know the settings on my flash to well, and would appreciate any info anyone has on how I could correct this.

I really don't like the look of an image when you have the external flash pointed directly at the subject...as it makes a very harsh lighting situation.

Here is an example of a recent image I took:
http://homepage.mac.com/stephenjames...les/yellow.JPG

Thanks,
Steve

[SilverBullet07]

Hey Steve.

I'm not an expert but I will give you my take. It looks like the issue is your white balance and not really the flash. The camera seems to be catching the tungston lights. Have you tried a custom balance to balance it out?

[inkista]

I don't think the yellow is a matter of your flash. It's that you had auto white balance set which will make incandescent lighting come out very yellow. Switching to Tungsten would have helped, but you could also have shot RAW and then adjusted in post.

Given that you had the camera in full auto mode, the flash in auto (and presumably eTTL), and your white balance in auto, it's pretty hard to tell you what exactly was going on. But what seems clear to me from your settings (24mm, f/4, iso 400, 1/60s) is that the majority of the light in that shot is ambient, and almost none of it from the flash at all.

When you bounce a flash you throw away a lot of the power/light. Light drops off by the inverse square law--that is that the amount of light is inversely proportional to the square of the distance. If you double the distance, you get one fourth the light. If you triple the distance, you get one ninth of the light, and so on. When you bounce, you increase the distance drastically and the farther away your bounce surface is the more you lose. Not to mention the scattering from the diffusion of bouncing also robs you of light. The price you pay for getting softer light with bouncing is having a lot less light to play with. And you've only got 4 AAs working for you. With my 430EX, if the ceilings aren't within 10', my chances of successfully bouncing go down drastically.

You need to get out of Auto mode. You need to shoot in full Manual to get full control over you flash and the ability to meaningfully balance the ambient against the flash well. With flash photography, there is no single "correct" exposure, as there is with ambient.

If you are not comfortable shooting without a flash in full Manual mode, swapping stops among iso, aperture, and shutter speed, my advice is to put the speedlight away until you are. All flash photography does is throw in two more exposure factors into the mix (flash power, flash distance), along with the fact that shutter speed affects your ambient, but not flash illumination. Basically, shooting in Manual is like juggling three balls. Shooting with flash is like juggling five.

You need to walk before you run. Master ambient/available light first. Then add the flash. Otherwise, while you might find techniques that work for you, being able to think your way through a lighting problem is not gonna happen.

[ddr]

gel gel gel

or if ur into post processing / saving your images you can try vivezia

[arigun]

i'm not expert, maybe u can try to give minus compensation on your external flash control from minus0.7 - minus1 ev

[stephenjames716]

thank you very much for all the information everyone. I really appreciate your time and will start trying out suggestions asap.

[Sateh]

Hey Steve,

If you use the flash diffuser (Flash cap) of the speedlite 430EX, you will have softer natural light. Give it a try. It will cost you arroud 4 bucks. Good luck.