Help with color temperatures!

[Alefeb07]

Hello,

I am doing a shoot in a few days, located in an abandoned building. I went there today to scope out the location. The lighting is very bad, but there is power still in the building. I have a very low budget for equipment so i have to make do with what i have. I am using an on camera speedlite, and a few of the portable work lights you can find in a hardware store. They are the cheap ones with the 8-10 in metal dome around them. I currently have CFL bulbs in them(whiter than incandescents).

My question is, How can I change the color temperature of these lights so they better match my flash? Is it in the bulbs or some kind of material i can place over them to cool it down? Please help, i do not want to shoot this place with multi colored light sources.



Regards,



Alex





Flickr: Larry ScrappyChief's Photostream
Phohos

[natek313]

Your Speedlite is daylight balanced, so if the CFL bulbs you have are daylight balanced as well, then you should be okay. If there is a color temperature difference, though, an easier solution may just be to gel your Speedlite to match the CFL bulbs. Then you can set your white balance in your camera (preset or custom).

You can purchase something like this. You can just cut out the sample you want and tape it over your flash.

Also, be sure to shoot in RAW so you will be able to tweak the white balance in post-processing, if necessary.

I hope this helps.

[zona5101]

option 2: if the cfls are not daylight balanced, replace them with ones that are. I believe there are both incandesents as well as cfls with 5500 degreeK ratings. I do not know how much area you need to light up up some of those CFL don't throw a lot of light...may want to give it a test drive before the shoot...

[Alefeb07]

Thank you for the replies,

The temperature of the bulbs are 2700k ,not sure how this corresponds with the flash but they do tend to give me a a yellowish tint. The gels are a great idea but i looked around and there are none in my area. I will not have time to order them online. Would a white sheet over the CFLs cool them enough to match the speedlite by chance?
I thank you for all your help.

[klam]

A white sheet will not cool them, it will diffuse them. Do you have a yellow transparent cd cover? if so you can use that as a DIY gel for your flash.

[autofocus]

Alex what exactly are you shooting in the building? Depending on what it is, your speedlite may be sufficient by itself

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by Alefeb07

Thank you for the replies,

The temperature of the bulbs are 2700k ,not sure how this corresponds with the flash but they do tend to give me a a yellowish tint. The gels are a great idea but i looked around and there are none in my area. I will not have time to order them online. Would a white sheet over the CFLs cool them enough to match the speedlite by chance?
I thank you for all your help.

No the white sheet will not work. If you want to balance them with your flash you need to add blue.
So you can either bring your CFLs to daylight by adding a full blue filter - this will also cut your light transmission by 1.5 stops. I do not believe your lights are powerful enough to work through the gel and light your subject adaquately at anything but contact distance.
You could bring you flash down from 5500 degrees to the approx color temp of your CFLs by gelling the flash with a full CTO gel. (CTO is orange/yellow) This will eat a stop of light. You didn't indicate if your flash is on board or external. If external the stop of light probably wont be a big deal.

Your easiest choice may be to shoot it with only one lighting type...only cfl and not use your flash.

[Alefeb07]

Autofocus- The only shot i will probably need ample lighting for is an old piano in the basement. Its in a corner of a cement room that is almost pitch black. I haven't figured out what i want to do with it yet but its clear that it will need a lot of light.

Zona - I thank you for your input, your obviously knowledgeable in the lighting department. You are probably right about the CFLs, it would be easier to gel the flash. Its a speedlite 430 EX II. I have a yellowish sheet i can probably clip over the flash. I will give that a try. If it doesn't work then, as you say i will just have to shoot it with one type of light. I will probably use the CFLs because i am thinking of only partially lighting the shot. I will be bringing a tripod and my 50 mm either way.

Thank you both for leaving me some input, it was all helpful. The shoot will be Sunday morning. Il be sure to let you know how it goes. Also, il be posting a question about HDR if any of you have input on that as well.



Regards,



Alex

[autofocus]

You can also try dragging your shutter which will help balance the light somewhat. Probably best to use your tripod for this while setting your shutter speed to say, 1/20, or 1/30th sec. and adjusting your flash output up or down accordingly (checking your histogram) A plastic dome diffuser on your flash may also help distribute the light from your flash better. Just some food for thought...good luck

Vince

[Alefeb07]

Thanks vince, good advice!