Portraiture with Flash

[Shadowman]

When shooting a portrait with flash or strobe, what is the white balance selection of choice? I typically set white balance to flash, but tungsten created more realistic skin tones.

Camera's white balance was set to AUTO.

[Colin Southern]

When shooting a portrait with flash or strobe, what is the white balance selection of choice? I typically set white balance to flash, but tungsten created more realistic skin tones.

Camera's white balance was set to AUTO.

You should be shooting RAW, and preferably, including a spectrally-neutral reference source in a test-shot (eg whi-bal card), so white balance setting becomes irrelevant

In post-processing you white balance to the card initially, and then go from there (I typically increase the temp by around 200 kelvin for portraiture to warm it a little).

[Shadowman]

You should be shooting RAW, and preferably, including a spectrally-neutral reference source in a test-shot (eg whi-bal card), so white balance setting becomes irrelevant

In post-processing you white balance to the card initially, and then go from there (I typically increase the temp by around 200 kelvin for portraiture to warm it a little).

Hi Colin,

The shot was taken in RAW, however when doing ACR the shot looked orange tinted SOOC. When I applied white balance I first chose flash and tones still looked orange, I then tried other temperatures and tungsten presented the most natural skin tones. The photo session was my first attempt at indoor portraiture and strobe.

Thanks, I'll keep in mind your post processing steps.

[Shadowman]

Here is the shot after initial post processing.



When pulled into ACR temperature was 3200.
With auto white balance in ACR temp changed to 2900.
With flash white balance setting in ACR temp changed to 5500.
With tungsten white balance setting in ACR temp changed to 2850.

[Colin Southern]

Hi John,

It depends a bit on whether the flash is your sole illuminant.

If it is, then you need to do it as previously outlined.

If it's a mixed lighting situation then things get complicated because you'll have two different temperatures and only 1 adjustment. Best thing to do in that situation is to gel your flashes to match to other light source.

Adjusting skin tones "by eye" is a real lottery - you'll get very inconsistent and mostly inaccurate results - you really NEED to have an accurate reference, even if it's just a piece of copier paper.

With flash only, generally, tint will be close to zero (magenta/green axis) - so just blue/yellow axis to get right.

If you're aiming for professional quality you also need a colour passport and to generate a custom camera/lens profile, but that's another post for another thread!

PS: SOOC is irrelevant for RAW - at best all it will do is use the selected WB as a starting point.

[Colin Southern]

Here is the shot after initial post processing.



When pulled into ACR temperature was 3200.
With auto white balance in ACR temp changed to 2900.
With flash white balance setting in ACR temp changed to 5500.
With tungsten white balance setting in ACR temp changed to 2850.

Confirm mixed lighting?

Source?

[Shadowman]

Hi John,

It depends a bit on whether the flash is your sole illuminant.

If it is, then you need to do it as previously outlined.

If it's a mixed lighting situation then things get complicated because you'll have two different temperatures and only 1 adjustment. Best thing to do in that situation is to gel your flashes to match to other light source.

Adjusting skin tones "by eye" is a real lottery - you'll get very inconsistent and mostly inaccurate results - you really NEED to have an accurate reference, even if it's just a piece of copier paper.

With flash only, generally, tint will be close to zero (magenta/green axis) - so just blue/yellow axis to get right.

If you're aiming for professional quality you also need a colour passport and to generate a custom camera/lens profile, but that's another post for another thread!

PS: SOOC is irrelevant for RAW - at best all it will do is use the selected WB as a starting point.

Thanks Colin, there was mixed lighting. This was shot in an old cathedral refurbished into a photography studio. There was fluorescent lights directly behind the model, partially obscured by the backdrop, overhead fluorescent lights, and then the strobe.

[Colin Southern]

Thanks Colin, there was mixed lighting. This was shot in an old cathedral refurbished into a photography studio. There was fluorescent lights directly behind the model, partially obscured by the backdrop, overhead fluorescent lights, and then the strobe.

Ah

With fluorescent lights you'll need a tint adjustment, but to be honest, it's likely to be messy, and flash light and florescents are as different as chauk and cheese, and the corrections required are going to depend on lighting ratios and "what light shone where". Definitely to be avoided if at all possible.

The writing on the model's T-Shirt is probably your best neutral reference, although I'm also wondering what that object to camera right is (it looks neutral, but I really can't tell).

Personally, I prefer to just over-power the ambient light whenever possible.

[Digital]

Could that large white card to camera right be a large Whi-Bal card?



Bruce

[Shadowman]

grey card. kick here.

[Colin Southern]

I did some tests on your image and - even clicking on that card - you've got some pretty big WB variations due (no doubt) to the mixed lighting.

Mixed lighting is a lot like having two painters paint your car - with 2 different colours of paint - and try to make it look "even". In theory one can never get it right and in practice it's a mixed bag.

I shoot in my studio with the fluorescent lights on, but at F11+ @ 1/125th @ ISO 100, they don't contribute ANYTHING to the exposure.

[Shadowman]

I did some tests on your image and - even clicking on that card - you've got some pretty big WB variations due (no doubt) to the mixed lighting.

Mixed lighting is a lot like having two painters paint your car - with 2 different colours of paint - and try to make it look "even". In theory one can never get it right and in practice it's a mixed bag.

I shoot in my studio with the fluorescent lights on, but at F11+ @ 1/125th @ ISO 100, they don't contribute ANYTHING to the exposure.

I used f/5.6, 1/160sec, ISO 3600, metering multi-segment, 70mm focal length. I rarely shoot at such a high ISO and camera was set to AUTO ISO. I also remember that my camera wasn't tethered to the strobe, another photographer's camera was. Which brings up another possible shooting condition. if in a room with ten or more photographers, all photographing the same subject using flash and in mixed lighting, and I shoot multiple shots within a five second time frame, would this give an appearance of dappled light for some shots, fill light for others?

[Colin Southern]

I used f/5.6, 1/160sec, ISO 3600, metering multi-segment, 70mm focal length. I rarely shoot at such a high ISO and camera was set to AUTO ISO.

That's around 9 stops more than me, so I'd think your ambient-to-flash ratio is probably somewhere around 1:1 (just a guess, but based on what I've seen, enough to give you white balancing headaches).

It's a difficult one;

- If you minimise the flash and go with the horrible/spiky fluorescents you won't get great light

- If you want to over-power them then you may struggle unless you have some good "fire-power"

- You could gel the flashes, but with fluorescents that in itself is a challenge

If you're just starting out with portraiture/flash then you're probably better off choosing some naturally lit areas (indoors or out) where their won't be such a difference between the magenta/green axis (tint). A reflector / diffuser along with a couple of flashes & shoot-through brollies is a great starting point.

[Shadowman]

That's around 9 stops more than me, so I'd think your ambient-to-flash ratio is probably somewhere around 1:1 (just a guess, but based on what I've seen, enough to give you white balancing headaches).

It's a difficult one;

- If you minimise the flash and go with the horrible/spiky fluorescents you won't get great light

- If you want to over-power them then you may struggle unless you have some good "fire-power"

- You could gel the flashes, but with fluorescents that in itself is a challenge

If you're just starting out with portraiture/flash then you're probably better off choosing some naturally lit areas (indoors or out) where their won't be such a difference between the magenta/green axis (tint). A reflector / diffuser along with a couple of flashes & shoot-through brollies is a great starting point.

Colin,

Yes, just starting out. I've done a few natural light portraits and depending on the lighting conditions have used on camera flash. Time of day helps with the natural light portraits, calming the skin tones as I say because midday shots without flash tends to make the subject look plastic.

Outdoor night shots have really been more difficult, I usually try to use streetlight but I either had to use high ISO, flash, or get blurry images from slow shutter speeds.

Studio portraits is something I'd like to spend more time on and utilizing flash will be a challenge. Thanks for the advice, I'm sure I'll have more questions and will read through the tutorials.

[Colin Southern]

Yes, just starting out. I've done a few natural light portraits and depending on the lighting conditions have used on camera flash. Time of day helps with the natural light portraits, calming the skin tones as I say because midday shots without flash tends to make the subject look plastic.

Best thing for natural light is to get a couple of 7 in 1 reflectors; they're good for bouncing light in, diffusing light, subtracting light. Only downside is you need an assistant to hold them. On KelbyOne Cliff Mautner and Lindsay Adler have some good tutorials. James Schmelzer too.

Outdoor night shots have really been more difficult, I usually try to use streetlight but I either had to use high ISO, flash, or get blurry images from slow shutter speeds.

Consider shooting into the light for the background, and use flash for the foreground; motion blur isn't an issue because the flash will strobe the subject, leaving only the background to be exposed by the ambient light. With a wide aperture you can get some cool bokeh too.

eg this one I shot at my daughters request a year or so ago. She hates it, so it must be OK!

Studio portraits is something I'd like to spend more time on and utilizing flash will be a challenge. Thanks for the advice, I'm sure I'll have more questions and will read through the tutorials.

Studio portraits -v- location shoots are like a studio album -v- a live concert. In the studio you can control everything very tightly, but it's often very "sterile". I actually enjoy location shooting more; no two shoots are ever the same, whereas with studio work I tend to fall into "cookie cutter" mode.

[Shadowman]

Best thing for natural light is to get a couple of 7 in 1 reflectors; they're good for bouncing light in, diffusing light, subtracting light. Only downside is you need an assistant to hold them. On KelbyOne Cliff Mautner and Lindsay Adler have some good tutorials. James Schmelzer too.



Consider shooting into the light for the background, and use flash for the foreground; motion blur isn't an issue because the flash will strobe the subject, leaving only the background to be exposed by the ambient light. With a wide aperture you can get some cool bokeh too.

eg this one I shot at my daughters request a year or so ago. She hates it, so it must be OK!






Studio portraits -v- location shoots are like a studio album -v- a live concert. In the studio you can control everything very tightly, but it's often very "sterile". I actually enjoy location shooting more; no two shoots are ever the same, whereas with studio work I tend to fall into "cookie cutter" mode.

Colin,

Thank you for the additional information. I will definitely check out the KelbyOne tutorials.