Gelled flash Outdoors?

[Trever1t]

I have never used a gel on my OCF before and was wondering if using one on a overcast or partly sunny day would benefit me? I was thinking of amber .7 -ev? I am shooting portrait in a park setting today. I have a load of gels of varying yellow-orange colors but little understanding of what will give me a natural look with OCF flash fill in that setting.

I'm all ears!

 

[KmH]

I often used a full CTO gel on the light with the camera WB set to tungsten. That makes the light on the subject white, and gives the background a cooler bluish cast.

 

[Trever1t]

hmm, I want to keep the light (fill) on the subject warm and keep the ambient warm as well. Will gelling the flash with amber achieve that result?

 

[Trever1t]

so will I achieve my desired effect?

 

[Vtec44]

I use gel to try to balance the colors of the light sources, so it's easier to adjust the white balance after. So if you're shooting at sun set, then use a yellow gel to match the lights and adjust it later.

 

[Dominantly]

Using a CTO gel should keep the lighting hitting your subject warm.

With the SB-700 I've found that because it transmits the gel info to the camera, I sometimes get warm subject but then cool background/shadows. To get around this I've just set the white balance via a grey card with just ambient, then used the flash over that custom white balance.

 

[Trever1t]

I'll be using it off camera and in Manual, only triggered by my camera.

 

[KmH]

Are you familiar with a color wheel? Color wheel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Color tool - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The full CTO I mentiioned using is an orangeish color and the opposite side of a color wheel from orange is bluie, which is why my backgrounds had a blusih tint.

Color theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Color balance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Complementary colors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[analog.universe]

Overcast days are pretty cool in color.. partial sun also, but not as much. If you want warm light in the photo (subject and surroundings), you want to gel your OCF cooler, and then also set your white balance cool (in camera or post, like 6000-7000K). You'd gel the flash warm if you wanted the subject warmer than the surroundings.

 

[Tiberius47]

hmm, I want to keep the light (fill) on the subject warm and keep the ambient warm as well. Will gelling the flash with amber achieve that result?

If you are shooting in shadow/on a cloudy day, the natural light will be a bit on the blue side. Put your camera to cloudy or shadow white balance and that will warm the light up a bit.

Now, if you are using flash, then your white balance will warm it up too. But since the flash is not as blue as the ambient light, then it will get warmer. That is, the white balance will set the natural light to look normal instead of blue, and it will make the flash look warmer than normal.

You can put a blue gel on your flash to get the flash and the ambient light to the same colour temperature, or you can leave it to leave the flash-lit portions looking warmer than normal, or you can gel your flash orange to increase the effect even more.

 

[Trever1t]

Thank you Tiberious47 for your detailed response!

I didn't end up using the flash at all during my session but your results were certainly spot on, shooting in shade netted very blue tones which I bumped up in post to achieve natural tones. Had I used an Orange gel I now understand the skin tones would have been very warm unless I left the background cold.

Awesome learning experience, thank you!

 

[Tiberius47]

Thank you Tiberious47 for your detailed response!

I didn't end up using the flash at all during my session but your results were certainly spot on, shooting in shade netted very blue tones which I bumped up in post to achieve natural tones. Had I used an Orange gel I now understand the skin tones would have been very warm unless I left the background cold.

Awesome learning experience, thank you!