speedlight and unnatural skin tone

[Heitz]

Hey, shot a family member's baby shower today (just for fun/practice - no expectations). Anyway, it was my first time using the SB-700 for an extended period of time in a room with a really high ceiling. So I couldn't bounce. I went direct with a diffuser and sometimes held it off camera high left. I feel like skin tones were washed out a bit. Should I have been gelling instead of diffuser? Any other comments appreciated. Example below. Thanks dudes.

 

[lapequesalsera]

Did you have the WB settings on camera as flash? How about bouncing the light on a white reflector?

 

[Heitz]

shot in RAW; white balance doesn't seem to be the problem. A reflector wouldn't have worked in this small venue whilst remaining unobtrusive. Hence the diffuser.

 

[480sparky]

How big was the diffuser?

 

[Heitz]

It was just the little diffuser that came with the sb-700. not a softbox or anything. sparky, do you agree that the skin tones look a bit bright?

 

[480sparky]

It looks bright because it's slightly overexposed to me. If you're speaking of the built-in diffuser on the flash, that's really just for when you use a ultra-wide-angle lens. You may want to try something like this.

 

[Heitz]

Not the diffuser that is attached to the flash, but the frosted plastic dome that came with it and attaches as a separate piece. Is that not a diffuser? Love the idea of a flash bender; going to hit up the photography store tomorrow and try that out. Thanks!

 

[SCraig]

I usually just add a little warmth in post processing to compensate for the cool light of the flash.

 

[o hey tyler]

How high were the ceilings? And what was your ISO on?

Unless the ceilings were like 60 feet, you probably could have bounced flash on ISO 400-800.

 

[Heitz]

Yea ceilings were that high, and were also colored red. ISO was set to 400-500.

 

[o hey tyler]

Yea ceilings were that high, and were also colored red. ISO was set to 400-500.

Oh, well if they're colored red... That changes everything.

**** that. :lmao:

 

[Heitz]

Hahaha. Yea at least I'm not asking 'hey why does everyone look bloody?'