Photos a bit too orangy

[Gavie]

Hi there

I did a photo shoot on Saturday for a wedding and then a reception at two seperate venues. I have a Canon 500D, 18 x 200 Lens and a 580 EX MKII speed light. I also bought a pair of lights from Builders Warehouse - the flood light type on the Yellow Stands.

The problem that I experienced was that the Photos were coming out too orange - if thats the right term. I was shooting in AV mode, ISO speed on 400 - 800 and the F3/5.

My floodlights were on all the time. Does anyone have some answers for me please?

One more thing, where can I find a good place to print photos? I am based in JHB but dont want to go to any of the mass printing places if you know what I mean.

Any help will be appreciated.

[dillon]

your white balance is out, easy to fix in a tool like lightroom

[Trevor Ives]

If you're mixing a strobe with other constant-lighting lights, you'll need to balance them else you're going to get some odd skin tones, and this is not fixable in LR.

Typically, you'll gel your flash either warmer or colder depending on the other lights.

[MichaelK]

Some info can be found at http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03...o-correct.html

[SchalkWB]

It's your white balance. If you shoot in RAW you will be able to fix it in Photoshop afterwards to some extend.

About the floodlights - they're difficult to work with as their colour temperature vary over time. Try sticking to strobes - there is a good reason why they are so expensive - they give you the same colour temperature at every shot and hence it is easier to fix your white balance.

[klick]

Rather do it the proper way and get a grey card and get the proper white balance before u shoot. Use a soft fill in flash and balance the two. The flash coud have a gell filter to get balance right.

[Gavie]

Thanks to everyone who provided info to this problem. I did another shoot on Saturday and played around with the WB settings on my camera and things have improved.

About my second question, does anyone know of any good photo printing places?

[Ryan Drummond]

Thanks to everyone who provided info to this problem. I did another shoot on Saturday and played around with the WB settings on my camera and things have improved.

About my second question, does anyone know of any good photo printing places?

Take a test shot that you have edited and are happy with the colours on your screen, which is hopefully callibreted. Take this file and visit the labs within the distance you are willing to travel. Have them load the image into the system and ask for no adjustments to be done to your image, there should be 4 or 5 N's in the sequence on the back of the image to confirm this.

The lab that prints closest to what you have on you screen and the one with the best attitude towards you is the one to work with. I also ask about machine calibration on the labs side, if met with a blank stare, Leave. I also refuse to load my images through the Kiosk in the front.

If you are serious about colour its a tedious business.