White Balance?

Hey friends, i have bought some new weapons (ST-E2 and 430EXII). however, my ignorance is a huge limiting factor. Please enlighten me

The first shot is shoot in Auto White Balance (AWB) while the second one was taking under "fluorescent" or 4000K. i used the "ETTL" function

My question is, is it normal to get the kind of unwanted hue and later correct in the photo editor with the classic setup of placing the flash above the fish

p/s pardon the pics without any artistic vibes!

[amiidae]

There is no right or wrong when it comes to WB. it all have to do you what you prefer and what is the intention of the shot.

eg. Posting a shot of an aro under heavy influent of the lighting while trying to sell them, to me this not right.

Personally, I prefered the color showing as close to the actual fish viewed under sunlight. So a red fish should be red while a orange fish orange.

of course there are time I like to do biotope theme or mood shots, then it is diff story.

Back to your question.

First shot is a little brown and I believed it is due to the water.
Second shot is pretty unnatural where it is more on the blue side. So move it alittle to the warm side shot look better.

[marshy]

Shoot in RAW.
Then adjust the white balance to your liking using DPP.

it's strange. i have no issue with WB using the 3rd party flash. kinda taken it for granted. i'll play around with the spot metering...seems to get me more natural shots.

thanks for the advice, will update if the problem is solved.

[amiidae]

Originally Posted by desmondekker

it's strange. i have no issue with WB using the 3rd party flash. kinda taken it for granted. i'll play around with the spot metering...seems to get me more natural shots.

thanks for the advice, will update if the problem is solved.

If that is the issue, then it might just be your current gear has much higher flash power that caused yellowish cast over the subject due to the bouce fm the yellowish gravel.

Originally Posted by amiidae

If that is the issue, then it might just be your current gear has much higher flash power that caused yellowish cast over the subject due to the bouce fm the yellowish gravel.

thanks for your help. now i understand whats the problem. now the flash is hitting the gravel at an angle. altho in AWB the orange hue is gone. a little picture to show the difference.

[tridentdiscus]

you can try using a custom WB.
I use a white plastic bounce card, put it in the water and
shoot it. Than use that image as my custom WB.
Usually can get better color than AWB.

[SoToNgMaN]

Originally Posted by desmondekker

now the flash is hitting the gravel at an angle.

bouncing flash from:
- orange ceiling will cast orange hue on subject ....
- green ceiling will cast green hue on subject ...

What about black ceiling? *grinZ*

FYI ... black gravel is common ...

[marshy]

Haiz... i say liaos lor...
Shoot in RAW format and adjust the WB seperately.
Solve all problems.

Originally Posted by tridentdiscus

Than use that image as my custom WB.
Usually can get better color than AWB.

Originally Posted by marshy

Shoot in RAW format and adjust the WB seperately.
Solve all problems.

will try these suggestions out. i think i got slight problem with colours, i usually destroy the pics adjusting them

Originally Posted by SoToNgMaN

FYI ... black gravel is common ...

heehee, i changed the gravel to grey...shackening