Feature Image by: Daniel Linnet

Daniel Linnet's tips on White Balance and Speedlite Gels

Colour Of Light

All light sources have a colour temperature or cast. The colour temperature of a Speedlite is made to closely resemble daylight, although a touch cooler.

Set your camera’s white balance preset to ‘Flash' or ‘Daylight' when using a Speedlite.
As long as you keep your WB setting on the same preset for the duration of the shoot, if you wish to change it slightly at the processing stage, you can adjust the first image in the sequence and then sync the WB to all the other selected.

Daniel Linnet
Two Speedlites placed right and left to the camera to fill in the shadows at the front and side of the car (not facing the sun). Both flashes are gelled warm to match the colour of the afternoon sun.

Gel it up

You will notice that your new 600EX Speedlite came with a pack of two warming gels and a holder that fits over the front of the flash.

Use this to warm up the light falling on your subject or the environment.
Can also be used to balance the cooler light from the flash when shooting in an environment lit by incandescent and tungsten light.
Try bouncing a warm gelled flash into a white wall for that warm afternoon window light feel. Similarly bouncing an un-gelled flash into a red, orange or even brown wall will also give you a similar result.
Any colour gel or cellophane paper can be used in front of the flash for creative lighting effects.

Daniel Linnet Single off-camera Speedlite gelled warm to mimic the colour of sunset.

Daniel Linnet is a Sydney based commercial, fine art photographer and educator, specialising in portrait, automotive and the environmental photography. A master of photography with the Australian Institute of Professional Photography, Daniel also founded and runs Sydney Photographic Workshops.

Don't forget to check out Daniel’s portfolio and workshops.

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