How do you color-correct for bounce flash off a ceiling?

I'm getting really nice lighting for portraits by bouncing the flash
off the ceiling, but what if the ceiling has a tint to it? Is there a
way to account for this and correct in (on a Nikon D2Hs, for example)?

(DeanB) wrote in
oups.com:

I'm getting really nice lighting for portraits by bouncing the
flash off the ceiling, but what if the ceiling has a tint to it? Is
there a way to account for this and correct in (on a Nikon D2Hs,
for example)?

After you find the gray card you asked about in your earlier post,
take a shot with it included in the scene and color correct on it.
All other things being equal, the correction should apply to the rest
of your shots.

Gray cards are available from on-line photo suppliers if you can't
find one locally.

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN |

On 28 Mar 2007 07:25:08 -0700, "DeanB" wrote:

I'm getting really nice lighting for portraits by bouncing the flash
off the ceiling, but what if the ceiling has a tint to it? Is there a
way to account for this and correct in (on a Nikon D2Hs, for example)?

Yeah, I've wondered about that too... all the more because some of
that bounce will come off colored walls, giving a complicated mix of
white and colored reflected light.

But in practice it all seems to work fine. Well, I wouldn't recommend
bouncing off colored surfaces for professional portrait work, but in
candid shots around the house I've never noticed any color casts.

You could always shoot raw. That gives the capability to change the
white balance later on.

KS

In article .com,
"DeanB" wrote:

I'm getting really nice lighting for portraits by bouncing the flash
off the ceiling, but what if the ceiling has a tint to it? Is there a
way to account for this and correct in (on a Nikon D2Hs, for example)?

There's nothing to totally fix it. You can try adjusting the color
channel midpoints in photoshop so that bright direct light and dark
reflected light are closer in color.

Another option is a very fast lens so you need little or no flash
illumination. It helps blur the background out of portraits too.

Bert Hyman wrote:
(DeanB) wrote in
oups.com:

I'm getting really nice lighting for portraits by bouncing the
flash off the ceiling, but what if the ceiling has a tint to it? Is
there a way to account for this and correct in (on a Nikon D2Hs,
for example)?

After you find the gray card you asked about in your earlier post,
take a shot with it included in the scene and color correct on it.
All other things being equal, the correction should apply to the rest
of your shots.

Gray cards are available from on-line photo suppliers if you can't
find one locally.

You don't need a grey card. A simple white piece of paper will do just for
white balance. Grey might help for exposure, but you don't need a special
grey card for WB.

--
Images (Plus Snaps & Grabs) by Mark² at:
www.pbase.com/markuson

"Mark²" mjmorgan(lowest even number writes:

Bert Hyman wrote:
(DeanB) wrote in
oups.com:

I'm getting really nice lighting for portraits by bouncing the
flash off the ceiling, but what if the ceiling has a tint to it? Is
there a way to account for this and correct in (on a Nikon D2Hs,
for example)?

After you find the gray card you asked about in your earlier post,
take a shot with it included in the scene and color correct on it.
All other things being equal, the correction should apply to the rest
of your shots.

Gray cards are available from on-line photo suppliers if you can't
find one locally.

You don't need a grey card. A simple white piece of paper will do just for
white balance. Grey might help for exposure, but you don't need a special
grey card for WB.

Though not a lot of 'white' papers aren't that white for setting custom white
balance in that they are actually a little bluish to make them seem brighter.

--
Michael Meissner
email:
http://www.the-meissners.org

Michael Meissner wrote:
"Mark²" mjmorgan(lowest even number writes:

Bert Hyman wrote:
(DeanB) wrote in
oups.com:

I'm getting really nice lighting for portraits by bouncing the
flash off the ceiling, but what if the ceiling has a tint to it? Is
there a way to account for this and correct in (on a Nikon D2Hs,
for example)?

After you find the gray card you asked about in your earlier post,
take a shot with it included in the scene and color correct on it.
All other things being equal, the correction should apply to the
rest of your shots.

Gray cards are available from on-line photo suppliers if you can't
find one locally.

You don't need a grey card. A simple white piece of paper will do
just for white balance. Grey might help for exposure, but you don't
need a special grey card for WB.

Though not a lot of 'white' papers aren't that white for setting
custom white balance in that they are actually a little bluish to
make them seem brighter.

They'll be close enough in this case. I've yet to run into a problem using
a simple piece of xerox paper... Do it all the time quite effectively.

--
Images (Plus Snaps & Grabs) by Mark² at:
www.pbase.com/markuson

On Mar 30, 11:11 am, Just plain Dave wrote:
On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:08:28 -0700, Kevin McMurtrie

wrote:
In article .com,
"DeanB" wrote:

I'm getting really nice lighting for portraits by bouncing the flash
off the ceiling, but what if the ceiling has a tint to it? Is there a
way to account for this and correct .............................
There's nothing to totally fix it. .............

I don't know why people keep saying this about white point correction.

If the image has a tint or is partially tinted find something that
should be white and make it so.

Here is an example. The original image was lighted by an incandescent
lamp with a yellow shade. The image on the left is corrected.. Color
correction filters would accomplish the same thing but take a bit
longer.

http://www.pbase.com/dave6134/image/72302629

Am I totally misunderstanding the OP's question or the meaning of
white point?

Nope-you are understanding my point exactly. I have figured out how
the nikon does the white balance using a test shot, and it works
wonderfully.

On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:08:28 -0700, Kevin McMurtrie
wrote:

In article .com,
"DeanB" wrote:

I'm getting really nice lighting for portraits by bouncing the flash
off the ceiling, but what if the ceiling has a tint to it? Is there a
way to account for this and correct .............................

There's nothing to totally fix it. .............

I don't know why people keep saying this about white point correction.

If the image has a tint or is partially tinted find something that
should be white and make it so.

Here is an example. The original image was lighted by an incandescent
lamp with a yellow shade. The image on the left is corrected.. Color
correction filters would accomplish the same thing but take a bit
longer.

http://www.pbase.com/dave6134/image/72302629

Am I totally misunderstanding the OP's question or the meaning of
white point?

On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 15:03:06 GMT, King Sardon
wrote:



You could always shoot raw. That gives the capability to change the
white balance later on.

KS

Are you saying that raw files are the only ones that can be color
corrected? That is odd because I have been correcting JPEG files along
with TIF TGA and at on of other file formats for years.