Quote:
Originally Posted by herps
So I'm about to throw up in my shoes right about now...
I have read here and there on the forum and have two stingers already in my posession. I have used them and admittedly will always be learning my lighting, but didn't realize that some of the "color" problems I'm having might be with the lights themselves. I almost had it blamed solely on myself or my 10D.
Well now I'm stumped, as I've recently "invested" in one 1600 and an additional 400 to my twin 800's I already had...
Not to mention the radio transmitter and reciever, 4 channel remote control and a few other accessories, I'm not sure what to do! Should I immediately return said items or "make due"?
Any advice is appreciated.
Rick Lohre
lohrecreative.com
rglohre (at) fuse -dot- net
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I know lots of people who have the Alien Bees (I assume that is what you're calling stingers). I've used them quite often my self. I've never had any problems with the color. If you set the white balance of the camera correctly, then you should get the correct colors. You can also shoot in RAW, and them pick the WB after the fact, but I always like to have the WB close when shooting so I get a good LCD Preview. There are many reasons people get poor color. Sometimes it just means they don't have their monitor calibrated and so they correct till it looks good on the badly calibrated monitor and naturally it will look bad on other monitors that are closer to a good calibration. There are tens of thousands of people using the Alien Bees and White Lightnings and getting professional results with them.
The simple way to determine if you have a problem, is to shoot a known color reference chart such as a macbeth card using the lights. Set the camera to Custom White Balance as detailed in the Canon 10D manual. Shoot one shot in JPG and one in RAW. Upload both to the internet, and then post a link to the two and then some of us can look at it and see if its you, the lights, or something else. Also post some of the shots that you think have color problems and be sure to include all the M E T A data (don't use Save for Web which will remove the M E T A data).
Here's Renee with a Macbeth Color Checker.
Cheers,
rfs