Camera Question Regarding the Use of Flash

[melonvitara]

a camera question for all the pros here
when you are taking picture at night, if the flash is on, slow synchro OFF and auto white balance
the subject of the picture would be bright and clear but the background is pretty dark (which is normal)
but if the flash is on, slow synchro ON and auto white balance
the subject is still bright and clear (with proper white balance) but the background looks too orangey
if i change to manual white balance it would make the photo all blue (or green if i use an external flash)
any solution? (other than using an external flash)

[Keiichi]

What light is the background?

Is it just orangey because of the type of lighting and lack of lighting it's taking in?

[mmmkay]

Make some flash gels!

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101-using-gels-to-correct.html

[melonvitara]

hm i dont rmb what the lighting was
*probably* tungsten
but if u use that white balance, it would screw up the picture becoz the flash is on

ofcoz if i dont use flash i can set a longer exposure time (with perfect white balance)
but without tripod... it's hard to have a steady hand

[melonvitara]

i have the pictures to show
i will upload it later when i have time

[melonvitara]

very interesting use for the gels lol
but just wana see if there's any other solution if i dont use an external flash

[levitron]

There's no way around this with things you can do in-camera.  You're asking the camera sensor/processor to examine two very different types of lighting (flash is very cool; tungsten is very warm) and balance the two.

"Slow synchro" on your camera does the following: open shutter longer, but flash still fires so that both the background (purpose of longer shutter opening) and foreground (purpose of flash firing) can be seen in the picture.

Here's the beauty of amateur photography...go experiment...and GO CHEAP!  Why don't you try taking a piece of plastic cling wrap, use an orange marker on it and put it on top of the flash that you have?  Would make for an interesting experiment.

[Ice-520]

yea DIY cheap gel FTW

[melonvitara]

where do u get gel?

[Ice-520]

gel isn't really "gel" just the name of the "filter" u put in front of light sources to change intensity or color temp

[melonvitara]

so where u get that piece of thing then
is it like a plastic?

[Keiichi]

hm i dont rmb what the lighting was
*probably* tungsten
but if u use that white balance, it would screw up the picture becoz the flash is on

ofcoz if i dont use flash i can set a longer exposure time (with perfect white balance)
but without tripod... it's hard to have a steady hand

use a tripod ahahahhaha

[BLAM]

what leighton said. get color gels.

[melonvitara]

hm i dont rmb what the lighting was
*probably* tungsten
but if u use that white balance, it would screw up the picture becoz the flash is on

ofcoz if i dont use flash i can set a longer exposure time (with perfect white balance)
but without tripod... it's hard to have a steady hand

use a tripod ahahahhaha

i dont want to carry a tripod especially when i am in a restaurant lol
too bulky to carry around

[Keiichi]

Mini Tri-pod! hehehehe

[Keiichi]

Monopod!

[melonvitara]

O YEH
i have a mini tripod in my camera bag...
why didnt i think about using it

[rancid]

try adjusting the shutter speed if your camera supports it....and choose a different focal point.  Can you do a custom white balance?  On the the dslrs you can take a pic of a white piece of paper or wall and the camera will automatically compensate for the amount of white you want. 

What is the background that you want to capture with the main subject?

Edit: More suggestions....

You can also try to take a pic of the subject without a flash if the area is lit or somewhat lit.  Set for a longer exposure time say 1/60 or 1/30 and set the F stop to 1.8 or 2.8 if your camera supports it.  This will help capture whatever light is around and maybe will show the background as you want it.  You can add some fill light in photoshop or light room to the picture and see what it does.  Play around with the settings and see what kind of results you get.  It took me awhile to get the settings right for low light situations...the lens also plays an important role as well.

[melonvitara]

i would use a longer exposure if i remembered i had a mini tripod lol

and yes i tried custom WB
changing the WB other than flash just messes the whole picture up (the whole picture becomes blue)

[rancid]

even taking a pic of a completely white wall and saving it as a custom?

that seems odd.  Are there settings to adjust the colors on your camera?  The only low light issue that I've encountered was having my pictures come out yellowish with indoor lighting.  After adjusting the exposure time, F stop, exposure compensation, flash, finally got it right.  It's a tedious process but don't give up.

If your background shows up blue...have you tried to fix up the pic in lightroom?  You can adjust the colors in there as well.  I had to play with my settings quite a bit and it took awhile but I've got it to the point where I have to do very little post processing to make the picture look better.