JPEG) mode. In the RAW mode, using the camera’s conversion software or
image-editing software like Adobe Lightroom, you can tweak the white bal-
ance for better accuracy in establishing a natural skin tone on your subject.
This technique of using gels with flash units was used in the old film days
too—however, I’d have to shoot through an exact opposite gel or filter and I
was limited to using colors with exact opposites. With digital, we have a larger
range of color options because we’re using custom white balance through the
camera’s proprietary software, thus it’s more accurate without shootingWHITE BALANCE 73FACING PAGE—When using colored gels on my flash, a custom white balance ensures that the subject will be correctly color-
balanced. Since the flash does not illuminate the sky, it will turn the opposite color of the gelled light source. One of the
easiest methods to ensure a deep blue sky is to place a Rosco^3 / 4 CTO gel in front of the light source, as in this image
of Playboy Playmate Holley Dorrough. This gel will change the color temperature of the flash from daylight (5400K) to
tungsten (3200K). The studio flash head here is fitted with a Chimera Super Pro Plus medium softbox fitted with a custom
Velcro front gelled panel. The color saturation of the sky is controlled by the camera’s shutter speed; the shutter speed
for Holley is, effectively, the duration of the flash. (CAMERA:Canon EOS 5D, fitted with a Canon 85mm f/1.2L USM lens.
SETTINGS:85mm effective focal length,^1 / 200 second shutter speed, f/16, white balance at 3400K, ISO 50.) ABOVE—For this
image, the white balance is set to daylight and the flash was not triggered. You can see the Velcro CTO front for the
medium softbox.