Hello,
I have a question about balancing lighting.
I recently purchased the D-Lite-2 IT 200Ws 2-Light To Go Set (90-260VAC) by Elinchrom, and a Profoto 600 monolight.
I was wondering if it is possible to balance the light from two different lighting companies.
I have yet to do a test run...as I am awaiting delivery of my seamless and background supports.
My lookbook shoot is in about a week. I am using a white background (seamless) is it possible to use the elinchrom lights to overexpose the background and the profoto moonlight as my main light to expose the model and still get a good image?
I hope I am clear in my inquiry.
Any help would great.
There are various mitigating factors that can affect minute color temp differences between different strobes.
You mention a Profoto 600 Mono-light, meaning it is the older Compact model ... which I presume is a used unit. The age of the flash tube can somewhat affect color temp compared to a newer light.
One of the
bigger differences can come from using modifiers with diffusion panels ... doesn't seem to matter how much you pay for a modifier, the diffusion material will yellow with age, not to mention they differ from one another even when brand new. Same for bounce panels and scrims. A lighting tech friend of mine said this is the main reason for temp differences ... and when I asked how to remove the yellow (like washing or even color safe bleaching it), he said not possible, and to just replace the aging diffuser, while saving the "warmer" one for key-light portrait applications to lightly warm the skin.
There are various ways to balance lighting temps ... one is too not mix lights and use lights from the same manufacturer bought at relatively the same time. Another is to either gel the lights to equalize the color temp, or use the glass flash tube covers that reduce the temp in increments of 300K. One other is to use boxes with staggered gold reflective interiors (I use one of these from Profoto for location portraits, and have a couple of umbrellas like that also).
All of the above is either not practical, or is a huge PITA and requires a color temp meter to get it right.
I often mix lighting makes ... Profoto, Hensel and Elinchrom, which are all relatively new. The raw color temps from all three of these makers is fairly consistent, and varies more due to the age of the modifier used.
My recourse to get it closer out of the camera is to ALWAYS do a manual white balance with a Xrite color checker in the first frame ... then in post use it to set a white balance as close to neutral as possible. I've found that if there is a cool cast in parts of the image, it can be tweaked using a very modest adjustment of the dedicated blue saturation slider in LR ... same for any slight yellow cast. The watchword is "modest".
The other aspect often overlooked is the use of processing software calibration tools. In the Hasselblad Phocus RAW processor there are two key tools for this, "Scene Calibration" which offers "Remove Cast" and "Equilze Intensity" ... plus their Color Correction "wheel" allows minute selection of any precise color to manually remove a cast ... and it only adjusts that specific color, not the whole image ... I wish I had this specific tool in every RAW processor I use.
-Marc