Is there a filter to compensate for incandescent yellow?

[FreeStar Houston]

I have the basic slate of filters - UV, CP and FL, but I was wondering if anyone had a recommendation for a filter that would help reduce incandescent yellow on the front end.

Thanks.

[venchka]

Isn't that called Custom White Balance?

Wait. Is this for film?

[FreeStar Houston]

No, it's not for film. Maybe I'm just not using CWB properly - I still get a yellow tinge on some shots when I'm jumping between flash settings.

[Bruce M. Morris]

you need to verify color temp of the bulb. Standard household runs at 3200K and photofloods run about 3400K. you will need an 80a, 80b or 80c depending on what color bulb you want to convert to daylight (5500K).

[brad]

A warmup filter on your flash will bring it all into similar balance.. then you can wb for all of it at once... perhaps that's what you are looking for?

[kenw]

There is such a thing as a tungsten filter, along the lines of your FL, UV and CP. You use it on daylight-balanced film. It eliminates the orange glow of indoor shots (no flash) taken using outdoor film.

Now I suppose it would work for digital, if the camera's WB is set to daylight. I have no clue as to why you would want to do that tho.

I have a 58mm dia tungsten filten collectiing dust somewhere. right beside the FL filter.

[SilverShooter]

What you need is a color compensating filter. They are usually described as "CC20B" or the like. In this case the Color Compensation (CC) has a 20 mired value (higher number means more correction) and is B (blue) removing yellow. This might be a good starting point for you. You may want to go to a 10 for less correction, or a 40 for more, depending on the source of light and your taste.

I remember filters that were designed specifically for using daylight film with tungsten light which would be similar to what I just described. I can't remember the names for these. I do remember losing a lot of light using them.

Wayne is right that the custom white balance will do this for you in digital cameras. Any filter you use will lower the level of light reaching the film (or sensor) plane, so the white balance idea may have more merit than the filter approach in this case. That's clearly not true for filters like the polarizer which can't be replicated if it isn't present in the first place. Even with film, you can correct the colors in printing (mostly) if you don't filter properly when shooting. For slides and other uses that don't get corrected before viewing, the filters are the only way.

[srwatters]

Photoshop has a set of cooling filters.

Image->Adjustments->Photo Filters

I would choose 80, LLB, or 82 depending on the cast. You can also choose a custom color to balance out the yellow.

[FreeStar Houston]

This is some great info. I really appreciate the help. I went ahead and ordered an 80A, but I'm glad to learn some of the post production tricks.

[rick325]

If this is for digital, why the recommendation for fixed filters when custom white balance does exactly this, just more precisely for any give scene/ambient light conditions?

[jeffkohn]

If shooting in a mix of tungsten ambient light and camera flash, no WB setting or lens/camera filter will eliminate the difference in color between the two lightsources. Sometimes this is OK depending on how strong the ambient light is, but if you really want to neutralize the light in this situation the best way to do it is to put a gel on the flash so that the flash has similar color temp to the ambient light. Then you can use the camera's white balance to get the overall color temp you want. Nikon's SB-800 comes with tungten and FL gels for exaclty this purpose.

[kenmyers70]

Originally Posted by rick325

If this is for digital, why the recommendation for fixed filters when custom white balance does exactly this, just more precisely for any give scene/ambient light conditions?

Regardless of film or digital, you will want to match the color of your flash to the ambient. WB cannot correct for different color light sources within a scene.

[rick325]

Originally Posted by kenmyers70

Regardless of film or digital, you will want to match the color of your flash to the ambient. WB cannot correct for different color light sources within a scene.

Oops...i missed that the second light source was a flash.

BTW, I do believe that CWB can correct for different color light sources within a scene PROVIDED those light sources are all "on" when the WB is set.

I do this all the time: natural sunlight into a room, yellow-ish (non daylight) incandescents, CFL bulbs in the ceiling. As long as I set the CWB in that space, "all is good".

Now, if the photo is taken so that it is backlit (as an example) with the sunlight, all that will look blue, but you get the point.

[kenmyers70]

CWB will provide an average correction, which may work in some cases.

I personally don't like using a flash in a florescent lit room without balancing it. The far away white walls which won't be lit by the flash become an ugly greenish yellow or the close up person is blue.

[SilverShooter]

CWB will either average the scene or provide the correct white balance for the object you chose to use for the white balance target. If you place the target in one of the light source areas, you will get the white balance for that area. There really is no good way to correct for differing light source temperatures within a scene, unless you go into PS and correct the colors for each area based on the light source for that area. What a pain!!! Better to correct the problem before it happens.