Balancing light temperature

M

mixer28

Active member
I am kinda new to lighting (but learning) and was wondering what folks thought was the best way to balance key light with a fill if the fill light is daylight balanced bulbs/ softbox.

So say if I point fresnel at subject/ talent and then use softbox there is a colour difference in the lights ( I am mainly working indoors and its primarily interview/ portrait lighting)

I read somewhere (or saw some lighting dvd) that is is better to balance the fill to the key rather than mess with the key light - but its obviously easier to put a gel over the fresnel rather than start covering a softbox?

What is the common practice in these situations?

Any feedback appreciated

Thanks
 
It doesn't really matter which light you gel, as long as you can get them close to the same color temperature. That being said, it is much more economical to gel daylight to match tungsten (you lose 1/2 stop), than the other way around (you lose up to 2 whole stops).

There are some DP's that intentionally use a warmer/cooler fill light, to get a certain look, so it doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. You need to know how to do it right, do decide to do it wrong.
 
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