Flash Photos Too Red

I am new to underwater photography and am a bit frustrated with my flash. I am diving with a Canon G9 in an Ikelite housing with an Ikelite D125 strobe. Most of the pictures taken with the strobe have a very rd/pink hue to them (I have tried setting on TTL, Full, 1/2, etc/ - all the same result). When I take several shots of the same subject, those without the flash have better color distinction than those with the flash (which are mostly red). Any help/suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks.

I am new to underwater photography and am a bit frustrated with my flash. I am diving with a Canon G9 in an Ikelite housing with an Ikelite D125 strobe. Most of the pictures taken with the strobe have a very rd/pink hue to them (I have tried setting on TTL, Full, 1/2, etc/ - all the same result). When I take several shots of the same subject, those without the flash have better color distinction than those with the flash (which are mostly red). Any help/suggestions would be welcome.

 

Thanks.

Are you trying to use the underwater mode?

Can you post some pictures so people can see? If you are using a red filter with the flash your pictures will be red/ without strobe they will appear a more natural colour.

Just a thought

Karen

try using your white balance set to flash or Auto, not manual. If you set your WB on manual without the flash and then introduce flash into the photo then you will get a red result.

As Karen said, can you post a couple examples?

Thanks for the responses. I am not using any filters - just the camera in the housing with a deflector and the strobe with a diffuser.

I am trying to upload some images from my hard drive, but can't figure out how to do it.

can you tell us what your White Balance setting is?

can you tell us what your White Balance setting is?

I have used both the underwater setting as well as the custom white balance, i.e., I set the white balance at depth by focusing on a piece of white plastic.

Aha, i think that is most likely the problem. Is your flash going off when you set the WB? Or no flash?

When you set custom WB without flash and then add flash to your photo everything will turn red.

Try Auto WB or Flash WB, this will get rid of the red cast.

Shoot RAW then you can set WB in post. Saves all this trouble shooting.

I have used both the underwater setting as well as the custom white balance, i.e., I set the white balance at depth by focusing on a piece of white plastic.

This is the problem.

Underwater the first and most significant colour you loose is red.

An "Underwater" or "Custom White ballance" adds back a lot of the red in an attempt to compensate this.

Your strobe puts out a normal spectrum of white light which has a lot of red in it already.

Therefore by using the custom white ballance you are adding red to a normal "white" light hence the red tinge.

As sugested, use the auto white ballance (AWB) or flash and you'll be fine.

Thanks to all for the help and advice - the suggestions worked (and helped salvage the rest of my vacation dive photos). I am still trying to figure out how to upload pictures from my hard drive to these forums - the prompt keeps asking for a URL - do I need to upload them to a web page first or can I upload directly from my PC's "C" drive?

If they are on a server then you can use the add image button.

Otherwise you'll need to resize them to small size and upload them as attachments - per the instructions. CLick the small link at lower left that says "Attachment editor."

To see the attachment options you'll need to use "Add Reply" instead of "fast reply" else you won't see them.

Cheers

James

I am still trying to figure out how to upload pictures from my hard drive to these forums - the prompt keeps asking for a URL - do I need to upload them to a web page first or can I upload directly from my PC's "C" drive?

Below the window on the left side You have attachment editor - click on SHOW and then You can upload pictures from Your C drive!

If You'r interested of uploading many pictures You might want to check out this thread about linking images (wich is preferred rahter than attaching them) or this one about hosting pictures from Flickr. Hope this helps!

Cheers

Scubamoose