Do you gel your flash to match ambient light???

Hi Folks,

I've been doing weddings for about 3 years now and am still unhappy with the look of flash. I really prefer ambient light but as you know, most of the time flash is a necessity. I use a 20D, 580EX an shoot exclusively RAW.

I've been listening to some photography podcasts and heard about using gels on the flash head. I didn't really think it was something I needed to do, but then I got a newsletter email from Gary Fong that showed a new product he's offering that basically does the same thing as a gel ( http://store.garyfonginc.com/amforlicl.html ). On his site there is a sample photo and the results are much more pleasing versus straight flash.

I've done some searching around on the forum and have read up on gels a bit but still have many questions.

• How many of you are doing this?

• I hear that I can get a swatch book from Rosco or Lee. Do camera stores have these?

• How do you adhere the gel to your flash? 2 sided tape or velcro? I've heard of one guy who laminated them and used velrco.

• Any suggestions about which gels to use? I normally run into Tungsten lighting.

• Do you gel the flash when outdoors as well?

• When using a gel for tungsten lighting, I've read you have to set your camera's white balance to Tungsten(which totally makes sense)... but do you have to adjust anything else on the flash or in camera (such as the camera color temperture)?

Your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
--
Lou

http://www.steadfastdesigns.com