Setting while balance for off camera flash

[wdflannery]

I have a Canon SX20 and an old Astor Light flash system, and when I use the flash white balance on the camera white photographs as pale yellow.  I'd like to do a custom white balance but can't figure out how to it with flash.  What are my options?  I'll try the AWB next to see how that works.

[Limmie]

I don't have your system but if your photographs are generally too yellow you could try using a tungsten white setting.  if it works then it's an easy solution, if not perhaps somebody else knows how.

I'm a bit puzzled how this is happening and perhaps more detail on the situation would help.  I know with my cameras I have occasionally encountered situations where the white balance was very off and it may have been due to a mixture of light sources (CFL lights on indoors with some light coming through windows).  Sometimes the color is just off even though I have the correct settings, but the solution is just to find what works, not go by what should work.

[ScottyP]

Not sure about the old flash system. I used to carry a collapsible white and grey card around , and I would sometimes remember to include it in some of my shots. It was a pain and now I just fix it in post in Lightroom. Find anything white in the photo and use the dropper tool to sample from it for custom WB. It may not be perfect but you can adjust a little, then sync that shot with all the others in the same spot.

You will have trouble if you are bouncing off a colored wall because it will pick up odd colors. Same with mixed light (flash + tungsten + fluorescent + sunlight, etc..).

[wdflannery]

I've been using Photoshop to fix white balance and watching the tutorials, with pretty good results.  What I'd like to be able to do is put white, 50% gray, and black cards in the first photo, use them to to set the white balance using Photoshop levels or curves, and then make the same correction to subsequent photos shot in the same setting but I don't know how to do that.  You write .... " then sync that shot with all the others in the same spot." .... how to do it?