Gel Filters to create colored backgrounds?
Proteus
illuminates my white background, will I be able to get colored
backgrounds? And I would need to buy two sets of the gel filters, one for
each of two lights that illuminate the background, correct? I tried
several layers of some colored translucent sheeting from Michael's Art
Supply but it did next to nothing. Do gel filters work with flash lights,
or are they just meant for tungsten? Any advice greatly appreciated, thank
you in advance.
Joe Makowiec
Nikon has a downloadable pamphlet for their SB600 and SB800 flashes which
spends a few pages on using gel filters. Go to a Nikon support site, and
search the knowledge base for Speedlight SB800. The link you're looking
for is "SB-800/SB600 Speedlight Techniques Guide" and the filename is
SB800_techniques.pdf
--
Joe Makowiec
http://makowiec.org/
Email: http://makowiec.org/contact/?Joe
dadiOH
> If I buy colored gel filters to put on my strobe (flash) lighting that
> illuminates my white background, will I be able to get colored
> backgrounds? And I would need to buy two sets of the gel filters, one
> for each of two lights that illuminate the background, correct? I
> tried several layers of some colored translucent sheeting from
> Michael's Art Supply but it did next to nothing.
Probably because your front lights were washing out the background. If
you want intense (non-pastel) backgrounds from gels, use a black
background to start with, not white.
--
dadiOH
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Proteus
..
> Probably because your front lights were washing out the background. If
> you want intense (non-pastel) backgrounds from gels, use a black
> background to start with, not white.
> ..
Interesting, I would not have thought that. I will give it a try.
Hunt
pro...@uselessemail.net says...
In brief - yes. As others have said, you are probably washing out the gelled
colors with your other lights, and yes, black hit with adequate gelled light
will yield more saturated results. The biggest trick is to keep your subject's
light off of the background. This is very easy with studio strobes, and plenty
of room to work.
For smaller strobe units, head to your local cine supply store, or search on-
line. Rosco has a set of swatch books with most of their gels (plus books of
reflection and diffusion media) available, that happen to be about the right
size for smaller strobes. Get, or buy, a few of these, and keep them handy. In
the old days, the gels were bound by a single screw-post, and could be easily
removed from the stack. If you have, say 4 strobes, get 4 books, so you can
match where you want. You may find, depending on the level of illumination,
that you need to use a more consentrated color, than you'd first choose.
For studio strobes, and tungsten instruments, Rosco sells most of these gels
in large sheets, that can be cut down. Some are also available in tubes for
flourescent lights, and in rolls for windows, etc. Other mfgrs, besides Rosco,
offer the same.
I normally carry a large portfolio case with maybe 100 sheets. For bigger
jobs, I have 2 packs of 6 large "mailing tubes" with gels rolled up, allowing
me to balance all sorts of light sources, and have complementary colors if I
wish.
One last thought - to white light a subject, you might want to place, say a
red gel on one light, and a blue on the another. If you match these up, where
they cross, will yield "white" light, but provide their colorization, where
they do not cross.
Hunt
Hunt
Oops, in my previous reply, I meant to type red/green, not red/blue. Sometimes
the old brain just doesn't connect to the fingers all that well. The easiest
way to make the choice is just grab a color wheel, and choose a color, look
across the wheel, and select the opposite. Again, the concentration of color
might need to be a bit more, than you'd expect, with the resulting loss in
light output.
Hunt