8 Awesome Lighting Setups Using Gels For Creativity

I started playing the Rosco Photo Gel kit about a week ago, and after a few tests I can say I really love all those awesome colors. Hit the jump for 8 lighting setups using gels

before diving into how I used it, let’s do a quick content overview, it includes 20 square sheets of 30x48cm with color corrections gels (CTO, CTB, ND etc…) and other different colors, all of it in a really well protected with a resealable packaging.

My first test was to try every gel on right on skin so I could see what the colors rendered on a person, you can see the result on the lead image at the top of the post. (Thanks to Morgane for being so patient as I retook the same photo over and over again)

Photograph #1

After playing for about half an hour, tapping different gels on my reflector dish with some Gaffer, I started to work on my first image.

Since I had a very small room to work in, I kept to a simple, 3 lights sources, portrait setup using one reflector and two gels: blue and magenta.

The blue gel was directly used towards a white wall to project the light in a very diffused way all over the room.
The magenta gel was tapped on a reflector dish with a grid, just behind the model for a slight touch of color on the background
The 3rd light source had no gel and was used with a square 70cm softbox and a reflector just under the model to soften the shadows.

Photograph #2

The second test with Morgane helped me better understand how to use the color correction gels, specifically the CTO and CTB gels.

The CTB filter was placed on a reflector dish with a grid for a very focused light.
The CTO was oriented towards a white reflector for a soft and diffused light so the skin could have a orange under tone
And finally the purple placed in a 135×30 Phottix Stripbox for a touch of color and a cold mood.

Photograph #3 – CTO outside of the studio

For this image I used the CTO to ‘recreate’ a sunset.

There was no sun that day, and I really wanted a sun in my photo. I figured I could create a nice sunset with a flash and a reflector dish.

I placed my flash outside and another flash to my right so it could bounce on the wall.
The CTO gel reproduce the temperature of a sunset really well and allows a lot of possibilities.

Let’s move on the my favorite gel, the Cyan !

Photograph #4 – Cyan

I really love this color, it gives a dark and cold mood that is really nice

The mix with the CTO is perfect to me, for this image I installed a Stripbox at 45° with the cyan, and a square softbox with a 1/2 CTO filter.

Photograph #5

Using the same colors but a different lightning we can have a soft render, here the cyan reflects on a white wall and a reflector is added under the model.

Photograph #6 – Let’s go outside for a surreal shot

Here there’s another « wonderland » picture with only one cyan gel on a speedlight.

This image was a bit complicated to set up, but here the gel is very important cause without it the image would lose a lot of sense and credibility.

Photograph #7 – selective lighting

Just like the CTO example above, the gels allows to create some strong moods by using selective lighting

In this photo, I used five different light sources each of them with different gels.

Photograph #8 – long exposure

Last technique with the colors, the long exposure !

I tuned the modeling light on the cyan-gelled strobe so it gives out continuous light, while the other two strobes were used in the conventional way.

The technique is simple, although may require some experimenting, shoot in slow shutter to have the movement effect
the other flashes are here to congeal the movement ( First or second curtains).
I used a speed of 1/2s and an aperture of F/11 with a bit of camera movement during the exposure.

This concludes my tests with the Rosco Photo Gel kit, I really hope you enjoyed it and that it will make you wanna try adding some colors in your next pictures.

Bonus

Here are two short clips that show how two of the photos were edited

About The Author

Felix Barjou is an Advertising, Portrait, artist and wedding photographer based in France. You can read his blog here. And you can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, youtube and Instagram

Stereo Reverb

Great well written article with examples. Thank you, i’m definitely going to be trying this!
thisguy2288

I am new to using gels and have only tried using them a handful of times. This article is very helpful as it shows a variety of light/gel combinations and their results. Thank you!
Steven

really like this article, thanks for including the post-processing videos too as it shows there’s still quite a lot of work needed after the shutter is clicked! I like your processing techniques.
Frank

Love the article, one question how are you mounting the gels in the softbox? I have all Paul Buff Einstein’s and can’t think of a way I could mount the gel in the softbox. Right now I use gels on a 7″ reflector and would love to soften the light by having them in the softbox. Oh and shooting into reflector to soften the light great idea I will be using. Thanks for sharing with us.
- Felix Barjou
  
  hey frank, i mount the gels in the softbox with some gaffer
  - Rocco
    
    Hi Felix, I have the same doubts as Frank. How, and WHERE are you mounting the gels in the softbox / stripbox.? I can understand in a reflector, in the outside of it, but in the softbox, you are doing it in the outer diffuser, in the inner difuser (if you have one) in the inside, in the outside? I would try it in the inner, as you would need less gel than in the outer, but for a big octabox, I suppose it would be still too much gel.
    
    Another one, what about modeling lights? Always off?
    
    And finally, what about white balance, how are you setting it? I assume as neutral as possible. But at some point, wouldn’t it be better to play with it a bit? Example, the one in the outside. 1 Full CTO outside, 1/2 cto inside. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to use just 1/2 cto outside, no cto inside, and just move the white balance to incandescent to add half cto to both flashes? Wouldn’t you end with the same effect, and only use one gel?
    
    BTW, I liked you editing a lot also.
    
    thanks
    - Felix Barjou
      
      hi rocco ,
      i put the gel inside the softbox or stribox with gaffer on the side of it.
      
      for modeling light, i never use it 🙂
      about the white balance, is totally true , and you can play with it , for exemple , if you use a full CTO you can put your WB into the blue and your cto become a neutral flash and everything else become blue
      - Rachelle Letulle
        
        HI Felix, my question is in photo #3, did you use straight up speedlights/flash on a lightstand (with the gels taped on) that were all synced with the camera? I love the recreation of sunset!
  - Frank
    
    Felix, thank you for the response I will be playing with this over the weekend. Looking forward to giving it a try.
Ale Conta

Felix, this was so helpful! I am gonna try it today. My favourite picture was the first one. I feel the model exactly matches the mood you gave to the image with the gels!
And I also enjoyed the one with the five sources, you can see how each light add some interesting information to the final product. Thank you for sharing this!