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