After reviewing the Rosco Strobist gel collection, I just had to take it for an intense spin.

Since one of the main uses I see for this kit is the ability to color objects and backgrounds for creative effects, I did a little matrix of colors. (I am a computer geek, I know).

As with all the other cheat sheets on the site, I will go through the idea, the setup and end with a creative commons statement. Unlike the other cheat sheets, we are also going to have a Rosco Strobist gel collection giveaway. That stuff is near the end of the post.

What’s The Idea Behind This Gel Cheat Sheet?

The first motivation for this small project is to show the option of using gels for creative effect in a clear and understandable way. We had our share of creative gel use, but never in a way that illustrates this technique in such an obvious way.

The second motivation is to show how color can be controlled using gels. I will discuss this more in the setup section. For now, just note how the dolls are unaffected by the background color and the background is unaffected by the doll color.

Lastly, it is here to have some great fun doing some mix and match with colors.

What Was The Setup?

This is a setup I use a lot, so it is worth breaking it down. It a really straight forward two lights setup.

Key light: For key I use a Nikon SB flash. It is mounted on a lightstand and at about 45/45 degrees from subject. I gelled the flash with a Rosco strobist gel sheet to get the colors on the doll. This creates a problem, colored light is spilling on the background. To control this light, I used my CPU cooling gridspot on the flash. I use a GI trigger to kick this light. Now I had the doll covered.

Background light: again an SB used with a gel. This one was set on the floor and aimed at the back wall. The gel gives the color here. This flash had a grid n as well, but for a different reason. With no grid the flash filled the wall with color. I wanted some pattern to make the background a bit more interesting. A gridspot was the perfect solution. It created an ellipse of colored light. Since I was in a controlled environment, I use the build in optical slave for this flash.

Spread The Love

As always with those cheat sheets, I am putting the card under the creative commons license. Feel free to copy it, print it, use it in your classes, and include it in other work.

And…. The Giveaway

The kind folks at Rosco were kind enough to provide us with some gel kits for DIYP readers. Here is how you can enter:

Option 1 – make the dolls speak: click the card above and get to the Flickr page. Make a note around any of the dolls and let us know what she is thinking. Multiple notes per dolls are allowed. (This is kinda like the idea we had on the Bokeh Masters Kit giveaway, had so many funny notes).

Option 2 – spread the love: Follow @DIYPhotography on twitter and retweet this message: “win the so-cool #strobist gel collection from @diyphotography: http://bit.ly/61PZqd (Please RT and follow)”

Winners will be selected Friday. Winner will be selected randomly by ordering the tweets/notes and selecting a random number. I will contact Flickr winner by Flickr mail, twitter winner by a tweet. If not answered within two days. prize goes to next in line. I will mail those to anywhere that post office can mail (probably anywhere in the world). Shipping is “on me”, duty (if any) is the responsibility of the winner.

Other Cheat Sheets

If you like the idea of this cheat sheet, you may want to explore DIYP’s other cheat sheets like the portrait lighting cheat sheet and reflector cheat sheet.