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Wk 7 - Gel lighting

Gel Lighting

Modern gels are thin sheets of polycarbonate or polyester placed in front of lighting.  Gels have limited life, especially in saturated colours. 

We had three tasks to complete for Gel lighting
  • 1) Create a studio portrait utilizing gels to change the colour of the lighting on the background.  The colour on the subject must be neutral

f8, 1/200, ISO 100
We placed two lights in the background, one had a purple gel and the other had blue gel.  The front light was placed on the side of the subject.  I chose to take off the soft box so that the direct light could shine on to my subjects face.  The photographer before me had taken photos with the soft box and it seemed a bit too dark for my liking.  In photoshop the only thing i did was removed some of the blemishes on her face and neck.
  • 2) Create a studio portrait using gels to change the colour of the lighting on your subject.  Keeping the background neurtral
f5.6, 1/200, ISO 100
With this photo we moved the lights in front of the subject.  Not so flattering, but shows us what can be achieved by placing gel lighting directly on the subject.  We also moved a light to the back shining on the background
  • 3) Create a studio portrait using gels to change the colour of the lighting on both the subject and background
Gel lighting example

f5.6, 1/200, ISO 100
With this shot we placed light in front and behind the subject.  The red gel was placed on the light behind and the blue gel was placed on the light at the front of the subject.  As you can see the red gel emitted a strong colour.  This could be because the light behind the subject had a higher output then the light in front of the subject.  As the colours merged, the areas where the red gel was not dominant showed up as purple.  This is present at the back of the subject and in her shadow at the front.  

As an experiment a green gel was placed over the blue gel and a yellow gel was placed on the light behind the subject.  The blue is visible in the subjects shadow and behind her.  A dark green covered the front of the subjects face and body.  The yellow cast rim lighting on the side of the subjects arm. 

Although not the best looking photo, this shot illustrates different effects gels can have on a photo.
F5.6, 1/200, ISO 100

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