3. ADD COLOUR WITH GELS
Coloured gels are an easy and cheap way to create atmosphere and add drama
Adding colour to your lighting can help create a mood or add atmosphere to a shoot. It is also used to mock artificial or natural light that is warmer or coloured, for example a lamp or sunset and sunrise. Creating colour is achieved using ‘gels’, which come as an acetate-like material in various colours, weights and sizes. Systems like the one I use here offer filter holders for the gels, but you can use a much more DIY method too – as long as the light source is covered by the material then the light will have the colour. The colour can be changed in intensity and appearance by the power of the light. Gel known as CTO (colour tone orange) is often used alongside white balance to technically correct unwanted hues, but in this example I use gel for a more artistic effect.
There are many ways to incorporate one or multiple coloured lights into your setup. Using hard light with gels creates a more dramatic and intense look, and it is possible to mix several colours on various lights. Using a colour on the key light will also increase the intensity of the look.
In this example I am using a two-light setup, and creating a more subtle and high-key lighting setup. For the key light, I want to keep the light clean and white, so I don’t use any colour. I bounce the A1 into a shallow silver umbrella to soften it; it’s feathered off to allow shadow to fall on one side of the model’s face. That shadow is filled with the coloured light, created by using a coloured gel on the second A1 that is diffused through a shoot-through umbrella. I diffuse the gel to make the effect softer but also to spread the light so it falls onto the white background as well as into the shadows on the face.
You can change the intensity of the colour by experimenting with the light power, and the power of the gel light relative to the key light. And remember, using white rather than black will soak up the colour and change the feel of the image, so think about the details and mood you want to create.