For color gel photography
Corrective and creative gels are your go-to light modifier for taking control of and enhancing colors in photography. Gels enable you to inject color and creativity into any lighting setup. There are two different types of gels: Color corrective and creative color effect gels. Color-correction gels allow you to blend your flash in a natural-looking way with the ambient light and enhance the color balance in your images. They are typically used to compensate for daylight or tungsten sources on location, and are especially helpful when you want to correct mixed lighting in scenes with multiple light sources and various color temperatures.
Creative color effect gels are perfect to use when you want that unique touch to your image. Choose from selected colors to set a certain mood, create vibrant rim lights or special effects such as colored shadows in the background, or choose a color representing a certain time era. Keep in mind that the intensity of your light dictates the color saturation of your gel filter. For instance, if you use a blue gel, the higher the power output of your flash, the brighter the blue will become. It’s also wise to minimize stray light to block white light from overpowering your color.
Color gels explained in under a minute
Profoto's product expert Chris Fain talks about the different types of color gels and when to use them.Get to know Profoto's color gels
Profoto's product expert Chris Fain demonstrates Profoto's range of creative and corrective color gels.What's the difference?
Snap-on stackable gels for A-series flashes.
Diameter: 7.5 cm / 2.95 in
Number of variants: 7 (effect) and 5 (correction)
Kit available: 5
Stackable: Yes
Adapter needed: No
Magnetic stackable gels for battery-powered monolights.
Diameter: 10 cm / 3.94 in
Number of variants: 7 (effects) and 5 (correction)
Kit available: 1
Stackable: Yes
Adapter needed: Yes (OCF II Grid & Gel Holder)
Experience the color spectrum
Use a CTO (color temperature orange) gel to balance the flash light with the color temperature of tungsten or sunset light. By doing so, the color temperature of your flash matches the ambient light, which results in a natural blend. Say you’re shooting a wedding couple in the sunset; use the CTO to avoid gray or pale-looking skin tones and instead get warm skin tones.
To make your scene look cooler, use CTB (color temperature blue) gel to increase the flash's color temperature. It comes in handy during overcast weather when the color temperature of your flash could read as a little too warm. In that instance, add a CTB gel to balance the flash and ambient light.
It can be tricky to shoot in fluorescent light environments, especially if ambient window light is present because this combination risks creating a strong magenta influence on your image. To avoid this, use the CTG (color temperature green) gel on your light to balance out the flash and fluorescent light.
Creative color effect gels hold the power to transform scenes. They help you make the most of any lighting situation where you want to use color as an extra creative element to the image. Use the gels to change the color of your background, create different color shadows, intriguing highlights on your subject’s face, or golden hour light.
