Are you currently running out of ideas for your next shoot? If that’s the case, here’s an inexpensive and super fun solution for you: color gel photography. Color gel is a filter that you put over the light. Interested to try it out? Here are several ways for you to try out the color gel photography.
Use One Color Gel
The easiest way to use color gel photography is by placing your chosen color gel over the main source of light. You can place this colored main light anywhere you like; at the front or at either side of the model. You need to make sure that the color gel you’re using is vibrant enough. Place the colored main light far enough away from the model so the colored light won’t appear in the background. Feel free to play around with the distance and shutter speed.
Use Two Color gels
Two is better than one. The two color gel photography is so popular because it creates such vibrant, complex, and attractive photos. Be mindful though, you should learn more about color theory before choosing two color gels for your shoot. For references, you can choose the combination of purple-pink, red-green, pink-orange, or blue-orange.
To achieve this result, you should position the colored main lights on each of the front-side and angle these main lights to hit the model. The best result comes when the two colors collide at the center of the model’s nose, or otherwise known as split lighting. Although, you are free to experiment with the two color gel photography however you like it.
Use Three Color Gels
Don’t worry, your photo won’t turn out to be too crazy if you choose to play around with three different color gels. One tip for you, you can choose two vibrant color gels and one white color gel. The white color gel can soften the overall tone of the photos and perfectly blend the two other color gels.
Nevertheless, if you want to use three vibrant color gels, the best tip for you is to place the lightest color gel on the front and place the darker color gels on either side of the model. You can use the triangle light setup (two on the sides, one at the front) to apply this color gel photography technique.
Read also: Beauty Product Photography for eCommerce Site
Light the Background
Perhaps you can only access one plain backdrop even though you want to have multiple different colored backdrops for your shoot. Worry not because you can rely on color gel photography to solve this problem. Instead of using the color gel to light the model, you can use the color gel to directly hit the backdrop and only the backdrop.
Use Color Gel as Props
Running out of props ideas? You can always take out your color gels and give those gels to the model as props. The model can utilize the color gel as props to create a more futuristic look. As for the photographer, you can directly put the color gel over your camera lens to give a very unique splash of color. You can cover the lens completely or partial, wherever it is that you feel will look best. Play around with different color gels to add more hazy effects. Don’t be afraid to use color gel photography for your next shoot. Be it for an editorial look, beauty shoot, or product shoot, color gel photography will make your photos turn out amazing. However, don’t neglect the post-production process. For product image editing services, you can trust Dropicts.
