HiLite & gel's

RobH

RobH

Suspended / Banned
Messages
570
Name
Rob
Edit My Images
No
Hello more knowledgeable people :)

Been trying to convert my hilite from white to a shade of red using lee filter gel, no matter how I try I cant get the red I want, more of a weak orange.

I've been watching youtube it seems that Grey is the colour to convert, not White !

If I'm missing something, could someone please point me in the right direction

Cheers

Rob:thumbs:
 
Hi, I use the Lastolite background as well and use different coloured gels to get the colours I want, including croma green. When I do this I light mine with one SB800 speedlight positioned in the centre of the unit very low down pointing upwards and towards the back of the unit. If I need to get a deeper colour I double up on the gels ie two on the speedlight and keep the power down. With a bit of trial and error it should work for you.

It sounds like you are using too much light from your flash. If you can't lower the light output then try using a ND gel over the flash in conjunction with the coloured gel. Hope this helps.
 
Cheers George,
've been using to units, but do have a 800 as well, so will have a further play tomorrow, with the sb800 & the units.

rob
 
Think about this in terms of tone, not colour. Take a photo with your hi lite behind your subject in the normal way, but with no lighting in the hi lite. The shade of grey that you get is the darkest it can be.

Now, light is an additive process, so when you add light, it becomes lighter. If you then put a lighting gel over a light, you can only end up with a light, pastel shade. If you want deep, saturated colours, you need to add light to black (or something close to it) not to white or light grey
 
Thanks Gary,

Hopefully, I get to play later, day job is killing me at the mo, but shouldn't complain.

I'll give it ago turning the HiLite around.

Rob.
 
RobH said:
I'll give it ago turning the HiLite around.
Click to expand...

How can that work, the black side is not transparent, or am i missing something :thinking:
 
TG. said:
How can that work, the black side is not transparent, or am i missing something :thinking:
Click to expand...

I haven't tried it, but my view is that it won't work. In theory, the flashguns can be outside the Hi-Lite (so that the Hi-Lite becomes just a black background) which will do the job perfectly, but the opposite problem will then raise its ugly head, the flashguns won't have enough power to turn black into anything other than nearly black
 
Garry Edwards said:
I haven't tried it, but my view is that it won't work. In theory, the flashguns can be outside the Hi-Lite (so that the Hi-Lite becomes just a black background) which will do the job perfectly, but the opposite problem will then raise its ugly head, the flashguns won't have enough power to turn black into anything other than nearly black
Click to expand...


It's not much fun this lighting game ;)

Gary, I'll let you know how i get on, although, I'm sure your already aware, handy I got two set's of light's to try it with or maybe not.

Rob.
 
Just given it a quick go,

Doubled gel over light with light's outside the Hilite, reasonable red achieved! Full power, tried low power nothing.

With light's inside, little red escapes into black, but appears mottled red and not any use!

Gel being used is Lee filter 106 ( Primary red)

Rob.
 
RobH said:
Just given it a quick go,

Doubled gel over light with light's outside the Hilite, reasonable red achieved! Full power, tried low power nothing.

With light's inside, little red escapes into black, but appears mottled red and not any use!

Gel being used is Lee filter 106 ( Primary red)

Rob.
Click to expand...
Hmm... from memory, that red gel eats 1 - 1.5 stops of light, so if you have it as single thickness not double, you will get a brighter red at full power and may have enough power to turn it down a bit, there's no point in using it double unless you have too much power - I'm guessing here that this is with studio lights, not hotshoe flashes?
 
Cheers Gary,

Will try again, yes lights are 400w & also have a 500w set.

Rob
 
What about trying a gelled speedlight on the floor outside of the Hi-lite, behind the subject pointing upwards on the background, i recently watched a tutorial where this was done, it wasn't a Hi-lite background but just a plain grey one, and it was very effective, it may be worth having a go :)
 
thanks TG,

Firstly want to get the heads working, but do want to try the speedlite, getting there slowly, just getting eveness now the awkward bit lol

rob
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top