Top tips for Studio Photography – Using flash gels to colour the background
Usually with a traditional background support system like this one you have to change the whole roll in order to change the colour.
If you’re already shooting in a studio, chances are that most of the time you’re using some sort of background – most likely a vinyl or paper roll on a support system. The clean seamless background has become the standard for model portfolios, fashion, portraiture and product photography to keep all the attention on the subject. For the majority of work, all that is called for is plain white or a light neutral grey that can be over-exposed and made to appear pure white.
Sometimes though the work may demand a little more colour…to add interest by complementing or contrasting the colours of the main subject. Generally this means using something like a Colorama backdrop – these are great and come in lots of different colours, but a bit awkward to keep changing over and the cost can add up if you want more than a few colours on hand.
This is where gels come in – rather than change the background, you can change the colour you light it with. Clip a coloured gel over a strobe fitted with a reflector and use as a background light. Our white background can be made to appear green, purple, blue – any colour that we have a filter for. We can even use two lights to get blended colours and other effects – far cheaper and more versatile than to keep swapping the background itself. The main foreground lights will remain neutral so the model or subject will still be lit correctly and directional backlights can be used to outline the subject and separate them from the colour behind.
Using a background light behind the subject the gel can be quickly changed to give a variety of background colours
Previous tip: Using snoots, grids and barndoors
Related posts:
- Top tips for studio photography – Using snoots, grids and barndoors
- Top tips for studio photography – Shooting tethered
- Getting Started in Studio Photography
- Understanding Colour 2 – Converting Colour to Black and White Tutorial
- Understanding Colour – RGB, CMYK and colour temperature explained
I don’t know why but I never even thought to use gels to colour only the back ground…. Great tip!