My Improv Gels Experiment
Hi! Its been a while since I posted a trick, yes? To start the year, let me share to you what I experimented on today. Improvised Gels! Yes! Although it can be achieved easily via Photoshop, nothing beats experimenting on it manually, I mean, the old school way! Okay I gotta admit it, my training really was film photography. Oh, please no talk about age haha!
I’ve seen a lot of shoots that used gels. Gels add dramatic color to portraits. I remember photographers getting obsessed with the technique a few years ago. Everyone was soooo into it. I found it lovely, really. But I didn’t join the bandwagon, simply because I was busy sticking to my technique.
Earlier today, while I was at the bookstore, I saw colored plastic envelopes! I remembered watching DIY gels for strobes! They used a variety of ordinary colored plastic materials — from soda bottles, to cellophane, etc. I went to the rack of the envelopes and picked up a red and a blue one. I also bought red and blue cellophane for comparison. I felt like a kid.
When I got home, I had a quick lunch, and I started my improv (improvised) gels experiment. I cut the materials to the sizes of my strobes, taped it onto it and boom! Easy!
My model was more than willing, I tell you!
All shots were just resized for this post. No alters done, no filters whatsoever.
I used 2 strobes for this experiment. One is red, one is blue. I just played with the placement and angles. It was so much fun!
BTW, i prefer using the plastic envelopes, the cellophane kinda melted haha!
I’m gonna play a bit more with it later on. Any models wanna volunteer? Must be as charming as my niece, Charlyn. <3
