Using Colored Gels in Beauty Photography

photography, colors, blue, model, fashion, beauty
Colors on Tish
In this post, we are going to discuss how to set up a fashion and beauty shot like this one.

There are a lot of moving parts, and I will try to cover them all.  If you have any questions, comment below and I'll do my best to clarify anything that was left out.

Tools

Let's start with the tools need to create this image.  Here is a picture of all the 'out of the ordinary' equipment we used.  It includes:

  1. Lensbaby Composer Pro with Sweet 50 Optic
  2. A decent size piece of glass
  3. Cling wrap
  4. Color gels (we used Steel Blue and Amber from Rosco.



How We Did It

First thing we did was use THIS color calculater and find a color combination we liked.  After we had the colors, we searched through our collection of gels to find the closest colors.  We had on hand Rosco Apricot and Rosco Steel Blue gels, so we went with those.  From these colors we created 'gel-packs', layers of gels put together so as to be easier to use.  There is nothing worse than trying to tape three to four gels to a light at the same time.  Our gel-packs looked like this:

  1. heat shield on the bottom,
  2. then we added a .6 neutral density filther,
  3. then we added a single layer of either Apricot or Steel blue.
In the end, we made three gel-packs of each color.

Next, we set up our lights like this:


We chose to use the steel blue color for the main light and let the edge lighting be a hot orange.  The foreground element was a piece of cling wrap stuck to a piece of glass,, which looked like this.  You will notice we aimed a light at the cling wrap.  That is how the bokeh got that nice blue tone to it.

And there you have it.  A quick look into how we created that image above.  Feel free to comment below, or send us a quick note to say 'Hi'.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What happens when you only shoot with available light?

Image
 New technology is always fun to play with.  As an artist, the possibility of greater flexibility with new options for creative self-expression is tantalizing to say the least.  So when my new Sony A7RIV came in, I was anxious to see how it would change my art. The Idea Since I first discovered the genre, black and white fine art photography has been a curiousity.  My entire career has been commercial in nature, ie everyone was dressed.  So stying and lighting a human form was never a skill I needed to develop.  For my first shoot with the new camera, I decided to produce a short series of images in this genre. The Rules Art without limitation rarely works out well.  Constructs, such as time, equipment, talent, etc. all contribute to bringing the creativity of the artist to the forefront.  Following that wisdom, I set the following rules for this shoot. No color.  From the beginning I wanted to reduce the number of elements I needed to control to produce quality images.  Color seemed l
Read more

Making the Shot

Image
 Hey Blog! Making great content is not about the equipment you have.  It's about how to maximize what you have to get the most out of is.  Today we are going to discuss how we created a national product campaign, in the studio, with only two lights. The Project The Ad agency came to us about this project with only 10 days to get it shot and delivered.  By the time we had the signed agreement, we were left with only 6 days.  This project was to highlight the collaboration between Delonghi and Nespresso on a series of three coffee makers.  Nothing like big-brand pressure! Pre-Production We were lucky to find a day at a studio with a huge kitchen set and a great gear list on such short notice.  The client provided the products, food stylist, and props.  We provided the team of myself as DP, a DIT, a gaffer, and two grips.  This was essentially a low-budget shoot, but needed big-budget results. The beautiful light through the kitchen window gives shape and depth to the
Read more

How to Use Video Effectively in Your Inbound Marketing Strategy

Image
A behind the scenes shot on a shoot for Mikasa. For the last 4-5 years, video has been all the rage in online marketing.  A few years ago, Google all but mandated video exist on a website in order to maintain rankings.  Their reasoning in making this decision was sound. Since more people were watching video than reading copy for their information, Google wants to make sure its users are getting the experience they crave. Inbound marketing, as a process, is a bit newer to the scene.  And it has quickly taken over as the de- facto method of attracting consumers to a brand.  The process of identifying the brands ideal buyer, and then targeting them at each stage of their buying process, translates to more potential customers engaging with a brand, more often, ultimately leading to increased conversion rates. In my 24 years of content creation, I have never found a marketing strategy that marries so well with video production.  By using video throughout the inbound process, c
Read more