Coloured gels to colour white background

Sorry if this seems a simple question with an obvious answer but ....

 

I am shooting a portrait in the morning and have decided (last minute) I want a red

background. I have a white paper background but can I just put red gels over the 2

background lights to get some kind of red-ish tint (or stronger) to the white paper?

 

I ask this even though I have no red gels, but also wonder if I can use the coloured gels

you find in art shops, or will I just melt the stuff (I use an Elinchrom 600RX flash)? Or any

other ideas of what I can use.

 

Many thanks in helping to reduce my ignorance.

 

David

It's not difficult, although you'll find it far more controllable if your background is grey or black. Any transparent/translucent material will do the job with flash - one guy posted an example shot with a stationery folder.

 

This is a list of our Lighting Themes http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00BjHh&tag= and you'll find at least a couple on the subject - Exposing for lighting gels and Lighting the background

If you can place your white background far enough away from the main lights then you can light it seperately and make it any color or tone that you like.

 

Because a white background is so bright, a dark grey or black background is easier to gel with a color.

That Garry types SO FAST !

Thanks guys, that helps a lot.

 

regards

 

David

This is a great question, and an often difficult problem to solve. The solution to this problem is relativity. It is important to have no light on the background to start with, it doesn't matter if it white, black or gray, but it should be neutral in color. If you have a spot meter or reflective meter. The meter should read at least 4 stops darker than your subject, with out lights. When you have this amount of darkness in the background, then you can start adding light. Put you colored gels on your lights then take a light reading of the background. Pick a metering spot in line where the camera will see this tone. For Red, this tone should measure about the same as your subject. For example, if you subject meter reading is f/8, then your background without lights should measure about f/1.4. When you introduce the background with red gel, the light should measure to f/8. If it does not read f/8 then increase the power on the flash or its distance to the background. I would suggest testing this before you bring in any real subject to shoot. Check out Dean Collins and look for Chromo-zones systems.