• Joined: January 19, 2013

Topic: Lighting with gels, lamps, etc.

Hey everyone, I'm planning on making my videos more stylish and was wondering about using actual lighting gels in my videos to alter the color and mood of the final film. I'm completely new to the concept of lighting gels, so tips and suggestions would be appreciated. Also, all I use are some handy desk lamps which have proved to be perfectly sufficient for my lightning needs, but all of the lighting gels I come across seem like they require the use of special studio lights...? Is there a way to safely use lighting gels on top of regular desk lamps?

epikfilmz11's Website

  • Location: Gravity Falls, OR
  • Joined: February 4, 2009

Re: Lighting with gels, lamps, etc.

Gels do not burn or melt, many fancy studio lights are much more dangerous then your desk lamps, gels cut the amount of light down by about 1/3 so if you start using them you may find you want brighter lights, I suggest people use a this gel pack , it's great and will be some of the best money you spend on equipment.

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SlothPaladin's Website

  • Joined: October 29, 2012

Re: Lighting with gels, lamps, etc.

You could also try one of these:
multicolor LED with remote control
Never used one, but for $10 looks worth trying for color gel-type stuff...

  • Joined: January 21, 2010

Re: Lighting with gels, lamps, etc.

BUMP!

I've been thinking about buying some gels recently and was wondering what others have bought. I'm thinking I might just go with the one SlothPaladin recommended above, but I was wondering if there were any that were cheaper, or if there's any specific reasons I should get a bigger/more expensive one like that. I've never used gels in the past, but does the quality and versatility of such a pack make it worth it? Also, since this is an older thread, maybe there are better packs to buy now?

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twickabrick's Website

  • Joined: February 4, 2013

Re: Lighting with gels, lamps, etc.

I just bought one of the cheeper sets on B&H that had the colours I wanted and were the right size. The have been working great for me. The one Sloth recommended looks like its expensive because it has a ton of colours, so unless you think you will use all those colours, I would recommend looking and finding a set of them that has just the colours you want, and maybe even buying two sets incase you need the same colour on two lamps for a shot.

Hope that ramblely bad grammar post helped mini/sweat
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osomstudios's Website

  • Location: Gravity Falls, OR
  • Joined: February 4, 2009

Re: Lighting with gels, lamps, etc.

I recommend that pack because it gives you so many color options. If you want just a few bright colors you can grap a pack of DJ light gels like this but it sounds like they may not be as heat resistant as the professional gels by Lee Filters. I have used stuff like this in the past and it does work, but does not give you as much flexibility, and the smaller size of these gels is more limiting then you expect.

For high quality gels but at a somewhat cheaper price you can look into some other smaller filter packs by Lee Filters, maybe try the quick location pack or color effects lighting pack.

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