Last week I told you about my little experiment with a flashgun and some sweet wrapper ‘gels’. Well this week I have continued with this experiment! This time I used two constant lights so I was able to use two colours at simultaneously to see what effects I could create.

My model for this experiment was my Lord Drakkon figure. Yes, I’m aware that makes me a big fat nerdy nerd. I don’t care, I think it’s awesome.

Using two constant lights I started by just lighting the model with no ‘gels’ whatsoever. This is so I had something to compare with afterwards. I set my camera on a tripod and, much like last time, I kept the camera settings consistent. (1/80 sec, f4.5, ISO400)
I shot this on my kitchen table and did realise whilst I was shooting that the light from the nearby window might be having an effect on my little experiment. I did drop the blind but it’s not a blackout one so there was still some natural light filtering through. Though what effect, if any, that may have had on this might be an experiment for another day.

So here’s the comparasions. The image on the left is with no gels and the one on the right is with gels. This first shot uses two layers of pink gel on the left and four layers of green gel on the right. The effect is subtle and could almost be put down to processing. Though I do think it makes the gold pop particularly nicely.

Next up I used four layers of orange on the left and four layers of green on the right. Whilst it does give a much more dramatic effect it does feel a little too unnatural. Of course it depends on the look you’re after as to whether that matters or not.

It’s blue green mix with this one, three layers of blue to the left and 4 layers green to the right. It’s a very cool toned shot and the blue overpowers the green far too much here for my tastes. Part of that is down to the positioning of the lights and reducing the number of layers would help as well.

Finally we have two layers of green on the left and four layers of pink to the right. I really quite liked this effect though there is the issue of the pink blowing out the highlights a bit.

This is just a small handful of the numerous images testing various combinations of colours and strengths. Afterwards I decided to have a bit of a play and see what I could create.

Unfortunately I can’t tell you the exact colours and strengths I used as I didn’t take any notes when shooting these, which in hindsight was a definite mistake.
In case you’re interested, and even if you’re not, here’s a little look behind the scenes at the setups for these last few shots.

Hopefully you have enjoyed the results of this little experiment with ‘gels’. If I can get hold of another flashgun I might revisit this and see what I can achive when varying the strength of the light source itself. In the meantime there’s a few more things I want to have a bit of a play around with.