*For more information visit AdoramaTV YT page, and of course you can keep up with David on Instagram and Twitter @DavidBergman. LATEST UPDATE: David opened up new IGTV episodes where you can ask him questions live! find out more at http://www.AskDavidBergman.com

Today  we’re going to talk about using colored  gels on your flash, to either correct the  light, or for creative effects. Renown New York photographer David Bergman with  AdoramaTV will share his techniques and best uses of colored gels when you are shooting out in field.  

Mr Bergman shares: “Gels are  really just little colored pieces of  plastic you can put in front of your  flash to change the color of the light  that’s going through it. It boils down to  really two different ways you can use  colored gels. The first is to balance for  the ambient light that’s in the room and  the second is really to create cool  effects.”

“All light has a temperature that’s  measured in Kelvin and affects the color  of the light. Our eyes and brain have the  amazing ability to correct for that, so  we see it as neutral, and you can also  change the white balance in your camera  to accomplish the same thing. However  sometimes in mixed lighting situations, your  camera sensor will have a hard time  dealing with it. For example… if you’re in  a room that’s lit only by tungsten light  and your camera is set on daylight white  balance, everything is going to look  really warm, or orange. You can correct  that by changing the white balance in  your camera to Tungsten, which will cool  everything down, making it look more  neutral.”

“But what happens if you want to  add a flash on to your subject in that  same room. Well the flash is daylight  balanced, so the light hitting in your subject  is going to be unnaturally blue, while  the background still looks okay. So this  is the perfect time to pull out our good  friend the colored gel. You can buy them  in big sheets for studio lights but you  can also cut them down to size for speed  lights. Or buy them already pre-cut just  make sure you attach them really tightly  so that no white light leaks out around  the side by putting a CTO, or color  temperature orange gel in front of your  flash, you’re essentially making the  light in the flash match the background  color.”

“Now that the whole scene is the  same color, the tungsten white balance  in your camera, will make everything look  normal. Keep in mind that this also works  the other direction – if you’re in a  room with a lot of cool blue lights, you  can put a CPD of color temperature blue  gel on to neutralize that light, so  everything looks more like our eyes  really see it.”

“Lastly you can use color  gels to create a  million different creative effects, you  could throw some light on your subject  from the back to separate them from the  background, you can also put any color  you want back there, or light them from the  front and make them look like an alien!  The sky is the limit!”

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