• Inexpensive gels for colouring light •
Change the mood of your scene with coloured light.
Coloured light changes the scene.
Photography is great fun because you can make a scene look how you want it to look. One way to change a scene is to add colour. You can do it two ways. Colour filters that colour the light entering your camera is one way. The other is to colour the light coming from a studio or other light used in your scene.
Colour filters
Using colour filters you can colour the light entering the camera. Most of the time these filters are screwed or fixed to the end of your lens and the light that passes through them is changed by the colour of the filter. There are a whole range of different types of filters which can be used to warm up your photograph (to fake a summer shot) or to add saturated oranges to give the impression of late afternoon or sunset. Perhaps you want to give the impression of a boudoir? Then strong reds from a filter will help… Or try blues to cool down your image.
Let you imagination go wild. You can get filters for your camera in a wide range of colours and types – Check out this Amazon page… Colour filters for photography 
Colour gels
The problem with filters in a scene is they colour all the light entering your camera. If you want to selectively colour parts of the scene then you need to use gels to colour the light in flashes or other lights. There is a broader look at gels in our Glossary.
Gels come in a wide range of different forms. You can also spend a lot of money on them. Some are a lot cheaper. Check out this page on Amazon for photographic gels.
Inexpensive ways to colour light
We have already seen two posts on making inexpensive light modifiers…
Save money and improve your scene lighting!
How to do DIY diffusion – great light from simple tips
This video is the third in the series…
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Photokonnexion Photographic Glossary – Definitions and articles.
Definition: Source; Light source
Definition: Light modifier
Definition: Light Absorbers; absorbsion;
Definition: Key light
Definition: Filters
Definition: Gel; Diffusion Gel; Filter Gel; Color Gel; Colour Gel; Lighting Gel;
Check out this Amazon page… Colour filters for photography
Check out this page on Amazon for photographic gels.
The links for all three articles in this series…
1. Save money and improve your scene lighting!
2. How to do DIY diffusion – great light from simple tips
3. This page: Inexpensive coloured light in your scene
By Damon Guy (author and Photokonnexion editor)
Damon Guy (Netkonnexion)
See also: Editors ‘Bio’.
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