color gels

[reinier23]

i need advice!!!!

I am planning on shooting a runway, but i wanted to light up the walls around the place with halogen worklights from home depot. I KNOW THEY GET HOT AND ALL. so thats why i need to find out which light gels are right? that resist heat, and which ones can i use to reflect diferent colors. Since the light is around 3200k means its yellowish, but how do i know exactly if i want to light the walls in pink and purple?? wouldnt it give me a different color ?? i know that a full CTB gell will give me regular daylight.


thanks... to all

 

[Kim Welch]

Very Experienced Cinamantographers

Very Experienced Cinamantographers

I asked about five experienced cinematographers for you. Here is what i have so far.


"Those halogen worklights burn very hot, especially if they're pointed up, which is what it sounds like he's planning to do. He needs to use gels that are deep died and not simply coated in order that the color doesn't fade quickly. He should also keep a bit of an air gap between the lights and the gel so that the airflow can cool down the gel, and he should also look at using heat shielding material. He should contact a representative from Rosco or Lee Filters from some advice on particular products, but it sounds like a more theatrical gel made for use in theater productions would be appropriate."

M


"He says his light source starts at 3200, but what is the base color temp of what he's filming with. I.E. - what is white. He implies that it is 5500 but doesn't exactly say. Plus gels don't reflect light, they affect light transmission. If he wants to use these halogen lights the easiest thing to do is balance the set to 3200 then simply gel the lights whatever color he wants.

Really hard to answer without knowing more about the physical location and what kind of control he has."

B


"He's being too literal. Tell him to get some heat shield and put whatever color he wants on the light. He should white balance before he puts on the color gel."

S

 

[David Mullen ASC]

"White" light is what color temp you balance the system for as white... if you are using 3200K lights, then 3200K balanced film stock would see this as white (and 5600K daylight would look blue-ish in comparison). If you balance the system to see 5600K lights as "white" then 3200K lights look orange in comparison.

Halogen worklamps from home depot are not really designed for clipping gels to since they don't have barndoors -- the gel has to be six inches or more from the light, more or less, to prevent melting and fading, even with movie gels (or put a piece of heat shield gel between the gel and the light if it gets closer, but there are limits even to that, you can't nearly touch the bulb). You are better off using movie lamps with barndoors if you need to gel them, or theatrical lekos with gel frames, otherwise, you may want to put the gel on a wire frame that holds them out a bit from the light.

The other problem with halogen worklamps is that they really don't create a nice splash or spot of light on a flat wall if you want a pattern of colored spots.