How To Use Colored Light Filters

Take your photos through rose colored lenses! Read how to use Colored Light Filters!

Off-camera flash can be a great way to spread your creative wings when taking photos. However, photographers can take their game to the next level by using colored light filters. Follow these tips to turn your photographic scenes into your  own coloring canvass.

What You’ll Need -

At least 2 Off-Camera Flash Guns

If you’re working with only one flash gun, you are severely limiting your creative freedom. Most colour changes to the scene can be made via White Balance, or even in post production on the computer. However, having more than one light source, each with a different color, is something that cannot be replicated in post production.

Many flash guns have a built in honeycomb filter that slides out and snaps down into position. These are perfect for holding a color gel filter in place. These particular filters have been cut to fit.

Triggers for each Flash Gun (Wireless works best)

Many flashguns can use a “slave mode,” that allow them to fire at the same moment other flashes go off, without the need for wireless or wired triggers. However, this is not recommended. Slave mode works perfectly in most situations, but when using color filters, “slave mode” can often fail to trigger the flash.

A Set of Color Gel Filters

Having a wide range of colors really helps! Check out your local retail photo shops. However, these can often be difficult to track down. A set of about 20 or 30 different colours can be found on eBay for usually around $20 USD. They most likely will need to be cut to shape to fit your flash guns!

Tripods or stands for the Flash Guns

Having a bit of experience with Off-Camera Flash Guns really helps. The sport of photography revolves around using light to create exposures. Without light, we cannot take photos. When we use off-camera flash, we have to be acutely aware of a few things!

Reducing or eliminating ambient light is key to controlling the tone and temperature of a scene or model.

First off, all scenes have Ambient Light. It is vital for a photographer to fully understand the nature of the Ambient Light in a scene. What temperature is the Ambient Light? Is it cold or warm? Is it soft or harsh? What direction is the light coming from?

For example, if a photographer is standing on a beach at noon on a sunny, cloudless day, then the Ambient Light is most likely to be warm and harsh. However, if the photographer is sitting in a dining room at mid day with a few windows open, the light might be soft and cold.

The ambient light here is soft, thanks to the diffusion from the clouds, and cold in temperature. There are no other point light sources.

Flash Photography – Which Batteries are the right ones?

Everything you need to know to pick the right batteries for you.

With so many different types of batteries on the market, it’s easy to get confused with all the options. In this article, we take a look at Alkaline, Ni-Cd, Ni-MH, and the new Ni-Zn batteries, to see which one right for the job.

When it comes to photography, nothing is as important as light. Whether being used for portraits or fill lighting, flashguns need power to work. A firearm is only as good as the bullets that are loaded into it. Likewise, a flashgun’s performance depends heavily on the batteries that are used to power it. However, flashguns are infamous for chewing up batteries and spitting them out before the job is done. The right batteries can turn a job from stormy seas to smooth sailing.

There are only a few factors to keep in mind when deciding on which type of battery to use. One of the biggest decisions to make is whether or not to use rechargeable batteries. The battery also directly affects how quickly the flash can be fired in succession (recycle time), as well as how long the batteries can last while unused (otherwise known as shelf life). Some of these rechargeable batteries give better performance while others last longer.

Alkaline

Alkaline batteries are found pretty much everywhere, making them the cheapest and easiest batteries to obtain.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Cheap, and easy to find. Fresh batteries provides a full 1.5v supply of power, allowing for the fastest recycle time. Long shelf life. Last a lot longer on the job, compared to most rechargeables	Can become expensive to replace spent batteries. Single use only Early power drop-off  can force power supply as low as 0.9v, lengthening recycle time Provides inconsistent power supply