CTO, CTB and diffusion effects

[adaptation]

I haven't found any answer so im gonna ask - how much does CTO or CTB gels help diffuse the light? I know theres a loss of around a stop or a little less - but does that mean that the light is more diffused(similar to Diffusion paper, opal frost, etc)? I assume because the ''source'' becomes bigger with the gel, there light becomes less hard?

 

[morgan_moore]

In theory no the light goes straight through. In reality once your gels are a bit messed up there is kind of a mild increase in source size but nothing of the effect of frost or a softbox

You will still get horrid shadows if you are not careful.

S

 

[Bruce Watson]

...how much does CTO or CTB gels help diffuse the light?

If the gels are any good at all, hardly any. They are designed to do exactly one thing, that's change the color of the light. They should not diffuse enough that you can see it.

I know theres a loss of around a stop or a little less...

Goes to heating the gel, not to diffusing the light going through the gel.

I assume because the ''source'' becomes bigger with the gel, there light becomes less hard?

But really, the source is the same, because the gel doesn't diffuse. There's a theme here... So no, using a gel doesn't get you out of using diffusion, or a softbox, or bouncing, or what ever way you normally use to soften the light. Changing the color can be thought of as a completely separate operation.

 

[adaptation]

Thank you very much both of you for the answer. Will keep using the 1stop diffusion on my chimera (-;.

 

[morgan_moore]

Goes to heating the gel, not to diffusing the light going through the gel.

Also a lot of also light bounces back.

I you ever tried gelled reds into a bouncboard you can get all sorts of little horrors unles you are the black wrap king.. almost more yellow spill than the actual soft corrected source you just made.

S

 

[Michael Carter]

I haven't found any answer so im gonna ask - how much does CTO or CTB gels help diffuse the light? I know theres a loss of around a stop or a little less - but does that mean that the light is more diffused(similar to Diffusion paper, opal frost, etc)? I assume because the ''source'' becomes bigger with the gel, there light becomes less hard?

Also keep in mind that the light loss isn't necessarily "a stop or a little less" - a 1/8 CTO won't have a lot of impact; full CTO is a lot more than a stop. It depends on the gel (CTB eats more light than CTO) and the level of the gel, IE 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, etc.