gelling for a orange hue in shadows

[cylinder]

So I've got this shot similar to an interrogation scene: medium shot at a desk with a single overhead hard light. However, I'd like to color shift everything to be orange-ish instead of black, but keeping the actor color balanced properly. Using a DSLR. Would prefer not doing it in post.

Usually it's easy to get greenish or blueish casts as needed by gelling CTB or CTO on 3600k or 5600k bulbs and changing the camera WB to something else. But orange has been throwing me. Wondering if anyone could offer some suggestions on starting combinations. Could it be some other combination of gels and fill?

 

[Noel Evans]

Pretty straight forward - if your key is a 3200K source and your white balanced to 3200k, by adding a 1/4, 1/2 or full cto to anything else it will show as orange. Alternatively, if your key is a daylight source white balance to 5600k, then use a 3200 light source for other areas and you can dial that back to taste with a 1/4 or half CTB.

 

[RyanT]

If you want orange in the shadows only, key with a 3200 lamp, then fill with another 3200 lamp gelled 1/2 or 1/4 CTO. The shadows will then turn up orange with the key staying more neutral.

 

[starcentral]

post some pics if you get any, would be curious to see results. Not sure if you're going for the sodium vapour look, but Rosco and others are now making gels to get that sodium vapour light look. Others have combined a light green and amber and been successful.

 

[Pietro Impagliazzo]

DO IT IN POST! :happy:

 

[David Jimerson]

The thing to remember about a shadow is that it doesn't exist -- it's an absence of light, not a thing itself. It's an area of less light than the area next to it.

If the shadowy area is filled with a dim light of a particular color, then it will appear to be that color.

So, imagine having a wall lit with a dim orange light. Imagine an actor in front of that wall (and the orange light). Now, light the actor with a strong key of a less-orange color -- the actor will be lit, but the wall behind him will be lit with the strong, key, too, washing out the dim orange light . . . except where the actor's shadow is. That area will still be the dim orange color of the first light.

You may not do it exactly like that, but it's the general idea.

 

[RyanT]

DO IT IN POST! :happy:

It's not quite the same...This is a pretty common thing to do, I feel like people usually go blue instead of orange though...but it's all for whatever look you're going for.