Need help using gels, not giving proper color/bright enough.

Scott W said:
I want to use gels to look as vibrant and powerful as they do in videos such as this Linkin Park video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmUTBDuUGz8


But when I tried to put it over my 500 watt tungtsten light, it simply did not look anywhere close to being as vibrant and started melting a few.
Click to expand...

I would be astonished to find out that was all 'in camera'. Looks to me to be post processed to get the contrast and saturation.

That being said, 500W probably isn't enough to get the basic exposure up to then process in post...
 
The best cheap lamp to use to "throw" color from a gel (in a gel frame) is a PAR lamp. As used by theatres and stage lighting for high intensity colors.

Par 32 and Par 64s are efficient , cheap and they get their throw capabilty by beaming light waves in straight lines due to the parabolic reflector.
 
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Shooter said:
The best cheap lamp to use to "throw" color from a gel (in a gel frame) is a PAR lamp. As used by theatres for \high intensity colors.

Par 32 and Par 64s are efficient , cheap and they get their throw capabilty by beaming light waves in straight lines due to the parabolic reflector.
Click to expand...


Any idea which of the lights from borrowlenses.com would be ideal for using gels with?
 
See if they have PAR 32 or PAR 64s .

Thats what they are known as .

FWIW: Old fashioned car head lights (the round ones ) were also PAR lamps (PAR 42... IIRC) and we used to rig those in banks of 6 and 9.
 
Just remembered an old trick to get a little more color out of a gel.

If using a bounce or reflector...apply the gel to it and not the lamp to get more color.
 
Shooter said:
Par 32 and Par 64s are efficient , cheap and they get their throw capabilty by beaming light waves in straight lines due to the parabolic reflector.
Click to expand...
As far as I know, PAR 32 is not a standard size. Par 36 is typically 650w, maybe that's what you were thinking of.
Shooter said:
Just remembered an old trick to get a little more color out of a gel.
If using a bounce or reflector...apply the gel to it and not the lamp to get more color.
Click to expand...
Interesting idea. This is pretty obvious but watch out for the reflection of the light off the gel (as opposed to through the gel, off the bounce, then back through the gel). It would be bright, hard, and would have virtually no color.
 
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