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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Homemade warming gel suggestions
Joshua Scheide, Photographer
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Odessa | TX | USA | Posted: 7:19 PM on 12.10.09 |
->> Well - the local camera store didn't have any warming gels, and I need one tomorrow.
Any suggestions for a simple homemade gel to warm up a speedlite? |
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Andrew Fredrickson, Photographer
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Seattle | WA | United States | Posted: 7:22 PM on 12.10.09 |
| ->> Get a transparency sheet for an overhead projector, and color it with an orange marker. Might do the trick. |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 7:45 PM on 12.10.09 |
->> I have no clue where Odessa is (other than TX). Do a search for theater lighting houses in your area or look in the phone book for theater lighting contractors/rentals and beg a sheet from them. Barring that, Walmart in the sun glasses section. Bust out the lenses and gaff them over the speedlight lens. Look in sporting goods too for shooting glasses or a Home Depot / Lowes and look for safety glasses in yellow/amber.
If that still doesn't fly swing my the pharmacy and ask to buy 2 (more if you're a clutz) 300ml PLASTIC amber bottles. Cut out your filters from that. |
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Curtis Clegg, Photographer
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Sycamore | IL | USA | Posted: 7:57 PM on 12.10.09 |
| ->> Or maybe a craft store like Michael's... there's bound to be something useful there. What about some old exposed nagatives? |
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AJ Mast, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Indianapolis | IN | USA | Posted: 9:29 PM on 12.10.09 |
| ->> Shoot it RAW and warm it up with a white balance adjustment. |
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Mark Peters, Photographer
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Highland | IL | USA | Posted: 9:50 PM on 12.10.09 |
->> If your local floral shop doesn't have orange shrink wrap (think gift basket) I think your best best is an auto or farm supply store and pick up an amber marker light.
http://www.tractorsupply.com/trailers-towing/trailer-parts/trailer-lighting...
I would go to the farm supply store if you need one for a strobe as they would be more likely to have the big round ones. For just a speedlight, either would likely do - and their about 1/3 the cost of an omnibounce.
Tractor Supply store 7800 E Hwy 191, Odessa, TX |
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Daniel Celvi, Photographer
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Schaumburg | IL | United States | Posted: 10:56 PM on 12.10.09 |
->> Things that have worked for me in the past:
Thin, white trash bags (all the ones I've used over flashes have softened the light a bit, and generally added a warm tone. Test to make sure—you'll lose quite a bit of light though).
Pillowcases from a house/apartment with a heavy smoker (Generally all the smoking will make the pillowcases a bit more yellow-orangeish, another test to make sure, though you won't lose as much light as you think).
Red overhead projector transparency sheet (these tend to be REALLY red though).
Colored plastic baggies (like a sandwich bag or something—not that common, but occasionally I've seen them. And used them.)
Any warming lens filter you might have (obviously only works if filter is big enough, and flash is small enough).
Best advice though is to get creative. Whatever you see that is fairly transparent, and warm toned, shoot through it and see if it works. You might have to adjust the white balance on your camera a bit. And again, can't say this enough, even if you're shooting film, test how red it'll make the picture first. |
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Darren Whitley, Photographer
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Northwest Missouri | MO | USA | Posted: 12:46 AM on 12.11.09 |
| ->> Why not use colored tissue paper? It's thin enough. You might want to shoot a white balance target just in case it wrecks the image. |
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G.M. Andrews, Photographer
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Mobile | AL | USA | Posted: 1:09 AM on 12.11.09 |
| ->> Old trick was to use unexposed, but processed fuji color negative film stock such as the blank tail end of a roll that you didn't shoot every frame of. Fits in front of a speedlight pretty well. That should get you close to CTO if that's your aim. |
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Wally Nell, Photographer
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CAIRO | EG | EGYPT | Posted: 6:02 AM on 12.11.09 |
| ->> Candy wrappers... |
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Guy Rhodes, Photographer
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East Chicago | IN | USA | Posted: 7:03 AM on 12.11.09 |
| ->> Shoot your flash through a glass filled with orange soda / tea? Water it down as necessary. |
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Jason Orth, Photographer
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Lincoln | NE | USA | Posted: 10:07 AM on 12.11.09 |
| ->> See if there are any music stores that cater to bands (rock bands not High School bands), pro audio, etc. They often carry lighting equipment as well. I've seen Rosco boxes at the local "Sound Equipment" store here. |
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George Bridges, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | USA | Posted: 10:15 AM on 12.11.09 |
->> I'll second the exploring Michael's or other craft stores for some sort of plastic.
If you don't need direct light or other modifiers, why not just bounce the flash off some appropriately colored paper? You can probably find a large orange-ish sheet of craft paper or poster paper and bounce it. |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 10:58 AM on 12.11.09 |
->> What you may also want to do is pickup 3 or 4 Rosco swatch samplers. Many places have them for $5 or $6 and they have the entire Rosco line cut into rectangles that are perfect for taping on a speedlight. I keep one in each bag and one in my truck and the wife's car.
I had a real laugh when I saw a set of cto gels cut to speedlight size selling for $10. The Rosco book is 1/2 the price and 20x the selection of filters.
Of course this doesn't cover your immediate need, but will be handy in the future. |
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Shaun Ward, Photographer
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Perth | Tayside | Scotland | Posted: 11:33 AM on 12.11.09 |
| ->> I just bought some a coloured assitate sheets from local art store yesterday for using with some strobes. They come in a good range of colours. |
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Bruce Twitchell, Photographer
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Coeur d'Alene | ID | USA | Posted: 11:42 AM on 12.11.09 |
| ->> Colored Saran Wrap. |
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Jeff Martin, Photographer
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wellington | OH | usa | Posted: 12:11 PM on 12.11.09 |
->> They sell gel like wrapping paper.
I think I just saw a commercial for 'warming gel', but I don't think that's what you were looking for. |
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Jeff Mills, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Columbus | OH | USA | Posted: 12:30 PM on 12.11.09 |
->> Are the Rosco swatch books really $5 or $6 these days ?
I remember they used to be $0.10 each at places like B&H and I'd buy them a couple bucks at a time.
I guess due to the popularity of the strobist site (those swatches are perfectly sized for a speedlight) and may in small part to people buying several dollars worth at a time (not pointing any fingers) they decided to start making a few bucks off each book.
Still a pretty good value though as you get probably 75 or so swatches, and while not all of them are useful, you do get several CTO's and I've actually found having some of the crazy colors can be sort of fun as well, such as the blues etc. |
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Michael Coons, Photographer
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Simi Valley | CA | USA | Posted: 12:46 PM on 12.11.09 |
->> B&H Photo still has the swatch books for $2.00 (I remember buying them for $1.00). If you are a National Assc. Photoshop Pro member, you can get free UPS shipping from B&H.
http://tinyurl.com/29fzyk
I like to buy a few and keep them in my car, at work, lighting kits, camera bags..... |
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Joshua Scheide, Photographer
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Odessa | TX | USA | Posted: 7:34 PM on 12.11.09 |
| ->> Thanks for the suggestions everyone! |
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Mark Peters, Photographer
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Highland | IL | USA | Posted: 8:28 PM on 12.11.09 |
| ->> So what did you end up doing? |
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Ryan Brennecke, Photographer
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Yuma | AZ | USA | Posted: 10:17 PM on 12.11.09 |
| ->> Use a Band-Aid. |
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Rodrigo Pena, Photographer
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Beaumont | CA | USA | Posted: 5:45 PM on 12.12.09 |
| ->> I don't know what kind of flash you're using, but if it's powerful, be careful not to set the tissue paper on fire. One time I needed to soften my light. In addition to the umbrella on my Dynalite 500 kit, I put two paper towels over the flash head. After about 20 flashes, they caught on fire. I had no experience at the time (many years ago), so just be careful. Good luck! |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 9:32 PM on 12.12.09 |
| ->> I was in at Calumet today $3.99 for the book. |
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