digital Artform wrote:
I remember once I was working on a TV spot for a shampoo. The DP lit the product with a warm edge and a cool fill and I thought, damn! That looks pretty glamorous for a plastic shampoo bottle.

I might have to try it, my friend is a stage manager so I have access to a whole cabinet of roscoe gels.

Angelo Lorenzo Photo wrote:

I might have to try it, my friend is a stage manager so I have access to a whole cabinet of roscoe gels.

It was subtle - not super saturated, btw

MikeBelobradic wrote:
I have no experience with gels. But since some were included with my SB900s, I may start experimenting.

Try flashing the foreground warm, and then cooling the image in post. You'll get a normal foreground and a cool rest of the world.

(or flash the foreground cool...)

Angelo Lorenzo Photo wrote:
It seems like there is a generational gap in gel usage. As a younger person I'm aware that my peers and I only use them for strong color effects or light balancing while I watch these lighting vhs tapes and photographers are throwing amber gels here, blue gels there.

Is it just me or has there been a technique shift?

Do you use gels extensively? And how?

I am old school and I still think gels and filters used together make very powerful combinations.  For example: a strong blue gel on your light along with a yellow filter on the lens makes for normal skin with an oppressive murky grey background. 

These days, you would still use the blue gel on the light, but don't need the yellow filter since the yellow can be added to the scene in post.  Makes for sharper pictures and one less piece of gear to schlep around.

Lately, the ease of in camera color balancing makes it possible to shoot "normal" scenes under fluorescent lights or mixed sources that would have required consulting a color meter and careful filtering to sort out.