Getting into gels (Godox QT series)

[Colin Creevey]

Hi all,

I am wanting to get into gels as I have had limited exposure to them. I am in the Godox ecosystem so for this question you can assume I am talking about Godox.

I have been watching Lindsey Adler's The Magic of Gels and in one of the first videos she talks about applying the gels to the lights. She recommends using gaffers tape but points out that with her Profoto lights she can wack em directly over the front. She goes on to warn about other lights with the protruding bulb possibly melting the gels and has an anecdote about one of her higher power Profoto strobes warping one of her gels when she was using it on full power.

For this reason she recommends the gels be applied to the front of a standard reflector. At this point I am following her fine.

She then explains that you don't need a huge gel to gel the front of a softbox if you are doing at the bulb. Once again I am fully following her. What she doesn't explain is how you would do that if not using profoto but rather one of those other strobes (like Godox) with the protruding element.

To give you some context I have a bunch of gels for my AD200s and AD600. I have a mix of gels from flash gels which covers me for my AD200 round head, AD200 barebulb and my AD600Pro. These work great and are easy to apply.

Now I am thinking of geling my QT series strobes but sadly flash gels does not make a kit for the QTs (as far as I am aware).

I want to buy a packet of Rosco Color Effects Gels but don't like the idea of chopping them up to make some strange shape to gel my bulb.

My questions are:
1. Is there a simple way I can gel my QT using the Rocsco gels without chopping the gels up?
2. Would a 12"x12" kit be better or a 20"x24" kit?
3. If I added a gel to the front of a standard reflector fitted with a grid, would this be similar to adding a layer of diffusion over a grid? In other words, pointless as you loose the effect of the grid. If so, how would get around this?

Thanks in advance

 

[Ellis Vener]

You just need to make sure air can circulate around the flash tube and modeling light so air that is heated is not trapped between the light and gel.

--
Ellis Vener
A working photographer since 1984.
To see my work, please visit http://www.ellisvener.com
Or on Instagram @EllisVenerStudio

 

[Klaus dk]

Hi all,

I am wanting to get into gels as I have had limited exposure to them. I am in the Godox ecosystem so for this question you can assume I am talking about Godox.

I have been watching Lindsey Adler's The Magic of Gels and in one of the first videos she talks about applying the gels to the lights. She recommends using gaffers tape but points out that with her Profoto lights she can wack em directly over the front. She goes on to warn about other lights with the protruding bulb possibly melting the gels and has an anecdote about one of her higher power Profoto strobes warping one of her gels when she was using it on full power.

For this reason she recommends the gels be applied to the front of a standard reflector. At this point I am following her fine.

She then explains that you don't need a huge gel to gel the front of a softbox if you are doing at the bulb. Once again I am fully following her. What she doesn't explain is how you would do that if not using profoto but rather one of those other strobes (like Godox) with the protruding element.

To give you some context I have a bunch of gels for my AD200s and AD600. I have a mix of gels from flash gels which covers me for my AD200 round head, AD200 barebulb and my AD600Pro. These work great and are easy to apply.

Now I am thinking of geling my QT series strobes but sadly flash gels does not make a kit for the QTs (as far as I am aware).

I want to buy a packet of Rosco Color Effects Gels but don't like the idea of chopping them up to make some strange shape to gel my bulb.
My questions are:
1. Is there a simple way I can gel my QT using the Rocsco gels without chopping the gels up?

If you don't want to use a reflector, then no, not to my knowledge (see below).

2. Would a 12"x12" kit be better or a 20"x24" kit?
3. If I added a gel to the front of a standard reflector fitted with a grid, would this be similar to adding a layer of diffusion over a grid? In other words, pointless as you loose the effect of the grid. If so, how would get around this?

Colour gels are clear and not diffusing, so a grid will work the same whether in front of or behind the gel. There are diffusion gels, but I assume that's not what you're asking.

I usually mount gels on my AD600s using a barndoor set. When I used strobes with 150W incandescent model lights, I had to turn off the model lights to prevent burning the gels.

Thanks in advance

Before you go overboard with gels, let me direct you to a very simple technique using a gel on your main light and camera white balance shift to create interesting effects. Strobist: using gels to shift ambient. Strobist 103 is all about using gels and it's free.

 

[Colin Creevey]

I want to buy a packet of Rosco Color Effects Gels but don't like the idea of chopping them up to make some strange shape to gel my bulb.
My questions are:
1. Is there a simple way I can gel my QT using the Rocsco gels without chopping the gels up?

If you don't want to use a reflector, then no, not to my knowledge (see below).

2. Would a 12"x12" kit be better or a 20"x24" kit?
3. If I added a gel to the front of a standard reflector fitted with a grid, would this be similar to adding a layer of diffusion over a grid? In other words, pointless as you loose the effect of the grid. If so, how would get around this?

Colour gels are clear and not diffusing, so a grid will work the same whether in front of or behind the gel. There are diffusion gels, but I assume that's not what you're asking.

You are correct in your assumption. Thanks for clearing up my misunderstanding of gels.

I usually mount gels on my AD600s using a barndoor set. When I used strobes with 150W incandescent model lights, I had to turn off the model lights to prevent burning the gels.

Thanks in advance

Before you go overboard with gels, let me direct you to a very simple technique using a gel on your main light and camera white balance shift to create interesting effects. Strobist: using gels to shift ambient. Strobist 103 is all about using gels and it's free.

I've used colour correction gels (from flash gels designed specifically for the AD600Pro) with my AD600Pro before to adjust the temperature of my lights to match the ambient. Was aware that these can be used creatively like strobist demonstrates but was more interested in colour effect gels to achieve a studio based image like the one below.

 

[Klaus dk]

Very different. Good luck with that. :-D

 

[Ellis Vener]

Go ahead and cut them to size. Gels, like gaffer tape, and unlike cameras, lenses, lights and light stands, are expendables. They are meant to be used up.

 

[Colin Creevey]

thanks!