
Unlock the magic of color gels with step-by-step setup to transform portrait lighting, save time and space, and create endless looks for your models, outfits, and fashion accessories.
Explore portrait lighting basics for studio setups, using a single 45-degree key light with catch lights, then add fill, clamshell, rim lighting, and color gels with care.
Explore how storytelling drives great portraiture, using gels and color to set mood and atmosphere, while planning with the five Ws to craft a convincing image.
Ask yourself who is in your story and how color gels, props, and lighting bring that concept to life before starting the shoot, even on a small budget.
Explore the why behind your story and how gels and lighting shape mood, symbolism, and color-driven storytelling.
Explore gel photography now to unleash creative freedom with color gels, learn color theory and one-light setups, and master exposure, distance, and camera angles for dramatic portraits.
Learn to light with gels using a studio meter, set apertures like f/8–f/11, and anticipate gel color and thickness shifting exposure by 1–3 stops for controlled mood and separation.
Discover budget-friendly lighting for creative portrait photography, from flash guns to studio strobes, with umbrellas, reflectors, beauty dishes, gels, and lenses to craft color and mood.
Achieve a Hitchcock-inspired look with one light and blinds, orange and blue gels, a hazy background, soft boxes for catch lights, and budget-friendly plexiglass.
Practice a Hitchcock-inspired white-light portrait using a single light at waist height to cast bold facial shadows, experimenting with flash points and lens choices before color or black-and-white styling.
Learn to craft a Hitchcock look by adding an orange gel to the key light instead of white, with positioning cues and a later blue gel.
Create portraits by separating the subject from a blue-lit background with a backlight. Adjust exposure with blue and orange gels and use post-processing like split toning to heighten mood.
Use blinds to cast wall shadows with green and red gels for a cinematic look. Slightly underexpose and refine in Lightroom to boost depth and composition via golden ratio guides.
Create the neon fashion look using blue, pink and red gels positioned at 90 degrees to the model; use blinds for shadows and a vintage-inspired backdrop with a Coke bottle.
Explore the neon fashion look with blue, red, and orange gels placed at about 90 degrees to the model. Experiment with position and backlight from blinds to create varied perspectives.
Master the neon fashion look with two lights behind blinds facing forward, pink and blue gels, and a white key light at 45 degrees.
Create a window scene using plexiglass, rain spray, and blue and pink lighting to evoke a neon look. Adapt color, reflections, and exposure with post-production tweaks.
Apply color theory with pink and blue gels to craft an outside world look using props, reflections, and controlled lighting for a Riverdale-inspired diner scene.
Apply the Riverdale look through alternative diner setups, using gel lighting, careful table placement, and prop-based posing cues to craft cinematic mood.
Explore how to simulate rain in a studio using color gels to elevate creative portrait photography.
Explore how gels act as a stylistic device in fashion shoots, applying color to a three-point setup after a white-light session, with gray or black backgrounds for flash outcomes.
Create a romantic fashion look with a gray background and red, green, and blue gels behind the model, using an f/11 depth of field for sharp eyes.
Discover the romantic fashion look through color, flare, and smoke with Nathana, and capture expressive portraits using color gels to heighten mood and drama.
Capture romantic fashion portraits by guiding models through varied poses, gazes up and down, and over-the-shoulder looks to enhance facial framing and expression.
Develop the romantic fashion look through color, flare, and smoke, guiding mood with color gels, lighting, and atmospheric effects alongside Deepti.
Demonstrate the Jake Hicks look by pairing a blue front key light with orange rim and back lights, using umbrella reflections for a bold blue–orange contrast and a defined rim.
Use a beauty dish at 45 degrees with red and blue gels low on a reflective surface to bounce light onto the background, creating colorful shadows.
Create a Madonna-inspired portrait with an orange halo behind the model and a purple side strobe, using complementary gels while balancing light, sharpness, and contrast so the subject remains focal.
Learn to create a stunning star effect with speedlights by positioning flashes near a boom, using gels for bold color, and background separation at f/11 for versatile fashion portraits.
Master magical color portraiture with amazing bokeh and unicorn flare. Create dreamy looks using aluminum foil backgrounds, styrofoam panels, and orange-blue gels with a wide aperture and spider lenses.
Learn to create striking portraits using color and gels, applying practical special effects with simple ingredients to enhance mood and storytelling.
Explore a review of various gel lighting setups for creative portrait photography, highlighting color gels, lighting angles, and how different gels shape mood and skin tones.
Explore how to use gels to shape light, meter for stops, and control color temperature, while experimenting with lighting angles, lens flare, and color theory to tell a story.
Learn to achieve a blockbuster movie look in Lightroom using split toning, pairing orange highlights with blue shadows, then fine-tune saturation, balance, and exposure for portrait skin.
Discover how to create and save a Lightroom preset from your favorite look, name it, keep or adjust changes, and apply it to future images, including Hollywood look variations.
Learn to add color to portraits with a gradient filter in Lightroom, crafting greens and reds for a cinematic look. Adjust tint, temperature, and color casts across the face.
Master cropping for flattering composition using overlays, and apply targeted basic adjustments, color tuning, and color grading to elevate a portrait with warm tones and controlled lighting.
Learn to change color in Lightroom with the HSL tool, selectively adjust hue, saturation, and luminance to fine-tune greens, reds, blues, and yellows while guarding skin tones.
Learn to selectively change color in Photoshop via Camera Raw or Lightroom, using HSL adjustments on the background and masking the subject with a soft brush to protect the face.
In Lightroom, adjust exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, and clarity for more pop, then use Photoshop to remove the light stand and refine color, vibrance, and toning.
Master removing a boom stand in Photoshop with patch tool, spot healing brush, content-aware options, and clone stamp; learn source-area selection and blending for clean results.
Enhance the star effect by using downloaded DeviantArt brushes in Photoshop, duplicate layers, and iteratively adjust brush size and center alignment to refine the flare in the before and after.
Learn quick Photoshop edits that adjust exposure, highlights, shadows, whites and blacks, and boost clarity, vibrance, and saturation. Tweak color balance with targeted adjustments to enhance a fashion portrait.
Learn a quick skin softening workflow in Photoshop using the Nick Collection color effects profile and frequency separation to create natural, flattering portraits.
Apply dodge and burn on a separate layer to restore contrast after skin softening and refine facial contours. Adjust midtones and highlights to brighten features and preserve a natural look.
Explore creative portrait photography with color and gels and learn to present a final thank you image reel.
Featured Review:
"I didn't know color gels can be used to achieve so many different effects!! Sandy & Matt never disappoint. They delivered yet another great and informative photography video. This time on how to produce captivating photos which convey a certain story to the viewer and ones that have a cinematic color quality similar to what we see on TV/movies today. And, unlike Hollywood productions, the props and technique featured here are very innovated and accessible to anyone. I'm a huge TV/movie fan so I loved this video a lot. There's also a detailed and thorough post-process walk-through at the second half of the video, which I found easy to follow. Lots of great tips/tricks here." - Pocholo Pasicolan
One of the most important aspects of photography, is lighting. But it's not enough to just know the theory - to take outstanding images you need to tell a story!
Welcome to our course “Creative Photography Lighting - The Magic of Color And Gels” - a new tutorial in our creative portrait series.
Color Gels are an amazing yet simple tool to enhance the story of your image. But: Instead of just adding color for the sake of color, you need to think about:
a) How it changes the mood and result of your image and
b) How it pulls the viewer into your world!
My name is Sandy Dee. In our photo studio we have led over 50 photography workshops, specializing in creating conceptual photoshoots and in this course we will bring your creativity to a whole new level: You will learn how to unlock the magic of color and gel photography!
So why do you need to dive into Gel photography? Well there are many reasons.
Do you want to save money? A package of gels costs way less than buying rolls and rolls of paper.
Do you want to save time? Instead of changing heavy paper rolls that might require an assistant - just pop on a gel onto your light and continue with your shoot.
Do you want to have a less cluttered studio? A package of gels requires hardly any space in comparison to storing paper rolls.
Plus you can create an endless variety of looks fitting to your model’s story, outfit and fashion accessories.
And now comes the most important part why you should learn to unlock the magic of gels:
We all know that there is an abundance of images flooding the web these days and to stand out from the crowd is more important than ever, which can be very challenging. Luckily - Creativity is also more affordable than ever! That’s were colors and gels come into play. In the olden days you would have to risk wasting money on trial and error shots to get the look of your colored gel right in camera - but not any longer, thanks to your modern DSLR and LED display.
However: The scary fact still stands - working with colors and gels doesn’t really follow particular rules. Personally I love to take the guess work out of lighting and use a light meter - but with gels? It’s not that easy. Also: There are many different set-up possibilities, so how do you know which is the right one? And: Gels come in all sorts of thickness and colors - and do you use them on strobes or flashguns? And - how do you know that the color look fits to your story?
All these questions can be very daunting for photographers, so today we will answer all of them and walk you through the set-up, step by step.
The only requirement: You do need an understanding of your DSLR (manual settings) and you should have some practice with basic lighting and access to lighting equipment. Though we do explain important beginner subjects such as the recipe of great portraiture and basic lighting diagrams, the majority of the materials covers more intermediate techniques. However here we include as many options as possible: We will show you set-ups that are easily achievable and affordable with simple props, flashguns and low-end strobes.
Our promise: Creativity doesn’t have to cost a lot of money and: creative lighting doesn’t have to be confusing. You will see exactly what we are doing inside the studio with our “fly on the wall” videos. Furthermore Matt will walk you through the lighting diagrams to enhance your technical knowledge and my expertise will bring your creativity to the next level, quick and efficient, so you will be able to achieve these looks in no time:
How to set-up a “Hitchcock” inspired movie look with shadows, colorful gels and gobos
How to set-up a Tv-show inspired “Diner” scene (inclusive a fake milkshake, color and rain)
How to set-up your gels to achieve a romantic glow
How to set-up your flashguns to create an interesting “star” effect
How to set-up edgy Rim lights, colorful background lights and
SO MUCH MORE
At the end of this tutorial you will be able to set-up images that look like a movie scene or were featured in a fashion editorial. If you want to wow your models or clients - then this tutorial is for you!