How I Got the Shot: Teal and Orange

Playing with gels is always a fun time, join me as I break down how I got this photo of Toronto model and photographer Sam Yang.

I love working with gels, but it's been a long time since I've gotten to play with them, so I recently hit up Toronto model and photographer Sam Yang, who I've been wanting to work with for a while, and more or less asked him if he wanted to come make something cool together, and thankfully he was down. 

The video detailing all of the behind the scenes of how I lit the image is detailed here, and you can see more videos like this on my channel. I go into detail of exactly how I shot the image and why I placed lights in certain places, but I didn't go into the gear too much.

I shot the image on a Fujifilm X-T3 with the 56mm f/1.2 lens at f/4.0. For lights I used three Cactus speed lights, two RF-60s and one RF-60x

One thing to be wary of when using gels is that their saturation is inversely related to their brightness: The brighter a gelled light is, the less saturated it will become. Have you ever played with gels in the studio? I'd love to see your shots in the comments below!

David J. Fulde's picture

David J. Fulde photographs people. Based in Toronto, ON, he uses bold lighting and vibrant colours to tell people's stories. His work in the film industry lends a cinematic energy to his photographs and makes for an always-colourful studio -- whether he's shooting portraits, fashion, or beauty.

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8 Comments

Here are some of my attempts at shooting with gels from a couple of years ago. Probably will shoot with gels again soon!

I am guessing threre is a typo in the headline and you wanted to write BLUE and orange? I am struggling to see the teal

zero gels
just imac screen(blue) + cheap home rgb strip (red)

Niiiiice!

Can't remember the last time I shot *without* gels :D

https://fstoppers.com/photo/449118

I love coming on here and seeing work that I think is similar to something I've done. Then looking at my own 'similar' shot and realising it's utter shit. Keeps me motivated. If you like the multi-toned gel look you should check out Nick Fancher, he's a genius with it.

https://www.nickfancher.com/blog/tag/chroma

Nick Fancher is one of my favourite photographers. I have all three of his books! ha ha

Same here!