- Hey, guys, it's Dave here
from Creative Path Films and in today's video,
you're going to learn all about color correction gels.
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This video is the first
in a two-part series on lighting gels.
Today you're gonna learn about color correction gels
and in the next video, you'll learn about diffusion,
ND and effects gels.
In these two videos,
we're going to be going through the Master Location Pack
from LEE Filters.
Now, LEE Filters is one of the two leading manufacturers
of lighting gels, along with Rosco Filters.
And they've put together this fantastic all-in-one kit
to help you get started with your lighting gel collection.
Now, the one downside to this for me is the size.
I find that the sheets of gels in this
are just slightly too small.
They're okay for small lights
or up to about a one-by-one LED panel
but anything with barn doors,
you really have to close down those barn doors
to fit these gels correctly.
So anything larger than that,
you might want to look at their larger individual sheets
of lighting gel.
But the collection has so many gels in it.
They have 24 different types of gels
in this one pack and it's very affordable,
coming in I think at just over $50.
So it's a great starting place.
I'm gonna put a link for this kit down
in the description and this video
is in no way sponsored or endorsed by LEE Filters.
I just think this is a really useful kit
that they've put together.
So if you're brand new to lighting,
you might be thinking to yourself
well, what is a lighting gel
and what why do I need it?
One way to think
of it as a really expensive piece of cellophane.
It's basically a thin sheet of plastic
that is also heat resistant,
usually made of polycarbonate or polyester.
Gels can be used
to change the color of light stylistically,
as well as be used for color correction
to move a light's color temperature up
or down the Kelvin scale,
as well as along the green or magenta axis.
If you're unfamiliar with the Kelvin scale,
then I suggest going and checking out this video right here.
The two most common types of color correction gels
are called CTO, or color temperature orange
and CTB, or color temperature blue.
Let's start with CTB gels.
If you're working with tungsten halogen lights
that have a base color temperature of 3,200 Kelvin,
making them quite a warm light source,
and you'd like to match them with natural daylight
or other cooler light sources,
such as LEDs and HMIs,
that's where CTB comes into play.
Depending on the grade you use,
CTB can shift your tungsten lights
from 3,200 Kelvin all the way up to 5,600 Kelvin
or even further.
This conversion is called a mired shift.
There are four different grades of CTB included in the kit,
ranging from full CTB down to 1/4 strength.
And each of those will cut a certain amount
of output from your light,
so that's worth factoring in as well.
Now, for these light loss measurements
that I'll be giving you, where possible,
I've included the manufacturer's lab tested measurements
but for the gels where I couldn't find the information
on how many stops of light were cut by each gel,
I've take my own measurements
with a Sekonic L-758Cine light metre.
But I think that my light metre might be needing
to be calibrated slightly
as I found that some gels
were measuring bang on the manufacturer's spec
and others were off by up to about 1/3 of a stop.
So there might a little bit of variance.
So please bear that in mind.
And I'm also gonna have a downloadable
with all of the information
that I'll be taking you through today,
so you can keep that as a handy reference.
So check the link in the description
to download that one.
First, let's take a look at our setup
for our practical gel examples.
For today's live examples of each gel,
I've used an ARRI 650+ tungsten light
to showcase our CTB gels.
Now, I've started this out with some scrims
to help just cut down the amount of output
so it can match my other light source,
which is a one-by-one LED light panel
and this panel I'll be using to showcase the CTO gels.
I've shot these samples with my camera's white balance set
to both 3,200 Kelvin and 5,600 kelvin
so that you can see the effect
that each gel has at both white balance settings.
First off, let's have a look at a reference shot
with no gels applied.
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Now let's have a look at each gel individually.
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Let's start out with LEE 201 or full CTB.
This gel will convert a 3,200 Kelvin tungsten light
to 5,600 Kelvin daylight.
This gel has a 1 and 2/3 of a stop light reduction.
This is the gel to use
if you want to match your tungsten light to natural sunlight
or another daylight balanced light fixture.
The next gel is LEE 202 or half CTB.
This gel is half the strength
of full CTB and will convert a tungsten light
to 4,300 Kelvin, which is the approximate color temperature
of most common fluorescent lights.
This gel comes with a one stop light reduction.
Next is LEE 203 or 1/4 CTB.
This gel will shift your tungsten light
to 3,600 Kelvin, a fairly subtle shift
and has a light reduction of 2/3 of a stop.
One other CTB gel
that's worth noting but isn't included in the pack
is LEE 218 or your 1/8 CTB.
This will convert tungsten lights
to 3,400 Kelvin for a very, very subtle effect
and has a 1/3 of a stop light reduction.
Next, we have LEE 200 or double CTB.
And this gel is double the strength of full CTB,
converting a tungsten light to 26,000 Kelvin
for a two stop light reduction.
Another CTB that is included in the kit
is LEE 224 or Daylight Blue Frost.
This gel combines a LEE 201 full CTB
with a frost diffusion layer all-in-one gel.
This gel has a light reduction of 2 and 1/4 stops.
One thing I noticed about this gel
is compared to full CTB,
it has a noticeable tint towards red.
We'll be talking about diffusion gels in the next video,
so make sure you hit Subscribe
so you don't miss out on that one when it comes out.
Well, that's it for CTB gels.
Now let's have a look at CTO gels
or color temperature orange.
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These gels are designed
to take your daylight-balanced light fixtures,
such as LEDs and HMIs
and warm them up to match indoor tungsten sources.
I'm not entirely sure why LEE Filters decided
to use 6,500 Kelvin as its base daylight balance,
rather than the slightly more commonly used 5,600 Kelvin
but if you do know the answer,
please let me know down in the comments below.
If you're after that perfect daylight-to-tungsten conversion
from 5,600 to 3,200 Kelvin,
then the gel to look out for
is LEE 626 7/8 digital LED CTO gel,
which is not included in the pack.
First, let's have a look at a reference shot
with our daylight LED panel and no gels applied.
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There are three grades of CTO included in the pack.
Let's start with LEE 204 or full CTO.
This gel will convert 6,500 Kelvin to 3,200 Kelvin
and has a one stop light reduction.
Notice how full CTO is slightly warmer
than the neutral reference shot we saw before.
The next gel is LEE 205 or 1/2 CTO.
This gel converts 6,500 Kelvin to 3,800 Kelvin
and has a 2/3 of a stop light reduction.
Finally, we have LEE 206 or 1/4 CTO
and this gel converts 6,500 Kelvin
to 4,600 Kelvin for a 1/3 of a stop light reduction.
Again, we have one more gel
that's not included in the pack but is worth noting here
and that is LEE 223 or 1/8 CTO.
This gel converts 6,500 Kelvin to 5,550 Kelvin
for a 1/3 of a stop light loss.
So that's it for our CTB and CTO color correction gels.
Now let's have a look at some correction gels
that move the light source along the green
and magenta axis.
Let's start with LEE 219 or fluorescent green.
This gel is designed to be used on tungsten light sources
to match fluoro lights
where you don't know the exact color temperature.
This offers a medium level of correction.
This gel has a 1 and 1/2 stop light reduction.
Next is LEE 244 plus green.
This gel is designed to add a green cast,
which helps match tungsten or daylight fixtures
to discharge light sources.
This includes light sources,
such as high-pressure sodium lights,
which are commonly used in street lamps,
mercury vapor lights,
which are commonly used in warehouses
and industrial settings or metal halide sources,
which are commonly used in sports fields
and some street lamps.
This gel comes with a 1/2 of a stop of light reduction.
Also included is LEE 245 or 1/2 plus green,
which offers half the green cast strength
of the previous gel for a 1/3 of a stop light reduction.
So there you have it.
That is my introduction to the color correction gels
included in the LEE Master Location Pack.
Keep an eye out for the next video
where I'll be talking about diffusion, ND
and effects gels.
Also, don't forget to check the link down in the description
where I've put together a free downloadable
with all of these different numbers and values
for you to keep as an easy-to-follow reference guide.
I hope you found this video useful
and if you did, let me know by leaving a thumbs up.
Thanks for watching, guys
and we'll see you in the next one.
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