DIY Flash Gel Filters

This summer I acquired a lot more strobes and my lighting kit as well. Been trying to and meaning to experiment a lot with it.

One of the first things I did was to go out and make my own gels/filters and figure out a way to mount them.

Gels are handy for many different things. You can use Tungsten/Fluorescent (Orange/Green) gels to change your flash's color to match the ambient and to set your camera's WB accordingly.

Beyond that, I ordered these nice little gel samples from B&H and they gave me about 40981 different colors. They're having a hard time keeping them in stock though. I'd suggest signing up for e-mail alerts to increase your chances.

Without further adieu...

Materials Required:

• Name tag holders
• A knife, scissors, Xacto, box cutter, etc.
• Gels!!!
• Velcro
• Common sense

Now on with it.

1. Cut the name tag holder to a size that will fit over your flash head

2. Add velcro to the ends of the cut out piece and to your flash head.
I used the soft end on the tags and the hooked ends on the flash head

3. Insert Gel into the nifty little holder you made and place on flash

4. Enjoy!

Here are just a few samples:

Danny Kim and Nancy Hwang eSession

I met Danny my freshman year at the U of I. He was my co-leader my freshman year and the craziest person I know. From singing crazy songs, to giving rides to drug dealers, this guy is the real deal :). I met Nancy earlier this year when I ninja'd the proposal. I had a great time shooting for them at Northwestern and Evanston (first eSession!).

Best wishes to the both of you on your upcoming marriage!

Weekend Shoots

I'm currently at home in Chicago to do a couple of shoots.
Shot with Danny and Nancy who are set to get married on August 9th!
Hit up Northwestern campus and Evanston beach and had tons of fun.

Today I'm heading up to the Botanic Gardens and shooting for my sister and her sorority sisters. Should be interesting.

Will definitely post some pics up when I'm back on campus.

Look forward to a post on DIY flash gel/filters and practical uses (as seen on Strobist)

Have a great weekend!

The Circular Polarizer

When starting photography I heard all this chitter chatter about filters, all these different types, sizes, pros, cons, etc.
There were UV, skylight, CPL's (the topic of today's post), ND, color, etc.

I started out using UV filters for protection, but then now I simply resort to lens hoods to protect my front element. If I'm caught in a sandstorm, maybe I'll throw on my UV filter.

The circular polarizing filter (CPL) is an incredibly useful tool to have handy in a kit.

It can cut reflections in glass and water, give skies a deep blue look, and also serve as a faux ND filter and cut a stop of light if conditions are too bright.

Here are just a few samples of what a CPL can do.













All of these were shot at similar settings with the only difference being a turn of the CPL filter