Flash Gels with Backdrops

Cavking

Cavking

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Name
Shane
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Hi guys 'n' gals

I have been looking through a portrait gallery and have noticed they have lovely deep blues and red radial glows in the centre with and outer jet black background.

Now is this due to a white background and a gel on the flash or a coloured background with a direct light?

I saw on that 'geordies' lecture that he said if he changed the f-stop, he could make the grey background either jet black or bright white - would this be a contributing factor?

Ill find an example if I can remember the website :thinking:
 
Most of us use a grey background and light it with gels as required. If there's plenty (and I do mean plenty) of lighting power then a jet black background is even better, or at least easier.

The darker the background, the more potential there is for variety - with a dark background the colour can be highly saturated, pastel or anything in between. If you use a white background you can only achieve pastel colours, for obvious reasons.
 
So the coloured gels would still show up on a black background?
 
Like this for example, would this be a black background with gels?

Glamour%20Portrait.JPG
 
Yes, that would be either a black or dark grey background with gels.

As I said earlier, black is the better choice IF you have enough lighting power. Basically the difference between black and white is around 5-6 stops. A red gel as in your example may be 2 1/2 stops brighter than black, the gel will probably absorb 3 stops.
 
Clever stuff. Thank you for your help! :)
 
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