TOTW: Theatrical Gels or Filters for Night Photography

Starry night over historic, Ward Charcoal Ovens near Ely, Nevada ~ © Royce Bair (click image to enlarge)

Our Tool(s) of the Week (TOTW) are the gels or filters used for color lighting effects in theatrical stage productions. In the above photo, the ovens were lit on the outside by a single Coleman-type camp lantern placed 210 feet (64 m) to the right of these 136-year old stone structures. Filtered, LED lights* were also placed in each of the six ovens to simulate a functioning, 1876 oven. (Photographed with a Canon 5D Mk3 • EF24mm f/1.4L II • f/2.8 • 13 seconds • ISO 8000.)

The filters over the LED lights were cut from a single, 20" x 24" sheet of Rosco Roscolux Gallo Gold. A Rosco Lux Small Swatchbook can help you choose the colors you want to use for your next lighting project.

*I used an Eveready LED Floating Lantern in each of the ovens. I laid each lantern on the ground, in the middle of the oven, and pointed its beam onto the roof and left side of the oven—filling the inside with reflected light. The filters placed lay over each lantern's large, flood-lamp type reflector.

More information on the Ward Charcoal Ovens can be found on my Flickr page.

Royce Bair is the editor of this blog and the photographer of the above image. Here is my gallery of NightScape images. My schedule of workshops, tutorials, and other events is available here.

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