Flash gels are pieces of coloured transparent plastic film that you can place in front of a strobe or external flash to change the colour of light being emitted.

In our last post post about fire photography, we described the setup for photographing fire.  In preparation for our creative shoot next week, we had a second round of fire photography, this time in combination with coloured gels.

One of the difficulties we encountered was that white cornflour dust would show up starkingly white when flashed with white light, as in the picture below.

Playing the reflective properties of the white cornflour dust to our advantage, we placed a piece of red cellophane in front of the flash.  These are cheap and easily obtainable from a dollar shop.

Observe the drama added to the setup.

We did have to spent a bit of time cleaning up the mess we made 😛

But the results were worth it!

These images were created in safe conditions with water and fire extinguishers within easy reach.  Be safe and have fun!

Zhi

• Aperture: ƒ/6.3
• Camera: Canon EOS 6D
• Focal length: 165mm
• ISO: 200
• Shutter speed: 1/160s