I can hardly say I have a lot of experience with gels, although I do use them occasionally. Here is the setup I use – its main advantage being that it’s very inexpensive…
Required Equipment:
– Rosco sample gels from B&H: 1.84 USD
– clear plastic from just about any plastic packaging: normally 0$, unless you specifically buy something for the packaging… 🙂
– lighter or candle: 1.50$ if you don’t happen to have any in your home.
– tape: ummm, maybe I will stop trying to price things…
The Procedure:
1) Wait for the gels to arrive. This can take quite a while, as they are often out of stock at B&H.
2) Label the gels you are likely to use! There are well over 200 gels, and if you get them mixed up…. The ones you are likely to use are CTO (for making the flash the colour of incandescent bulbs) Tough Plusgreen (for making the flash the colour of fluorescent light) and possibly Blue, Straw, Green, depending on what kind on light is coming in the window…
3) Cut the plastic to the right size.
4) Use the lighter to soften the plastic so that it bends nicely. This can take some practise.
5) Bend into shape as soon as it is softened. Expect the first few not to work right…
6) Tape it onto the flash.
