Adding color to a scene is a great way to exercise your creativity and add visual appeal to your portraits. One of the easiest ways to do so in real time involves adding colored gels to off-camera flash. The colors you choose can vary based on your mood or the mission of the shot, such as complementing the subject’s wardrobe or matching a brand’s color scheme for an ad campaign. In this article, we’ll share a step-by-step, advanced guide to using gels in the studio to help you create interesting, stylized portraits.
Video – Cinematic Portraits: Mastering Coloring & Light
Gear List
Here’s a list of the gear used to create the images featured in this tutorial:
- Canon R5
- Canon RF 28-70mm f/2 Lens
- Profoto B10 Plus OCF Flash Head
- Profoto B10 OCF Flash Head
- MagMod Dome Gels
- MagBox Pro 42” Octa
- MagMod Beauty Dish XL 20 Pro Kit
- MagMod Professional Strobe Kit XL
Like always, you can sub in whatever gear you have available to create your own version of the photos featured here.
With that said, let’s get into it.
The C.A.M.P. Framework
To make the most of each shoot, it helps to establish an efficient workflow. We recommend following the C.A.M.P. Framework. Simply put, this framework breaks down the portrait workflow into four basic steps, including 1) Composition, 2) Ambient Light, 3), Modify/Add Light, and 4) Pose & Photograph. In this article, we’re going to focus mainly on modifying added light, but each of the other steps outlined in the framework are equally important. If you’re not already familiar with the C.A.M.P. Framework, be sure to check out the article via the link above for more information.
3-Light Setup for Portraits
For this series of shots, we’re going to use a 3-light setup, and we’ll walk through each one to illustrate how it adds to the overall image. We’ll cover color options in more detail below, but we decided to use an analogous color scheme for this series of photos, and we chose purple and red, which we’ll add to our lights using MagMod Dome Gels.
Key Light
When we’re shooting in the studio, we typically start with the main light. In this scenario, we’re using a Profoto B10 Plus with a MagMod Dome Gel inside of a MagBox Pro 42” Octa, and placing it on a C-Stand. We’ve positioned the light just above and in front of our subject so that the light falls in a slight Butterfly lighting pattern (really, it’s more of a basic overhead light).
Here’s a test shot that shows what we get with just the main light before adding kicker lights or colors to the scene. Our subject is positioned at the edge of the softbox so that the light can fall softly onto our subject’s face. Softboxes work great for creating this effect.
Adding Color to the Key Light
Here’s an interesting note about adding color to your light source. We’re used to the idea that when we add colors together, we push the colors closer to black. With light, however, we move closer to white. So, the more power we add to the light source, the closer we get to white. If we want more richness in color, then we actually need to darken things down. If we want brighter colors, then we brighten things up.
Here’s what we get straight out of the camera after darkening down the settings to create a moodier shot. Whatever look you’re going for, be sure to get the first light set up the way you like before you start adding complexity to the scene with additional lights.
Kicker #1
Once the main light is set, we can move on to the second light. It is with the second light that we’ll begin to mix our colors. We mentioned above that we chose an analogous color scheme and started with purple for our main light. For this kicker light, we’ll add a red MagMod Dome gel to MagMod’s new Beauty Dish, which we’ve previously compared to their MagBox Pro 24” Octa. Remember, you can use whichever modifier you’d like, but MagMod’s system of modifiers work well and make it easy to control the light. Speaking of which, we added a grid to the Beauty Dish for added control and minimal light spill.
We’ve placed the second light camera left, just behind and off to the side of our subject. Notice that the subject is posed with a slight angle to face her towards the light sources, and this kicker light is pointed directly towards her from a slight top-down angle.
Here’s a look at what we get with a two-light setup. You can see the colors starting to take effect. If you’re happy with the light direction, you can then further dial in the flash power to balance the lights & colors as you see fit.
Here’s a follow-up image after making a quick power adjustment to the second light.
Kicker #2
While the portrait looks nice as is, it feels like we’re missing something on the right side of the image. Enter our third light for this three-light setup. This time around, we’re going to modify the light source using MagMod’s Reflector XL, which is part of the Professional Strobe Kit XL. You can see our earlier hands-on session with the kit here. We’re also going to stick with another red MagMod Dome Gel to keep the color coming from the kicker lights consistent. Adding a grid to the zoom reflector will also give us added control.
We’ll place this light off to the side, camera right, and aim it towards the back of our subject’s head to create a nice rim light. We’ve positioned the light a bit more behind to keep the light from spilling onto the face.
From here, you can continue to make little adjustments to light power, the position of the lights, or even your subject’s pose until you’re satisfied with the results. It’s also good to remember that you can make additional adjustments in post if necessary.
How to Choose and Control Colors
Now that we’ve worked through the shot, let’s dive a little deeper into how we arrived at our chosen color scheme.
Once you have the basic lighting setup ready, you can start choosing an actual color palette. In truth, you can plan the color concept even before you do anything else. Either way, our favorite tool for planning out a color scheme is Adobe Color. Here’s how we use it.
Adobe Color & Choosing a Color Scheme (Harmony)
To start, you will select a key color. For this session, we’ve chosen the color purple as our main color. You can choose whichever color you like. After you’ve selected a color, Adobe will suggest other colors based on a specific color harmony that you select.
Three of the more common color harmony options include analogous, monochromatic, and complementary.
Analogous Colors
Analogous colors include colors that are close to your primary color on the color wheel. For instance, we’ve selected purple, so Adobe is suggesting different shades of magenta and orange, as well as blue and a mix of purple and blue on the other side. These are all colors that are going to look fairly harmonious with each other.
Complementary Colors
Unlike analogous colors, we have complementary colors. This color scheme presents more contrast with colors that stand opposite one another on the color wheel. So, if we select purpIe as our main color and choose a complementary color scheme, Adobe will suggest different greenish tones. You’ll see this scheme used often in Hollywood movies, with teal and orange being a popular go-to color scheme.
Monochromatic Colors
Finally, if we want a harmonious color scheme that combines colors that fall in the same color line, then we might go with a monochromatic color scheme. That doesn’t mean that everything is black and white. Actually, it means that everything falls within the same line or the same shade of color on the color wheel. Again, if we choose purple, Adobe will give us a row of different purples that would blend well together, giving us an extremely harmonious look to the colors within this scene.
Finalize Colors in Post
Again, you want to get as close to the final look as possible in-camera, but you should also know that you have a lot of added control when it comes to processing the image in post. For example, inside of Lightroom, you have highlights, shadows, whites, blacks, and more, all of which can be adjusted to bring home the final image. You also have tone settings, which you can adjust to really dial in a precise color.
Conclusion
We hope that you found this tutorial on creating cinematic portraits with coloring and light helpful. Be sure to choose a nice color scheme up front, and use tools like Adobe Color (or even a basic color wheel) to help select the actual colors. Having access to modifiers like those featured in MagMod’s lineup definitely make it easier to set up multiple lights and quickly dial in your intended look, you can use whatever tools you have available to create incredible shots. It just takes a bit of creative thinking and practice, practice, practice.
