This is a guest post about experimenting with gelled speedlights to enhance images written by Taryn Truese.
I have really been digging the products ExpoImaging has to offer. I just recently acquired the “Lighting Filter Kit” and thought that this would be a great time to test them out. I decided to dress my co-worker, Kristina, up as an anime alien. We created a cool textured background for a previous Unique workshop and decided to utilize it one last time before it was recycled. However, the image was a little bit plain and I wanted to enhance it with some color. Time to break out with the gels on my speedlights! 
“I’m so sad, this picture isn’t colorful enough” 
1. I pointed the gels towards the backdrop. I used a blue gel on one side and a purple gel on the other. I also used an un-gelled speedlight with a Rogue Flashbender as my key light.
The key light will illuminate Kristina but not much of the background.
If the speedlights are positioned towards the background, it will create color on the backdrop.
*Note: The two large lights are Westcott TD5 Continuous Fluorescent, mainly used to focus in the dark room. 
This is Kristina with the Flash Bender Keylight and the two gelled lights pointing towards the background.
2. For different variation, I turned the speedlights to illuminate the backside of Kristina and not illuminate the background. I left the key light as is.
*Note: Kristina was moving into position and will actually be facing forward and not sideways when her picture is taken
The lack of Color on the background made me sad, but I liked the effect of the purple gel on her hair, even though her hair was blown out.
3. I decided to put one gelled light towards the background and one facing Kristina. As shown in this Behind the Scene Image:
And this is what it came out as: 
Overall, I really enjoyed experimenting with the gels. Now I have to learn to control my light ratios, especially with the loss of stops due to the gels on the speedlights, to create a nice even, well lit tone across the image. Although I kept and enjoyed having the hair blown out, it’s not necessarily something I would want to do in future images.
