* Dumb Question * Can you use Gels outdoors?

[e02937]

I am intrigued by gels. Even with shooting with a flash is pretty new to me but gels seem pretty inexpensive and look like they might be fun. Can they be used outdoors during the day or at night? Will they have any appreciable affect?

[Seanzky]

Yes. As long as the flash is effective so too will the gels in front of them.

[Big Mike]

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[Dermit]

I use gels outdoors all the time for the same reason you might use them indoor. One thing I like to do is set a light temp correcting gel on the flash and then set the white balance on camera to that color temp. So for example shoot with incandescent/tungsten white balance outdoors and it will make things look very blue. But add a CTO gel on the flash and now any subject the flash lights up will be color corrected, but backgrounds, etc. out of range of the flash will be blue still. It can create a very nice effect if you know what you want.

[Curtis N]

If you use fill flash during the early morning or late afternoon, you'll need a gel to lower the flash color temp to match the ambient. Things can look pretty unnatural otherwise.