Question about gels

If your scene is lit solely by, say, 1 flash (that is, you've killed the ambient), is there any reason in any context in which it makes sense to gel that flash ? We're presuming you're shooting in RAW and can adjust color balance in post.

My intuition is that there isn't--except maybe if treating the gel as a density filter in a pinch.

If flash is your only light source then I can't think of a reason to gel it.

If you consider linear polarized film a gel, then the answer to your question is yes.
Farmer

Sure there is. A CTO is a great way to "warm up" a person and make skin tones more pleasing. Or what if the light is just crappy so you want to kill it but you still want that beautiful sunset light? Well hey throw a CTO on to the flash

gremlin75 wrote in post #16456755
Sure there is. A CTO is a great way to "warm up" a person and make skin tones more pleasing. Or what if the light is just crappy so you want to kill it but you still want that beautiful sunset light? Well hey throw a CTO on to the flash

I agree. Here's a shot Syl Arena did with flash only:

http://www.borrowlense​s.com …rena-Chicago-Bob-9067.jpg

gremlin75 wrote in post #16456755
Sure there is. A CTO is a great way to "warm up" a person and make skin tones more pleasing. Or what if the light is just crappy so you want to kill it but you still want that beautiful sunset light? Well hey throw a CTO on to the flash

However, one can achieve an identical result simply by altering the WB value applied to a RAW file, to have the same WB warmth corresponding to the value of CTO gel which might be used! The OP did emphasize that this discussion was in the context of flash as the ONLY light source...so whether you gel the flash or lower WB in post has identical result.

I'm with Wilt.
When you're shooting RAW, the output can be as warm or cool as you want it to be.

That's an even more obscure exception than the density filter one I offered !

farmer1957 wrote in post #16456716
If you consider linear polarized film a gel, then the answer to your question is yes.
Farmer

A related question. Let's say you're setting up to photograph an apple that is of a very saturated red hue. If I, for whatever strange reason, shot this with a flash with a red gel, is it possible to so 'oversaturate' the image that even the RAW doesn't have the latitude to 'bring back' the apple to it's normal color ? Would the need to reduce overall exposure to prevent clipping of the red channel (this might be nonsensical) result in a lower quality image than had I shot the photo with no gel ?

In the post just above, the color gamut limitations of the sensor come into play be before the gamut of the raw file is considered. And yes the sensor can be overwhelmed, so to speak, and leave you with a degraded image.

You wouldn't even need to shoot a red apple, just using red gells can get you there.

gremlin75 wrote in post #16456755
Sure there is. A CTO is a great way to "warm up" a person and make skin tones more pleasing. Or what if the light is just crappy so you want to kill it but you still want that beautiful sunset light? Well hey throw a CTO on to the flash

drvnbysound wrote in post #16456774
I agree. Here's a shot Syl Arena did with flash only:

http://www.borrowlense​s.com …rena-Chicago-Bob-9067.jpg

I think you guys are misunderstanding the function of a gel

A gel is to either align, or deliberately misalign, the colour temperature of flash in relation to ambient light/another light source

Using gels when you only effectively have 1 light source is a waste of time and not what a gel is designed for

smorter wrote in post #16457897
I think you guys are misunderstanding the function of a gel

A gel is to either align, or deliberately misalign, the colour temperature of flash in relation to ambient light/another light source

Using gels when you only effectively have 1 light source is a waste of time and not what a gel is designed for

Feel free to tell that to Syl... I simply provided a link to some work that he's done

drvnbysound wrote in post #16457935
Feel free to tell that to Syl... I simply provided a link to some work that he's done

Proves, once again, that what 'the experts do' is not necessarily the only way or the best way to get something done.
It is like hearing pros describe light readings with incident meters at 'pro' workshops in photography...one says "do it A", the other says "do it B" and neither could articulate circumstances under which A might be better than B, or B might be better than A. (been there, heard that!)

drvnbysound wrote in post #16457935
Feel free to tell that to Syl... I simply provided a link to some work that he's done

there is a double shadow on the back wall. Was he matching ambient?

with no other information, who knows?

I also didn't say that it was the best way, nor the only way...