The Lovegrove Studio Gel Collection ~ Colour chart and picture samples

Dec 31, 2009 | Flash, Studio | 40 comments

Here is the full colour chart showing picture samples taken with each of the 38 gels in the Lovegrove Studio Collection at various levels of illumination. The gels are listed in numerical order. The 38 gels each measure 12″x 12″ (305mm x 305mm). For the technical details of how these shots were taken please see my other post here. These shots are ‘straight from camera’ I used a Nikon D700 with a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens set at f/11 and I used the ‘flash’ white balance preset. All the shots were batch cropped to 10×8 proportions in Adobe Lightroom before being exported.

What’s your favourite colour? Let me know in the comments box below.

LC01

LC01

LC02

LC02

LC03

LC03

LC04

LC04

LC05

LC05

LC06

LC06

LC07

LC07

LC08

LC08

LC09

LC09

LC10

LC10

LC11

LC11

LC12

LC12

LC13

LC13

LC14

LC14

LC15

LC15

LC16

LC16

LC17

LC17

LC18

LC18

LC19

LC19

LC20

LC20

LC21

LC21

LC22

LC22

LC30

LC30

LC31

LC31

LC32

LC32

LC33

LC33

LC34

LC34

LC35

LC35

LC36

LC36

LC37

LC37

LC38

LC38

LC39

LC39

LC40

LC40

LC41

LC41

LC42

LC42

LC43

LC43

LC44

LC44

LC45

LC45

The pictures above show the 38 gels of the Lovegrove Studio Collection in numerical order. The missing numbers LC23 – LC29 are technical gels and are not part of this effects set. The gel sets are now in production and we should have stock in time for the SWPP convention in London at the end of January. The price of the full set will be determined once we have all the costings and is expected to be under £50.

My thanks go to Henri for modeling and to Lainie, Henri’s mum for looking after logistics during the shoot.

Please choose your favourite gel colours and let us know what they are. Plus feel free to comment, or ask questions below.

40 Comments

  1. youngjoo -kim (korean)

    I would like to purchase this set Please tell me how to purchase it

    Reply
    • Damien

      Hi youngjoo -kim,

      It’s Damien Lovegrove here. Thank you for your enquiry. We no longer have the Lovegrove Studio Gels in stock. The last batch took several years for us to sell and we don’t have immediate plans to restock. Maybe after Covid if photo shoots start to happen again the situation may change. Kindest regards, Damien.

      Reply
    • Graeme

      Hi all, I have an unused full set of these on eBay at present (item 184665708899) if anyone’s in need of a set!
      I hope you’re keeping well Damien. I had 2 separate days of 1 to 1 training with you, back in what now seems like the dark ages :-)
      I still remember it as great fun and it helped me become a better photographer.
      Keep safe and well everyone!

      Reply
  2. Thierry Botten

    I bought this set and I must admit I absolutely love them! They are all really useful and it’s simply soooo much easier switching a gell in the middle of a shoot than changing an entire coloured background paper roll. I highly recommend Damien’s set :-)

    Reply
    • Damien

      Thank you Thierry,

      Kindest regards, Damien.

      Reply
    • Damien

      Thanks Edgars :)

      Reply
  3. Bryan Grant Photography

    great demo thanks

    Reply
  4. Louise

    Thanks a lot for the information Blaise !

    Best regards

    Reply
  5. Blaise

    Hi Louise,

    Thanks for your interest. I tried to contact you by email today but it seems that perhaps your email address was incorrect and my emails have all bounced back.

    We are able to ship most items abroad and I believe that the Gels will cost around £14.00 to ship to Canada. The cost will always be calculated in the basket when you checkout.

    You can register online here : http://www.lovegroveconsulting.com/register.aspx

    and add the Gels to your basket here : http://www.lovegroveconsulting.com/lovegrove_gels.aspx

    I hope this helps!

    Regards, Blaise

    Reply
  6. Louise

    Hello

    I’m very interrested in these gels but I live in Montreal, Canada. Is it possible for me to order ? How much the shipping would cost ?

    Thanks

    Reply
  7. nitin satghare

    any color can be lighter or darker by it’s range of exposure,and
    i prefers backgroung in bettwen hilight on face and dark part of
    hair.thanks

    Reply
  8. Lenny

    I don’t think you are getting enough credit for all the wonderful colors here! It’s so hard to decide! Great work!

    Reply
    • damien

      Thanks Lenny, Credit accepted :)

      Reply
  9. Keith Adams

    lc45 is mine bright & vibrant

    Reply
  10. Gerry French

    These colors look fantastic. My question is if I want more of a circle behind the subject with darker coners, more like a vignette, do I reduce power on the backlight, reposition the backlight or a little of both.

    Reply
    • damien

      Hi Gerry, Use a tighter reflector on the flash or place it nearer to the wall. If you place the flash nearer to the wall it increases the distance and angle ratio from centre to edge of illumination giving you the desired effect. Cheers, Damien.

      Reply
  11. Pete Barnes

    Hi Damien,

    Just got your gels yesterday, love them, it’s a great collection, Looks like I’ll have to be getting a triflector now! the home made ones are just too fiddly. Love the shots you did with them and the blog in general. Thanks again

    Pete

    Reply
    • damien

      Hi Pete, When buying a triflector get the one that The Flash Centre sells. I’ve had mine for 15 years and it’s still working well.

      Reply
  12. Rollin McCarty

    I read your book “The Complete Guide to Professional Wedding Photography” last year. I found you yesterday on Twitter, then found your blog. I am totally impressed by how you use colored gels to change to color of your background. It sure beats my awkward method of changing the 9 foot paper roll every time I wanted to change the background color! Thank you for sharing your lighting setup. Great Blog!
    Rollin

    Reply
    • damien

      Hi Rollin,

      Welcome to Prophotonut. Thank you for your kind words about my book. Dig deep in the blog archives for more valuable feature length articles. Cheers, Damien.

      Reply
  13. damien

    Hi Mahbub and Dave.

    You are both very welcome. Keep popping back and don’t forget to rummage in the archives.

    Regards, Damien.

    Reply
  14. damien

    Hi Alex,

    Thanks for your kind words. Your 3 questions are not easy to answer. You need a wide angle reflector on your lamp – at least 60 degree. Maybe you are asking about the Triflector in front of the model. I didn’t use a 50mm lens, and my Studio is 7m x 6m. Take a look at this post for more info.

    Regards, Damien.

    Reply
  15. Mahbub Khan

    Damien,

    Whilst surfing the net today, happened to come across your site. Of course it was promptly bookmarked. A great site with bags of useful information.

    The gels…….well I love them all. I can see a use for every colour. Just need to get myself a bowens fit wide reflector to take advantage of the gels and to buy the gels too!!

    Keep up the good work and I’ll be visiting here more often now.

    Reply
  16. dave cooke

    I love the combiation print with all the different colors but in an individual print I love grey or white it is so much more classy

    Reply
  17. AlexSnaps

    A great series and love your style a lot. I havent seen more useful website for an ages. All the advise that you share with us is highly valuable and appreciated accordingly.
    I have one question though. I am just starting out in studio photography and i have built a studio in small living room. I have a grey background and i want to use gels to alter its color. Which reflector do you use for this purpose and what is the distance from background to light and from light to model, also how much space is left for you to take shots lets say with 50mm (waist level portrait)

    Reply
  18. Fergus Morley

    you’re right Damien. I recently did some pictures for a local theatre training course. some of the poses, never mind the facial expressions, were fantastic.

    Reply
  19. Fergus Morley

    Apart from being a fab set of pictures I can get great posing ideas from these. No doubt a combination of phtotographer & model working well together. Great stuff.

    Reply
    • damien

      Hi Fergus, It is often more important that your model exhibits excellent acting skills rather than fabulous looks alone. This was Henri’s first ever photo shoot. Luckily she has oodles of both attributes. Have a great 2010, Damien.

      Reply
  20. George

    This is great. Have you any tips for using gels on Speedlites? I always seem to get a white hotspot with them. Getting a rich colour seems difficult without finding a really dark filter.

    Cheers.

    Reply
    • damien

      Hi George, Speedlights are no different to studio flashes. They are capable of evenly illuminating a background. It might be that you are using too light a background. It doesn’t work on white.

      Regards, Damien.

      Reply
  21. damien

    Here are my favourites within this set of pictures of Henri. Each skin tone, fabric or mood requirement will suit different gels so this is by no means exhaustive. Remember this is a subjective process as can be seen by the variety of choices made so far.

    LC06 used high key and in mid tone.
    LC08 Big favourite of mine used high key.
    LC17 used high key and mid tone.
    LC20 Big favourite of mine at all tonal values.
    LC22 Works well in mid tone.
    LC30 Is fabulous used dark in low key pictures.
    LC32 is another big favourite at all tonal values.
    LC36 looks good at all shades too.
    LC38 is one of the best gels used mid tone and dark.

    I could see some colours would be ideal for shots of children while some others would suit politicians or judges. Making the right choice for the picture is the key to success with gels as it is with choosing a paint colour for a room.

    Damien.

    Reply
  22. damien

    Hi Neil, LC18 is a diffused gel. I showed the shot of the gel so you could see the diffusion and also the colour of the background without the gel.

    Diffused gels soften the light and are often used in follow spots on stage to light principal actors. I find they reduce shadows from flaws in paper background rolls.

    Cheers, Damien.

    Reply
  23. Rick

    LC12
    LC14
    LC16
    LC22
    LC30
    LC32
    LC34
    LC39
    LC40

    Reply
  24. Neil

    Great colour choices Damien.

    What’s happening in LC18, is that a piece of diffusion material she’s holding up and has that been used to affect the background of that 4th shot?

    Reply
  25. Nick

    LC01
    LC20
    LC36

    Reply
  26. Helen Spendlove-Hilder

    LC45

    LC44

    LC38

    struggling to choose just three, but these would be an interesting set to try out.

    Reply
  27. Chris

    LC01
    LC08
    LC20

    Reply
  28. Paul Gallagher

    LC23, LC13, LC10, LC20 are my favourite colours.
    The way you have them lit you are really getting 3 shades from each Gel on the background.
    I love the separation from the background in them all and the colours I have picked above are not distracting in any way from the subject.

    Reply
  29. Catherine Monfils

    Here are my 3 favourite colours Damien:
    LC20 – natural colour: beige
    LC32 – nice purple
    LC36 – shades of blue
    It will be interesting to see how to integrate these colours in natural environments/sets. x

    Reply

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