General Colors

msawyer52

Active Member
Just a question for the group. What do you prefer to use as color for "general" daylight front wash?
 
It depends on the show your doing; I tend to use R18 for the warms and R65 for the cools, but you can go up or down to get the look you want, just don't forget that the intensity of your instraments can affect your look as well (I did that once and washed out all my other colour). Best of luck!
 
There are lots of great options for lighting. You really should let yourself free to experiment with combinations to get the one you really like for the show. However there are a lot of people just starting out who need a place to begin. So these are a couple of color combinations you just can't go wrong with. They are very high in transmission (very light in color) so consequently they have less overall lighting effect but that also makes them very safe for beginners.

For a lighter comical feel to a show: Warm: R33 No color Pink, Neutral: R51 Surprise Pink, Cool: R60 No color blue

For a neutral to more serious feel to a show: Warm: R06 No Color Straw, Neutral: R99 Chocolate, Cool: R60 No color blue

For a little more dramatic feel: Warm: R2/R3 chose an amber, Neutral: R99 Chocolate, Cool: R60 No color blue

As I said, you won't win any awards for these combos but they are very safe starting points. As you develop your skills you will find you can use colors that are in the deeper pinks, oranges, ambers, yellows, and blues very effectively. The trick is that those deeper colors react more with set and costume pieces so they take some practice to develop those skills. If you can, set up a little light box with 3 lights that you can easily drop gel into to experiment with color, it's the best way to learn.

Spend some time reading the Rosco Gel page. They have a little description by each color of how it's different and what it's used for.
 
Last edited:
Anybody tried the new R302? It's a light amber that is supposed to be designed for the HPL lamp.
 
I've seen L201 used extensively for the cools. You should see the L201 file in the gel file cabinet :shock:...actually I think there are two ;)

For the warms, I've seen a variety of stuff used. In our current show we're using a lot of R08 for the warms.

In high school we used R62 with R05. Worked out pretty well, skin tones were really nice with that combo.

I'd think the R18/R65 combo would be a bit too saturated for my tastes. I think L202 would be closer to R60, it's more of a 1/2CT than a full CT.

Never tried the new 302...don't even have it in my swatchbook (guess it's time to get a new one soon :p)
 
I think L201 is a little bit bluer than R60. L202 and R60 are very close to each other.

I haven't seen the new colors in a swatch book yet. I was given this funky sample envelope packet by my local dealer with half a dozen new colors in it.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back