Spring sky: but what gel?

[DoctorStar]

Good afternoon,

 

I'm lighting a play that requires simple cyc lighting: spring sky. I have 3 x 3 coda available so what gel colour says spring sky? I am notoriously bad at picking colours from just looking and can't afford to get there by trial and error.

 

Thank you in advance

 

Ian

[alistermorton]

L202/L501? Gives a slightly cold bluey white colour. 202 is a bit greener than 501. Add a bit of 716 in from an adjacent cell to blue it up, perhaps, and some o/w to warm it.

 

Might look a bit too cold on its own.

 

If you want an early morning sky, a bit of L137 lavender in the mix?

[Just Some Bloke]

There is a big difference between the colour you would put in a face light and the colour you would put on a cyc. I might use 202 in facelight but never in a cyc as it would just look white (that's what 202 is for - to turn theatre lamps into white).

 

For me I always like as much primary blue as I can, then some lesser blue to shade it down a bit when required. I'd probably go with 119, 174 and 119 in my 3 frames. That would give me a good strong blue for nighttime and the ability to have brighter shades for other times of day. If you can use a couple of gobos to put some clouds (slightly soft focus) on there too then it would look even better (you could even do the clouds in 202 if you wanted), but make sure you shoot them in from somewhere that allows you to get right to the top of the cyc without hitting any borders. Stands in the wing maybe? If so make sure they both/all come from the same wing so you don't end up with shadows going in different directions - there's only one sun!

[alistermorton]

Gah ... flaming site just threw away my edit.

 

Yes, 202 whitens up tungsten, but it leaves a bit of green in there too, it's not as blue as 501. Add it to a bit of stronger blue (as we both suggested) and it can work to cool the colours. I've used it many times (and seen many others use it too) as a cover light rather than a face light to cool the look of a stage or cyc. A strong blue (but not as strong as say 120) mixed with 202 or 501 can look very winter/spring like.

 

It's all subjective, of course - there are CT gels which Lee suggest can be used for many purposes other than straightforward temperature correction.