Apply Gels before or after white balanec?
 

I'm lighting a small staged production using a combination of Pars. The lights have to be gelled (using bastard amber/no-color blue for key & fill, and pale lavender for backlight). Standard issues--balancing 'theatre' lighting with video lighting, audience is more important than video, etc.. In general, is it better to white balance with bare lamps and *then* put the gels on? Or is it better to put the gels on and *then* white balance? My camera is a GL2. I'd like to capture some of the ambience of the situation.

Thanks,
Matt

In most circumstances, you'll want to white balance to either 3200K tungsten preset, or to white with un-gelled lamps. That will give you a true rendition of the color of the lights after the gels are placed on them.

-gb-

Yeah, I'd white balance before putting the gels on.

It depends on what you're going for. If you're just trying to match indoor and outdoor lighting, gel first and then white balance. For instance, put your CTO Blue on indoor tungsten lights and then white balance.

You will definitely want to light balance first and then gel if you're going for a color effect. Obviously, if you gel first trying to get a color, and then white balance, it will negate the effect you were going for.

Hope this makes sense.

Kevin