Photographers who finished L101 or the subtractive path
Colour as a lighting tool — gelled backgrounds, opposing RGB rims, neon rooms, and projection that carries a picture. Continuous interior balance lives in Cinema & continuous light, not here.
Step 1 of 6
Gel the background alone — skin stays neutral while the backdrop goes saturated; colour is a separate source you can turn without touching the key.
A softbox key from camera-left with separate magenta and teal gel lights that paint the background and wrap the hair and shoulders for modern editorial color contrast.
Open the rig →6 setups — sign in and the path remembers which you have worked.
Start step 1
Colored Gel Background Portrait
Gel the background alone — skin stays neutral while the backdrop goes saturated; colour is a separate source you can turn without touching the key.
Open in Light BuilderLab
Color gel backgrounds
Saturate the backdrop while skin stays neutral.
Lab
Video projector as light
When the picture on the wall is also the key on the face.
Lab
Camera essentials
Exposure triangle literacy before you chase gel exposure shifts.
Work in order — each step opens the same setup in Light Builder with blackout first, then one light at a time.
Editorial
Gel the background alone — skin stays neutral while the backdrop goes saturated; colour is a separate source you can turn without touching the key.
A softbox key from camera-left with separate magenta and teal gel lights that paint the background and wrap the hair and shoulders for modern editorial color contrast.
Open in Light Builder
Cinematic
RGB tube rim against a warm practical — split colour on a desk portrait where each hue has a job: rim versus motivation.
An RGB tube light rims the subject from behind while a warm desk lamp provides the motivated key on the face for a creator-style cinematic portrait.
Open in Light Builder
Advanced
Opposing gel rims — fashion separation with a clean key and controlled skin; two colours from behind, one shape from the front.
A complex fashion portrait balancing a neutral soft key against opposing gelled rim lights — the hard part is keeping skin clean while color screams at the silhouette.
Open in Light Builder
Neon
Neon tubes as both set dressing and light — toggle the practical tube off and only the magenta key remains; colour in the environment is a source you can subtract.
Colored RGB tubes as practicals in a tight room. Moody, modern, cyberpunk.
Open in Light Builder
Cinema
The projector throws a picture as key — change the slide and both the wall and the face change together because the pattern is the source shape.
A digital video projector throws one slide onto the wall and the face — the same picture on both surfaces in a single rectangular field.
Open in Light Builder
Editorial
Optical gobo projection on fashion — graphic pattern as key; swap the stencil and the portrait turns stage-lit without moving a softbox.
An optical projector throws a hard patterned shadow across the subject and set.
Open in Light BuilderEach link opens the setup in Light Builder — blackout first, then one light per step. Switch to Free explore or the relight studio when you want to dial sliders live.