Color Correction Filter Stragedy

[nickandre]

So I picked up a color meter so that I can meter for colors.

Are Kodak Wratten Gelatin 3x3 filters usable in front of a lens? If so, how do I mount them? Or what strategies do people use when shooting in differing lighting?

I have a kit of lil flash color correctors with a high tech rubber band, which should work fine there.

 

[DREW WILEY]

True Wratten gels can be used in front of a lens with an appropriate holder, but are fragile, collect embedded dirt easily, fade, and are darn expensive. You'd be better off taking some representative readings with your color meter and finding out what you specifically need, and perhaps buying more durable acrylic resin filters instead. There are two categories involved : LB filters (amber versus blue), and CC filters. It is hard to find the glass ones anymore. One way to get a full set cheaply is Lee polyester filters instead of real gels. These are inferior in optical quality, but are good for light balancing tests in advance. Or learn how to work with "lighting gels" over your flash itself as the primary form of correction. Apparently you already have a starter set of these; so you might need to supplement them with only a few select lens filters to fine-tune your expected results.