Rogue Gels by Expoimaging

The new Rogue Gels come in two different versions. The first is the Rogue Gel's Universal Lighting Filter Kit and the second is the lighting filter gel kit for the Rogue Grid. Both kits come with 20 gels for a wide variety. The two sets offer the same color choices and options, but two different mounting methods.

The Universal Lighting Filter Kit is just what it sounds like: universal. This gel kit has a Gel-Band that attaches around the flash, along the lines of a custom shaped rubber band. You then take the tabs of the gels and tuck them into the side of the Gel-Band.

The gels are cut so that you can leave a bit of space between the head of the flash and the gels. The Gel-Band is a very secure fastener, it is not going to ever fall off of your flash, and the gels are held tightly and not going anywhere.

That being said, I do wish that the Gel-Band was similar to the Rogue Tension Strap found on the Honeycomb Grid. The way that the Tension Strap mounts is great and with a very small modification I am sure that it could be converted into a gel holder. But I am sure that would raise the cost significantly so it is all a matter of trade off.

The Rogue Gels lighting filter kit for the Rogue Grid is perfect in its integration with the grid. You place the gel between the bezel and the honeycomb. The two pieces line up via the grooves on the bezel and the honeycombs. It is super easy to put together and the gels cannot go anywhere because of the grids design.

In the spirit of keeping this “fresh” and trying new techniques, I decided to use these gel kits to enhance the natural tones of the location and the model. By putting a gel on my flash unit mounted in a Westcott 28” Apollo I filtered the light bringing it to a nice warm tone that complimented the model and the tones of the location.

Another technique that I tried was placing an amber gel on a flash and then bouncing the colored flash off of the wall bringing in again some warmer tones to the shot.

These two gel kits are fully capable of dealing with not only color correction but also with dramatic lighting situations. They are a truly comprehensive gel set. With 20 gels in each of these kits you have a wide range of colors to blend in or change altogether. I tried mainly to enhance the colors present instead of completely changing what was there, but these make it easy to accomplish either task.

One of the things that I love about the Rogue line is that they are small modifiers that have big results.

I always make sure to have these modifiers in my kit, every shoot. Their sublimity has a huge impact on the shot, and I love having them as an option providing so many different possibilities.

At the end of the day I find both the Rogue Universal Filter kit and the Rogue Gels lighting filter kit for the Rogue Grid just as versatile as the other light modifiers in the Rogue series. I believe Expoimaging has created a very well designed line of flash modifiers that every photographer should try.