Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Color plays a major role in defining the look and feel of my work, but every color choice is intentional. I build my images around color theory and carefully considered color harmonies.

In this video, I’ll show you two of my favorites for fashion photography, analogous and complementary, and how to create them using speedlights and MagMod’s magnetic gels.

I'll walk you through building a full scene with four speed lights using blues, pinks, and purples for a quiet, harmonious analogous look.

Then I'll flip the mood entirely with a complementary palette of blue against a warm yellow-orange backdrop for graphic, high-contrast impact. Along the way, I cover a free interactive tool for planning color schemes, the right way to control white-light spill that desaturates your colors, and the subtle blocking interplay between foreground and background so your tones stay clean and saturated.

👉 How to plan a color story with the Adobe color wheel (visit https://color.adobe.com)
👉 Controlling light spill with structures so background color doesn't mix with subject color
👉 Building an analogous setup with a blue fill, pink rim, and purple accent
👉 Flipping to a complementary blue and yellow-orange scheme for bold contrast
👉 Using hard light for dramatic apparent style and luxurious reflections on fabric
👉 Treating shadows as dry areas that absorb color for deeper saturation


💡Lighting

✅ Main light: speedlight pooled with gel plus a grid to control the light falling on both the subject and the background (analogous: blue; an alternative light on the right for complementary scenes)

✅ Fill light on the left: speedlight with blue for the base color of the scene

✅ Rim light on the back left: speedlight with pink gel to separate the subject from the background

✅ Background accent: a fourth speedlight behind the subject pointed back toward her at high power to bounce purple-like reflections off the dress

✅ Background lights for the complementary setup: two speedlights on each side with yellow and CTO gels stacked to light a warm yellow-orange backdrop evenly when you have funneled gels.



📸 Camera Settings: (both images)

✅ 1/200th
✅ F5.6
✅ ISO 800 (640 for the second image)


📸 MagMod gear featured:

✅ MagMod Pro Creative Gels: magnetmod.com/c0wvld
✅ MagGrid 2: magnetmod.com/dnliuc
✅ MagShoe 2: magnetmod.com/oqaul7
✅ MagStand: magnetmod.com/r5iw4v


📸 Gear:

✅ Canon EOS R5 Mark II: https://prf.hn/l/ZQ4yPV9/
✅ Canon RF 24-105: https://prf.hn/l/55AEzkR/
✅ Flashpoint Zoom Li-Ion III R2 TTL: https://prf.hn/l/Wo3AxeQ/
✅ Flashpoint R2 Pro MarkII 2.4 GHz TTL Flash Trigger: https://prf.hn/l/0eR0pPN/
✅ Savage Universal Fashion Gray: https://prf.hn/l/7gzpjPy/

🔥 Interested in learning more about gels. Check out my class the Magic of Gels: 👉 https://lindsayadler.photo/gels


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👉 Portfolio: lindsayadlerphotography.com
👉 Instagram: instagram.com/lindsayadler_photo
👉 Facebook: facebook.com/lindsayadlerphotography
👉 Twitter: twitter.com/lindsayadler
👉 Education: learn.lindsayadlerphotography.com

Some of the links in this description contain affiliate links to partners.