Color gel

Color gel is a translucent or transparent coloured material that is used in theatre to colour light. Modern gels are usually made of polycarbonate or polyester, but the name arose from the gelatin originally used. See gel (theater).

Gels are also used in photography and cinematography for the purpose of color correction, and in this capacity are usually called color filters.

There are 3 main manufactuars for theater gels. They are Lee (http://www.leefilters.com/) Gam (http://www.gamonline.com/) and Rosco (http://www.rosco.com/).

An important note is that not all names are the same. For instance, they all have a bastard amber, yet Rosco's bastard amber is different from Lee's is different from Gam's.

An important note is that the gel color's are not referred to by names (like bastard amber) but are instead referred to by a letter and number combination. For instance, G841 is a dark blue made my Gam, and R02 is a light amber made by Rosco.

The companies make swatch books that are small books containing a sample of the gel colors for a designer to refer to so he knows what gels to choose for a particular show.