Color gel filter vs. color cellophane

[greg194799]

Color gel filter vs. color cellophane

I want to get a color onto my white background; I have read that to do this I would need to place a color gel between the background light and the white background.
What I’m using for the background light is a small flash unit (Vivitar 215) with a paper tube taped onto it for a snoot. “Real high technical stuff”. What I would like to know is could I used color cellophane instead of color gel and get the same results?
I’m not getting into the Portrait business just shooting the wife and kids.

Thanks for any help you can give,

Greg

[BWangPhoto]

Not sure that the cellophane and the small flash would have enough color intensity. Secondly, if you are wanting a bright, deep color on the background, white paper will not work - You should be using black. And I imagine the Vivitar flash unit will not have enough power to cover the background.

[DeannaD]

Could you just surprise your wife with some new bedsheets that happen to be in the color of the background you want?

[dminton]

As long as it's on a speedlite you will be ok. The difference would become really clear if you tried to put the colored cellophane on a studio flash and watched it MELT.