Dumb question; Bastard Amber

[George Ebersole]

When I used to grip a lot I heard lots of calls for Bastard Amber, but I never noticed anything significant in the dailies on any of the commercials or features I worked on.

 

Can someone tell me what Bastard Amber does to a light, and how it shows up on film?

 

Thanks much.

[George Ebersole]

not one of you people knows?

[Stuart Brereton]

Bastard Amber is a Pinkish/Orange gel. I used to use it as part of a High Pressure Sodium look.

[David Mullen ASC]

Never used it far as I know, but I assume it is amber-colored as the name suggests.

[Stuart Brereton]

Never used it far as I know, but I assume it is amber-colored as the name suggests.

It's actually not amber, certainly not compared to Pale Amber, or Medium Amber. Bastard Amber is much more pink, very similar to LEEs Pale Gold & Gold Tint, or LEE 147 Apricot.

 

I used to combine it with varying strengths of CTO to get a Sodium look.

[George Ebersole]

Thanks everyone. A lot of the gaffers I worked with always had a roll of the stuff hanging around. It was more of a gold stripe gel, but I never saw appreciable change in the dailies.

 

I figured people swore by the stuff because it was used an awful lot on film shoots.

[Tom Coughlin]

Bastard Amber is a theater specific gel color--it's slightly green deficient. When you light people with it, the human eye is tricked by the shortage of transmitted green light, which creates a visual impresson that the subject is slightly out of focus due to differences in focal points between red light and blue light in the human eye. Takes a few years off a leading lady.

[Stephen Selby]

Give ROSCO and LEE a ring and purchase a swatch pack - invaluable. I've got some bastard in the loft - though haven't used it much - only tend to use CTOs and CTBs.