Reddit reviews Rosco Rosco Lux Small Swatchbook

I agree with u/greypowerOz, I'd definitely start looking into off-camera flashes! My favorite OFCs are actually super affordable, they're the Neewer TT560 and they're great starter flashes. You can also gel them really easily with a pack of these: https://www.amazon.com/Rosco-Lux-Small-Swatchbook/dp/B0002ER2YG. It's a sample cine gel pack; I got mine for free in film school but they're wicked cheap and the perfect size for flashes.

Here is a sample pack for $2.99 on Amazon.

Two of them:
First has one has multiple copies of commonly used ones (reddish, cyan, straw, CTO, CTB, etc) and they're a hair bigger (sized for speedlights)
http://www.amazon.com/Rosco-Strobist-Collection-1-5x3-25-Strobes/dp/B002SWIOOM/

This one is the original with one of everything they make (it was the original hack recommended on strobist).
http://www.amazon.com/Rosco-Lux-Small-Swatchbook/dp/B0002ER2YG/

I got some stick on velcro and use those to attach them to my speedlights.

Seriously, get yourself a Yongnuo. They're like, $40, and functionally similar to any branded speedlight. A demo pack of stage gels to slide over the strobe, maybe even a cheap as chips speedlight trigger, and you're set up for about 90% of speedlight work for less than a quarter of the price of an actual Nikon speedlight alone.

There's literally no reason to not go for it, and it opens up your shooting a lot.

Depends on the desk specs I would assume and if you want them to face outward towards the user. You’ll need something rigid to tack/attach the diffusion material and custom form it to the edge of the desk (if I’m understanding that correct, that is).

There are diffusion gels (they’re like thin plastic sheets - paper thin) and fabrics (typically used in photography) that you can cut and wrap around a frame. Order a Rosco Swatch Book to see what would work for you.

Or you can do indirect placement and put it under/behind the desk. Don’t necessarily need diffusion if you’re hitting the wall or something since you 1. Would be using the wall as a sort of diffusion and 2. Won’t be looking at it directly. Unless you can see hot spots/uneven light spread, you may not need anything.

Overall, I would recommend an aluminum rail LED strip housing with diffusion insert. I would recommend these for almost every home LED project, outside of anything drastic which would require much more work. This is the easiest and best looking solution.

I pickup up a set of these a little while back:

Rosco Rosco Lux Small Swatchbook https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002ER2YG?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

It was like $5. I pulled all of the shades of orange to find what works best with my phone/lights.

As a bonus there's a bunch of reds that you can cover your flashlight with to do some night creeping!

Here I did a bit of color mod. Was quick and simple. All I needed was this photo filter. Also, have many other colors for future mods too!. Got the idea from this clown. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0TbpmjHNTs&t=392s
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002ER2YG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Definitely gels as others have pointed out. To start out with, you can get a sample pack like this, and then tape the desired gel to your strobe.

I'm a former lighting tech, so my view is skewed, BUT:

I'd get yourself a Rosco Swatch Book (or another brand, but whatever), and test out the different diffusion "gels" they have. They're plastic film, and pretty temp tolerant you will not hurt them with these LEDs. make yourself a little holder frame, and see which you like best. Then, if the swatch isn't big enough, just order one sheet of that "color", which will be WAY more than you need.

disclaimer: I refer to these as "gels" "colors", etc. It will have Hundreds of colored gels, but also a lot of diffusion and other "effect" type films.

I use little squares of color gels for stage lights. they still let you see the ship behind the dial. I pain the bases to match the color of the gel so its easily transferable between lists.

something like this works great: https://www.amazon.com/Rosco-Lux-Small-Swatchbook/dp/B0002ER2YG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466784182&sr=8-1&keywords=gel+swatch+book

cheap and so many colors

"Gel" is indeed what you are looking for. (It's called gel because the filters used to be made from gelatin, but now it's a plasticy polyester film) What I would recommend is to find a theatrical supplies or lighting rental store by you and pick up a gel swatchbook so you can test the different colors on your actual lights. You may need to block the parts of the lights that the swatches don't cover, I'd suggest using aluminum foil and tape.

If you can't find a supplier near to you, you could order a swatchbook online: https://www.amazon.com/Rosco-Lux-Small-Swatchbook/dp/B0002ER2YG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495168846&sr=8-1&keywords=gel+swatchbook

In addition to the warmth, you might want to use a Rosco #119 or #114 which is a frost that will also help to soften the light.