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[OM] Re: Need advice on shooting under fluorescents

Subject: [OM] Re: Need advice on shooting under fluorescents
From: Jan Steinman <Jan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2003 18:06:41 -0700
>From: "Gary M. Teller" <gmteller@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>I've been asked to shoot the interior of a small (12'x 17') gift shop that
>is lit by 2x2 fluorescent fixtures (I'm guessing standard cool white bulbs)
>flush mounted with the ceiling tiles...

Ugh. Florescents are the pits.

>1.  Will an FL-D filter minimize enough of the greenish look fluorescents
>give off or should I use
>     a different filter?

The problem with florescent lighting is that it unpredictable. Unlike 
incandescent light, which essentially has a Gaussian spectral distribution, 
florescent light is "spikey", with widely varying amplitude spikes of a 
relatively few number of colors, which the eye/brain integrates into what we 
perceive as white.

The FL-D will probably help a lot, but if this is at all critical, it won't 
really do the job.

>3.  Would bouncing a flash off the ceiling tiles... be of much help.

Probably better than the florescents. Turn the lights off and try to do it all 
with flash, or try a variety of lighting to see what comes out best. Get the 
flash off the camera, if at all possible!

I'd take my studio strobes and soft boxes and turn out ALL the ambient 
lighting. If you control the lighting, you control the results!

>4.  Regarding the shelves mounted in front of plate glass:

I'd use crossed polarizers. Even if all you have is a "cobra" camera-mounted 
flash, you can put a polarizing filter on the flash and another on the lens and 
gain nearly complete control of such reflections.

-- 
: Jan Steinman -- nature Transography(TM): <http://www.Bytesmiths.com>
: Bytesmiths -- artists' services: <http://www.Bytesmiths.com/Services>
: HTML email goes right in the trash! Turn off HTML if you want to email me.

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