Dear Ken,
There are many types of fluorescent tubes, all different colors that changes with age. In almost any installation, you can count on finding mixed tubes of variuos vintages.
Depending on how important this photography is, you could test on location before the assignment or get similar tubes and test them in a studio setting. My suggestion is just get close - fillter your flash and do WB for it. Let the background color fall where it wants. If you can, shoot RAW and then you get another chance to color correct in post production.
I could never do that last trick with film.
Stan Patz NYC
[EMAIL PROTECTED] www.PatzImaging.com
Thanks a lot, you guys. It sounds like you're saying a DSLR has no real advantage over a film camera in this regard. I suppose for available florescent light only, white balance replaces the necessity for a CC, FL Day or similar filter, but the addition of flash into the formula eliminates this advantage?
I had indeed thought of overpowering the ambient FL light with flash, but it seems to me that would require more powerful light, such as studio strobes or something similar. Not always feasible with location shooting. But filtering the source I had never thought of! Probably not practical in this one room, as there are probably 16 8-foot bulbs or so, all about 20 feet up.
Filtering the flash to *match*, rather than counter (magenta) the ambient light is a new idea to me too. Makes sense and I might try it, although if it isn't an exact match I see new problems arising. Without owning a colorimeter, do you know if there is data on florescent bulbs that would guide one in selecting filtration?
Ken
At 01:00 PM 4/9/2005, you wrote:
As an alternative, you could filter the fluorescent lights. Rosco also sells magenta tubes that you can put over the fluorescent tubes to "convert" them to daylight.
I think you'd be better off trying to bring all the sources to near-daylight than to try to convert your flash to match the fluorescents. Harder on-site, but much easier from that point on.
You could also overpower the ambient light by using lots of powerful flash. Once the ambient light is 2 or 3 stops darker than the flash illumination, it will be relatively inconsequential.
Mr. Bill
Stan Patz wrote:
To Ken and the group,
Shooting flash against fluorescent is a classic problem with no easy solution. I often come across it when photgraphing interiors.
I cannot advise you how to use your G2, but if you want to record some of the ambient fluorescent light, I suggest you filter the flash. Put something like a 30CC green over your flash. This is available as an inexpensive "gel" from various manufacturers like Rosco and Lee. If you have a small strobe, you might be able to cover the head with a "swatch" from the manufacturer's sample book.
Stan Patz NYC
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