PDA

View Full Version : Color film for mixed lighting?



Richard Wasserman
28-Mar-2011, 09:10
I need some recommendations for a color—preferably negative—film to use in a building interior. This place is lit with just about every source imaginable—flourescent (I don't know what temp, probably whatever they could get cheap), incandescent, halide, daylight, you name it. I'll be scanning. Thanks!

Kirk Gittings
28-Mar-2011, 09:13
When I was shooting color negs for commercial architecture, maybe 5 years ago. I always found the Fuji films to be the most forgiving. I'm not sure what is available these days.

bgh
28-Mar-2011, 10:21
I used some Kodak Portra 400NC last year while shooting a church interior which had a similarly mixed bag of lighting, and was very pleased with it.

Bruce

Richard Wasserman
28-Mar-2011, 10:55
I use and like very much the Portra films, although I have only used them in daylight. I just checked B&H, and they are pretty much my only option, so I'll give Portra 400 a try. I can go and test a roll before I do the actual project itself in 4x5.

Greg Lockrey
28-Mar-2011, 10:59
Chose the predominant light source and filter the others to match.

sully75
28-Mar-2011, 14:27
hate to say it but that sounds like an awesome place to use good ol' digital.

Richard Wasserman
28-Mar-2011, 15:14
I don't think my D40 is going to give me the quality I need.

I'm not sure filtering is in the cards either as this is sort of a one time event for me (I think) and I would need to filter each shot differently. Add to that the fact that I don't have the filters, and don't really know precisely what to do with them.....

If I shoot a grey card will Photoshop save my butt?

Kirk Gittings
28-Mar-2011, 15:20
I don't think my D40 is going to give me the quality I need.

I'm not sure filtering is in the cards either as this is sort of a one time event for me (I think) and I would need to filter each shot differently. Add to that the fact that I don't have the filters, and don't really know precisely what to do with them.....

If I shoot a grey card will Photoshop save my butt?

It always helps to shoot a grey card. You can even put it in a place that you can easily clone it out and save the "test" exposure. One method I have used successfully is to place a grey card-I bought one of the 8x10 plastic ones and cut it into 4 pieces-underneath every different light source. When you go to scan the neutralize the major source. Then in PS do a different duplicate neutralized for each of the light sources and blend to suit. I usually like the mix of daylight and tungsten but "clean up" the greens from fluorescents and metal halide.

Filmnut
28-Mar-2011, 15:21
I would say to use a colour neg film, expose well, and in the past the Fuji films were more forgiving with mixed light, then scan and use Photoshop to make the edits nec to give an overall pleasing image.
Keith

Richard Wasserman
28-Mar-2011, 15:22
Thanks Kirk, that sounds promising!

Frank Petronio
28-Mar-2011, 16:15
Use Porta 400NC or the new Portra, scan, and for quick and dirty simply lower the saturation, more so of the Green or whatever is objectionable.

For finer work create masked layers for each area that has a different color cast, use paint by color only mode, etc.

A stitched digital pano is nothing to sneeze at and maybe easier to balance....

sully75
29-Mar-2011, 08:01
I think your D40 might have superior low light performance to your film choices.

Eliminating some of the conflicting light sources might work. Using off camera flash and a fast shutter speed is the obvious solution. A grey card isn't going to help much if you have a variety of different colored lighting, because it will be inconsistent throughout the space.

Leigh
29-Mar-2011, 08:08
Color temperature is the ratio of red to blue. Any combination of non-fluorescent light (including sunlight) will simply add, resulting in a color temperature that is easily measured and filtered.

Fluorescents pose a problem due to excess green. Green is not factored into color temperature measurements at all.

You need a proper color temperature meter to check the green level, and magenta gels or filters to reduce the level as needed.

All of this can be done in post-processing if you're using a computer. If you're trying for a silver image, you'll need to evaluate the lighting accurately.

- Leigh

RandyB
29-Mar-2011, 12:58
Many years ago I had a photo job of the interior of a huge warehouse that was lit by every kind of light, cloudy daylight thru the big doors, mercury vapor, sodium vapor, incandescent bulbs and flourscent, dirty skylight. I knew if I filtered for one kind of light the rest would look ugly. I just shot without any filters and bracketed to 3 stops overexposed. At the time I was also doing a lot of custom color printing and I knew that with an overexposed neg you could "print-thru" the weird colors of available light. The film was Fuji 400 Pro of the era (90's). I used the neg that was about 2 stops over and made a very satisfactory 8x10 that was used in the sales brochure. I believe the overexposure gave enough light energy to all the color emulison layers of the film so that a decent print could be made.

Richard Wasserman
29-Mar-2011, 14:58
I need to keep this as simple as possible. The prints that I'll be making don't have to be perfectly accurate, just look good. I am hoping that with the use of a grey card I'll be able to balance the color well enough. I am sure there are better ways (filters, digital stitching, etc), but I don't the time or wish to expend the effort to learn them at the moment. Hopefully things will turn out OK... Thanks everyone!

Ben Syverson
29-Mar-2011, 15:03
A gray card will work fine—don't sweat it!

Richard Wasserman
29-Mar-2011, 15:23
Thanks Ben!