View Full Version : How to TRULY Keep Flourescents from Looking Green/Blue?


Peter Moretti
September 11th, 2007, 12:44 AM
I just finished watching "Mad Hot Ballroom." Great story but the indoor colors looked green, blue and yellow. Here's an old DVInfo post with the same observation: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?p=742362#post742362

What could have been done differently? What went wrong? I just finished reading interviews with the producers and they used a professional cinematographer (DVX100A) and pro finishing.

Are there some flourescents that white balancing just can't adjust for? Did they white balance improperly? Couldn't color correction have fixed the yellw/green/blue tint?

(I'm going to try to pull some frames to show examples.)

Seun Osewa
October 9th, 2007, 03:47 PM
It's a CRI issue. If you white balance with something that's truly white (e.g. a naturally white substance like salt) the colors will be balanced but red objects like human skin will look very very pale. That has been my experience.

Paul Jefferies
October 9th, 2007, 04:29 PM
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I was told cheap fluorescents don't stay the same colour when they are on, so even if you white balance the colour will slowly drift off over a period of time. Also if you have a room full of cheap fluorescents they may all be giving off a different colour of light.

David W. Jones
October 10th, 2007, 07:36 AM
It's all about time and budget.
Either you have the time and budget to take care of a room full of fluorescent lights or you don't.
Since this was shot on a DVX-100A, I'm guessing they didn't.