Shooting with Black Lights present.. at DVinfo.net

Gregory S. Ouellette · March 29th, 2006, 11:45 PM

any input on shooting in the presence of black lights?
i did a band live recently who uses a couple tubes to give the whites effect on their clothes. the footage was ruined as their white clothes exposed to the black light was totally hazy/blurry.

next up is some firedancers inside who will substitute dayglow hoops and staffs instead of live fire and large blacklight spots to get the effect off them.

otherwise, lights will be quite low.

any takers on this videographers nightmare??????

thanks,

Seth Bloombaum · March 30th, 2006, 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gregory S. Ouellette

any takers on this videographers nightmare??????

Not a chance. Experience with blue and red gels commonly used in theatrical lighting tells me that none of these sources comes close to providing a full enough spectrum of light to pull anything even remotely like what the eye sees.

Go grey-scale in post?

Real fire would actually be quite a bit better as a light source. Shot Samoan fire dancers a few decades ago with what's now antique equipment, it looked pretty good.

Shooting in Bend? We're visiting for spring break...

Seth Bloombaum · March 31st, 2006, 12:09 PM

One more idea - if you can do secondary color correction with your editor, try taking the performer to grey scale, or almost grey scale, and keep the colors emitted by the lights? Just something to try...

Gregory S. Ouellette · April 2nd, 2006, 05:33 PM

the main issue is the hazyness the light causes to anything close to it. i mean it is horrid.
i will post a link to a short piece of the footage when i get my site fixed next week. while this is not generally of interest to people, it would be nice for there to be a solution available if someone finds themselves up against it someday

Marcus Marchesseault · April 3rd, 2006, 05:05 AM

How about a UV filter? I know there is already one inside any video camera, but intense black light (UV) is not a normal shooting situation. Perhaps a bit more UV filtering will help. Also, could some of this haze be caused by overexposure? I'm guessing that this situation could fool the auto exposure system.

Tim Borek · April 3rd, 2006, 11:52 AM

If indoors, what's wrong white-balancing to 3200-K (tungten) and letting the blacklight throw it's dim purple hue on the talent? Is blacklight the only light source? I'm not sure what the problem is. By exposing for the shadow tones, did you wash out the bright areas?

Gregory S. Ouellette · May 10th, 2006, 12:39 AM

i had pretty good luck this time around. had to use the ole' xl1 due to another main fuse blow on the xl2.
it wasnt so much that the actual footage as captured was great, but the performers had lg 500w black light spots supplemented w/ 4' flourescents on the stage shining up at them.
i think this provided so much more black light that the hazy issue was, well, not an issue.
what i did in the end with the footage was to color the whites with blue in post that were picking up the black light. i then adj contrast and saturation until i had mostly just the white (blue) part moving around. any shadows became black and disappeared (one girl wore a somewhat flowing white dress that created constant shadows as she turned in circles)
it came out really unique and wild.
it is just going to be more arbitrary footage used in my documenting of this group, so it will be a perfect addition.
so, there ya go.

Cole McDonald · May 10th, 2006, 06:34 AM

I'd be curious to see what a polarizer on the lens would do in a black light situation.

March 29th, 2006, 11:45 PM	#1
Gregory S. Ouellette Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bend, Oregon Posts: 42	Shooting with Black Lights present.. any input on shooting in the presence of black lights? i did a band live recently who uses a couple tubes to give the whites effect on their clothes. the footage was ruined as their white clothes exposed to the black light was totally hazy/blurry. next up is some firedancers inside who will substitute dayglow hoops and staffs instead of live fire and large blacklight spots to get the effect off them. otherwise, lights will be quite low. any takers on this videographers nightmare?????? thanks,

April 2nd, 2006, 05:33 PM	#4
Gregory S. Ouellette Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bend, Oregon Posts: 42	i wish it were just a color thing the main issue is the hazyness the light causes to anything close to it. i mean it is horrid. i will post a link to a short piece of the footage when i get my site fixed next week. while this is not generally of interest to people, it would be nice for there to be a solution available if someone finds themselves up against it someday

May 10th, 2006, 12:39 AM	#7
Gregory S. Ouellette Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bend, Oregon Posts: 42	interesting results i had pretty good luck this time around. had to use the ole' xl1 due to another main fuse blow on the xl2. it wasnt so much that the actual footage as captured was great, but the performers had lg 500w black light spots supplemented w/ 4' flourescents on the stage shining up at them. i think this provided so much more black light that the hazy issue was, well, not an issue. what i did in the end with the footage was to color the whites with blue in post that were picking up the black light. i then adj contrast and saturation until i had mostly just the white (blue) part moving around. any shadows became black and disappeared (one girl wore a somewhat flowing white dress that created constant shadows as she turned in circles) it came out really unique and wild. it is just going to be more arbitrary footage used in my documenting of this group, so it will be a perfect addition. so, there ya go.

May 10th, 2006, 06:34 AM	#8
Cole McDonald Trustee Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Sauk Rapids, MN, USA Posts: 1,675	I'd be curious to see what a polarizer on the lens would do in a black light situation. __________________ Web Youtube Facebook

March 31st, 2006, 12:09 PM	#3
Seth Bloombaum Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 3,420	One more idea - if you can do secondary color correction with your editor, try taking the performer to grey scale, or almost grey scale, and keep the colors emitted by the lights? Just something to try...

April 3rd, 2006, 05:05 AM	#5
Marcus Marchesseault Trustee Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Honolulu, HI Posts: 1,961	How about a UV filter? I know there is already one inside any video camera, but intense black light (UV) is not a normal shooting situation. Perhaps a bit more UV filtering will help. Also, could some of this haze be caused by overexposure? I'm guessing that this situation could fool the auto exposure system.

April 3rd, 2006, 11:52 AM	#6
Tim Borek Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Westfield, IN Posts: 353	If indoors, what's wrong white-balancing to 3200-K (tungten) and letting the blacklight throw it's dim purple hue on the talent? Is blacklight the only light source? I'm not sure what the problem is. By exposing for the shadow tones, did you wash out the bright areas?