Shooting under Fluorescents

C

Cdodgerun

New member
So I am getting ready to shoot my thesis film. My budget is gone. And I am trying to get rid of the green look. My Dp says he'll just white balance to the light but won't the colors be shifting?
 
Are you saying that you're shooting exclusively under regular flourescents?

Yes things will be green, and it's not a "white balance" issue per se. If you really have NO budget though, there's not much choice but to go ahead with it though, right?

If you have a SLIGHT budget you could get a minus-green filter for the camera (something like: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...889&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation ) or if you're using mixed lighting in the scene you'd have to cover the lights themselves with minus-green gels (something like: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...ls&Q=&sku=44145&is=REG&addedTroughType=search ) but covering every flourescent light in a large office space with that stuff could quicly cost more time, money, and favors than you have.

You might also get some flicker off the lights, but again... you're not going to go out and buy a rack of lights so there's not much option there.

Maybe tell us a bit more about what you're trying to do and we'd be able to suggest more specific ideas.
 
I shot under mixed lights once...

one of the worst things ive ever done, I had daylight kino flows and standard strip lights on the ceiling....yes that was dumb. the trouble is, I wanted the strip lights to feature in the film but it wasnt bright enough, and I didnt Gel the kinos.

I spent ages (and I mean ages) correcting it in post, until I got a look I was happy with, (basically took out almost all the colour and put it back in using a filmlook filter in AE)

your best bet....is to either just say screw it and shoot under the fluros alone (make sure its fluros alone, no daylight or anything else) then if you get any green in there take it out in post.

or turn the fluros off and light it to your needs...

its hard to say with such little detail from your shoot....

i.e is it daylight, in an office, are there windows?

It doesnt seem like you have a lot of choice.
 
Remember the DVX100 has a Flourescent Color Matrix setting, which should help bring the reds back into the matrix.

Also I've done a few shoots where we had to use the existing flourescents and were filling in with KinoFlos we got tubes from the plant we were shooting in (that matched the existing fixtures) and used them in the Kinos. Everything was balanced and easier to color correct.

MR
 
You should be fine shooting under just fluorescents. The camera will white balance fine under most of them. It will not be overwhelmingly green unless you introduce some lights that are at a different color temperature, white balance with those and then turn them off without wb-ing again. The same goes with windows (daylight). Industrial/Commercial fluorescents are also generally not a very flattering color (that's where your FL-D color matrix can come in). What will be a problem, if you are ONLY shooting under fluorescents that are on the ceiling, is the racoon-eye effect. If everything is top-lit, you can imagine what kind of deep shadows will result under the eyes. This is one of the reasons many people pop-on an on-camera light to balance the shadows, but most of these lights are 3200k meaning that now you're mixing color temps. Also, make sure the shooter doesn't use any high shutter without testing. If they do you will notice the cycling effect (from warm to cool) that you mentioned. Hope that helps.
-Ryan
 
I am going to have some Kino Flo's on set, to take care of the racoon eye's. I am going to have a few lights available but I don't know if I want to gel the fluorescents and use the other lights regularly. or gel my Kino's and my tweenies. but it is a interior at night. with large windows looking outside.
 
Keep in mind that the Kino's will be color balanced to either 3200k or 5600k so mixing them with the ceiling flo's may give you odd colors. You may want to just turn the overheads off and just use your lights. Just make sure to keep them out of the shots and you'll be fine.
-Ryan
 
Actually I'm facing the same dilemma. Starting to shot my final piece in school.The key scene is taking place in a boardroom, where few executives are being held hostage. The biggest problem is that the location is not finalised yet and I don't know if there is a window in the room or not. I really hope there isn't. In that case I'll just use the florescent lights on the ceiling.(I assume that's what they will have) along with some fill with a green gel on it to match the colour temperature. I'm also planning to put a minus green filter in front of the lens.
Please let me know if you notice something horribly wrong with this set up.
Also, should I just take a hard stand on getting a location without windows, or there are ways to work around that?
 
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