need help photographing 'flourescent' colors

[SoCalBeachBum]

I can not seem to capture flourescent pink painted toy car, capture the intensity of the color that is. I have tried flash, shade, sunlight, CFL photo lighting, etc.

I can get the color tone correct but not the saturation. I'm using my Canon 60D. I'd like to capture the shots realistically before I go to Photoshop to start making adjustments. I have tried in camera adjustments with white balance and saturation, but am not capturing what the eye sees.

Is there a trick to capturing flourescent colors?

 

[Deleted1929]

--
StephenG

 

[ptl-2010]

You are probably over exposing the image, or just the object. Use spot metering and place the painted surface in the center of the frame, and expose for that. If you still have issues try under exposing. I have a 60D too and just tried this with a bright pink iPhone stand and when I underexposed the image the stand was more vibrant/saturated, at the cost of the objects around it. You may have to do some exposure blending to get a nice looking photo.
--
-Paul

 

[SoCalBeachBum]

sorry, meant to attach this photo. I think most know what flourescent pink should look like, correct?

 

[SoCalBeachBum]

I'll go try that right now thanks

 

[Barrie Davis]

I can not seem to capture flourescent pink painted toy car, capture the intensity of the color that is. I have tried flash, shade, sunlight, CFL photo lighting, etc.

Do you mean Fluorescent colours, as in Da-glo type paintwork?

Well, you can get the actual colour rendered surprisingly well with digital. The accuracy is MUCH better than ever it was with film.

But you cannot get the depth of saturation.... (the glowing quality)...

.... because that requires special ingredients in the printing inks which they do not usually have, that is, the fluorescing constituents that make them glow with extra brightness when invisible Ultra Violet light energy absorbed by the target is RE-radiated in the visible area of the spectrum.

(Daylight is rich in UV, so that is why the glo-effect is most noticeable in daylight, or under "black" lights in a disco.)

I can get the color tone correct but not the saturation. I'm using my Canon 60D. I'd like to capture the shots realistically before I go to Photoshop to start making adjustments. I have tried in camera adjustments with white balance and saturation, but am not capturing what the eye sees.

You won't. And you won't get it on a computer screen, either.

Is there a trick to capturing flourescent colors?

Yes. You can paint them in BY HAND with various of the day-glo highlighter pens that are available. This hand work is done after the shots are printed, and it does look rather artificial....

.... rather as day-glo type fluorescent materials do not appear normal when seen in real life, in fact.
--
Regards,
Baz

"Ahh... But the thing is, they were not just ORDINARY time travellers!"

 

[SoCalBeachBum]

this is as close as I have achieved and it leans towards a flamingo color, not accurate at all

 

[Leswick]

Fluorescent is regarded as "green poison" by most cinematographers . First, try to lock your WB. If that doesn't work, try alter Kelvin degrees by 100 at a time (if you can do this in your camera) and experiment with that. There are prof filters like Rosco that will permit you photograph myriad of applications. You should be able to find a vendor that caries such....particularly in your neck of the woods.

Leswick

 

[ptl-2010]

Yes the kelvin thing should work. Put your camera in live view, make sure you have exposure simulation turned on. get a decent exposure in anything but auto mode, and then press the "Q" button, and select "K" under white balance. You can roll the shutter speed dial to adjust the white balance. Once you get the right color, snap the pic.

If you cannot render the color well in the photo, you may have to adjust it in Photoshop or something.
--
-Paul

 

[SoCalBeachBum]

ok, adjusting the Kelvin, vs AWB made not too much difference but this was the best shot, in an office with flourescent lighting, note the green sticker in upper right corner, it appears more bright green that it actually is. but I can not capture the brilliance of the hot pink color.

 

[Carey Brown]

Try a black light.
--
A pixel is a terrible thing to waste.

 

[Barrie Davis]

Fluorescent is regarded as "green poison" by most cinematographers . First, try to lock your WB. If that doesn't work, try alter Kelvin degrees by 100 at a time (if you can do this in your camera) and experiment with that. There are prof filters like Rosco that will permit you photograph myriad of applications. You should be able to find a vendor that caries such....particularly in your neck of the woods.

That may be so, but....

The OP's question wasn't anything to do with colour photography under the spectrum of fluorescent type electric lighting, but about the replication of day-glo colours under ordinary light... (daylight)
--
Regards,
Baz

"Ahh... But the thing is, they were not just ORDINARY time travellers!"

 

[Barrie Davis]

As already stated....

The whole job is impossible. Neither printer ink nor computer screens have any fluorescent pigments in them to reproduce the glowing effect that the original subject gains from ITS fluorescent pigment constituents.

End of story.

The best that can be done is to selectively turn up the saturation of the colour or colours concerned, but don't go too far or you will loose detail through multi-channel clipping. No amount of fiddling with white balance or Kelvin values will have any effect, because white balance or Colour Temperature isn't the problem.

And shining a black light (UV source) at the subject cannot help the final reproduction, because LACK of Ultra Violet at the shooting stage is not the problem, either.

In a nutshell, the monitor screen and the ink of the prints don't glow with fluorescent intensity because there are NO fluorescent pigments in them to do the glowing.

I already explained this. Is the principle too hard to understand, or is it that you don't believe me?
--
Regards,
Baz

"Ahh... But the thing is, they were not just ORDINARY time travellers!"

 

[Carey Brown]

Don't have a cow. Yes, the gamut of print and screen does not handle fluorescent color but you can give a sense of the color by punching it up relative to other colors in the image and a black light can do this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb0_v5uH6Qg
--
A pixel is a terrible thing to waste.

 

[SoCalBeachBum]

Barrie, I believe you! I was able to make flourescent green show up relatively correctly, but not the hot pink. It's obvoius in the camera too viewfinder clearly shows what you're looking at, live view shows a very average looking pink color.

I believe you

 

[Barrie Davis]

Don't have a cow. Yes, the gamut of print and screen does not handle fluorescent color but you can give a sense of the color by punching it up relative to other colors in the image and a black light can do this.

Why bother? Boosting normal spectral brightness is all that can be done with supplementary UV radiation on the set, with no increase in saturation. In fact, saturation likely to be degraded by lightening the fluorescent colour(s) above what they would otherwise be.

Both localised saturation and brightness are much more controllable in post processing...

.... and no need to make the pictures into studio shots utilising special equipment.
--
Regards,
Baz

"Ahh... But the thing is, they were not just ORDINARY time travellers!"

 

[Labe]

I cant get anywhere near with my canon camera's either, but using my olympus m4/3 and the pop art filter i can get alot nearer.









--
new to technology,always learning