This morning I scouted a medical office that is lit mostly by halogens, but has a long, curved fluorescent cove above the reception desk. I did a couple quick scouting shots and of course the cove was completely over exposed with a green tint.

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for dealing with these kinds of things? I took a workshop a couple years ago and the teacher suggested laying pink tissue paper over the fluorescent lights to reduce the exposure and the green tint.

I've tried this with a small light in my home, and it does work. But I've always been nervous about trying this in a large commercial space, because I'm worried there might be a risk of fire by laying all that paper on the lights. I know fluorescents don't get that hot, but the idea still makes me nervous.

Any other advice would be much appreciated. Has anybody else ever used tissue paper?

Thanks,

Andrew

There are two issues here. First of all, NEVER USE TISSUE PAPER IN A LIGHT FIXTURE! There are gels made specifically for correcting the color of fluorescent lights. I personally use LEE or ROSCO gels. For the average fluorescent light the correction will be a "full minus green" gel. This is a magenta gel, and is heat resistant. You can obtain gels from most professional photography stores or theatrical supply houses.

Secondly, the problem you describe is a common one. If the color balance of the fluorescent fixtures is a problem, then I suggest shooting the shot with two exposures and then combine them in Photoshop. Your first exposure is made with the halogens on and the flourescents off. Your second exposure is made with the halogens off and the flourescents on. This approach gives you optimum exposures from both light sources. In the old days we did this with multiple exposures and multiple filters on a single sheet of film.

Often you can do this shot with a single exposure using a neutral graduated filter. I own a variety of graduated filters in different densities. Once you've compensated for the exposure difference with the graduated filter you can easily correct the color in post production.

Alan

Thanks Alan. I was never really comfortable with the idea of tissue paper on lights. The instructor of the workshop I took has been in the business for a long time and is the principal photographer of one of the oldest and most prestigious architectural photography firms in the US. He is comfortable using this technique, but he also said tissue paper sold in the US had to be flame retardant. However, I have tested this claim and it definitely burns.

I use Lee and Rosco gels and Tough Spun on smaller lights, but I wasn't too excited about the idea of getting on a ladder and gelling a 20 foot, curved cove.

I have tried the "lights on, lights off" technique before and sometimes it's hard to convincingly blend the two shots together. I think when I've done it before I have just turned the cove on and off while leaving the rest of the room lights on. Maybe that was part of the problem.

Any further advice on creating the two exposures with the same colour balance when the light source is different in each shot?

In the same location I need to shoot a hallway lit with halogens while the operatories off the hall are lit with fluorescents, so the problem here will be similar.

Thanks again for the help,

Andrew

The techniques I've mentioned are really the best ways to achieve an optimum photograph in the situation you've described.

The techniques used to combine multiple shots if PS. There is a topic I would like to see addressed with a tutorial. I know one thing for sure. Its not so easy.