Getting the uncorrected flourescent look without..

DavidSloan · October 10, 2004

flourescents. I'm shooting an interior in a few weeks and I have a wide shot of a house where we can see the kitchen in the background. Will tossing some plus green on an instrument, bounced off the ceiling, give me that look?

Shooting 16MM.

Thanks. :)

Phil Rhodes · October 10, 2004

Hi,

In my experience, no. You haven't mentioned the format; if you're on video, then the video is unlikely to see the green unless you do as you suggest - they don't seem to see true fluorescents as green. On film, well, from stills I've found that it doesn't quite look identical. There's something specific about the output of a fluorescent light and the film's reaction to it, almost certainly something to do with the discontinuous spectrum - even if you filter a tungsten green, it's still a continuous spectrum, just with less pink in it.

Phil

DavidSloan · October 10, 2004

Sorry Phil: shooting 16MM.

Sam Wells · October 10, 2004

There's a kazillion gels out there, you ought to be able to come up with something.

I did a fake fluoro on a set once with a truly ugly gel that I actually found next to the trash can -- it was a theater gel, kind of chartuse... this was an air pollution in-the-future-people have to wear gas masks PSA (kind of a sub-genre itself, once) so maybe a lttle stylized but really it had that uncorrected fluoro look.

Go to your expendables source, see what you can come up with.

-Sam

DavidSloan · October 11, 2004

Thanks, Sam. I don't have much experience using gels...there are so many of them! What is a good way to learn about gels, and what they do?

Thanks :)

Sam Wells · October 11, 2004

Threre must be some online resources - Rosco's web site might be a good place to start.

Color correction gels typically work like camera filters, balancing daylight to tungsten CT or vice versa, in various strengths.

Color effect filters as Lee calls them give you, well color effects. (or colour should I say for Lee !)

Get swatch books, visit your local grip house/ expendables place.

I don't know, put them in front of lights, try things.

I don't know how to give a good short answer here......

-Sam

J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR · October 12, 2004

Lee has some good filters for that, The Plus Green works well but you might go a little deeper with Lee 243 tungsten-to-flo 3600K. It's sick looking. You could also try mixing 212 LCT Yellow with 213 White Flame Green, maybe also mix in 230 or 232 Carbon Arc correction filters for a really Fugly look. Use all of those over a flooded tungsten unit.

I usually just stick a Kino with "cool white" tubes and gelled with Plus green into a nook of the room. It will be nasty.

DavidSloan · October 12, 2004

@Sam: Thanks. Of course I understand the color correcting gels, but it's those wacky colors that I'm not really comfortable using. I guess it just comes with experience.

@Jla: Thanks, a lot. I will try your concoctions, they sounds good. I like that you describe them as "sick," and "nasty." That's exactly what I'm going for.

Sam Wells · October 13, 2004

It doesn't sound like you're wanting to be too literal here. (Phil is probably right as far as truly faking the spectrum, and we'd have to ask 'what type of fluoro' anyway.

You could read the spectral transmission charts for various gels till you're CT Blue in the face, but...... sometimes, the "impression" is more to the point than the literal.

-Sam

Michael Nash · October 13, 2004

Taking a much simpler approach here; the color correction for fluorescents is pretty straightforward. Cool white tubes are 4300 deg. K with a green spike in the spectrum. To get tungsten lights to match, use 1/2 CTB and anywhere from 1/4 to Full Plusgreen. To get HMI's to match, use 1/2 CTO and the Plusgreen.

If you want to get more creative, use additional plusgreen. If you should need to match specific tubes, you'll have to adjust the CTB/CTO and Plusgreen gels in increments of 1/4 or even 1/8 density.