Counteracting bright clothing

[runnah]

So often I am taking photos of people in safety clothing which is either bright green/yellow or orange. This results in some of the color bleeding onto the face and resulting in weird coloring. I have been taking car of it in post but is there a way to stop this in camera?

Maybe this is a lighting question...



Look at the underside of his chin and neck.


My setup.

 

[tirediron]

One way might be 1:1 clamshell lighting, which would at least to some degree eliminate the reflection. How are you setting your WB for these shots?

 

[runnah]

One way might be 1:1 clamshell lighting, which would at least to some degree eliminate the reflection. How are you setting your WB for these shots?

Measuring off the BG. It's the same setup up so I have a custom WB.

 

[Derrel]

Do you have a fabric grid for the softbox? I think that might help.

If not, perhaps you could stretch some mesh netting over the very bottom 1/4 or 1/3 of the softbox front? I dunno...I've never photographed people wearing safety orange under studio lighting, so these ideas are just thinking about what's causing the light/color pollution.

 

[amolitor]

Shoot b&w or use light painting techniques. Tell 'em to hold REAL STILL.

 

[runnah]

Do you have a fabric grid for the softbox? I think that might help.

If not, perhaps you could stretch some mesh netting over the very bottom 1/4 or 1/3 of the softbox front? I dunno...I've never photographed people wearing safety orange under studio lighting, so these ideas are just thinking about what's causing the light/color pollution.

I do not. Maybe I should try it out. I do have 3 levels of diffusion on the flash.

This is easy, you should try to take a photo using OCF! Those gray stripes light up like crazy virtually ruining the shot.

 

[Derrel]

A decade ago, a firefighter friend of mine used some of that firefighter reflective tape as lure tape for deep-water salmon trolling lures....that stuff reflects in almost NO light! The results were spectacular on deep-water chinook salmon.

You could use two or three thicknesses of fiberglass window screening as the material to cut down the light output and "bounce" on the lower part of the softbox.

 

[runnah]

A decade ago, a firefighter friend of mine used some of that firefighter reflective tape as lure tape for deep-water salmon trolling lures....that stuff reflects in almost NO light! The results were spectacular on deep-water chinook salmon.

You could use two or three thicknesses of fiberglass window screening as the material to cut down the light output and "bounce" on the lower part of the softbox.

Now imagine trying to take a photo of a group of people in a dark mill with no flash.

 

[nycphotography]

You could also try a corrective color gel in the top third of the flash (but I dunno what color is opposite safety orange on the color wheel!)

You could also try the corrective gel in the entire flash and just let the orange be muted as well.

 

[Derrel]

A pair of these new wearable, lifelike-looking, giant lobster claws might also be the answer!!!

Giant-Lobster-Claws-600x450.jpg

I know, I know, seems like a joke right? But just look at how gorgeous they look next to that safety-orange jacket the dude is wearing!!!

Get your giant lobster claws direct from the importer, here, for $34.95

http://mcphee.com/shop/giant-lobster-claws.html

 

[gsgary]

I wonder if you could spray the reflective material with dulling spray Dulling Sprays (Anti Flare Sprays)

 

[amolitor]

I'm pretty sure that dulling the reflective stripes would be a bad thing. And now that I look at the picture, I wonder if it might not be worthwhile to add a small on-axis light just to push a little specularity onto them. They look like duct tape in this picture.

 

[runnah]

I'm pretty sure that dulling the reflective stripes would be a bad thing. And now that I look at the picture, I wonder if it might not be worthwhile to add a small on-axis light just to push a little specularity onto them. They look like duct tape in this picture.

Well that was my goal to try to mute them as much as possible. It' looks weird to you guys but its a very common sight.

Here is just an example of the vests lit up.

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/525976/Emily__tessa_071.JPG

 

[Derrel]

I see lots of guys wearing vests adorned with salmon fishing lure tape!!!!

 

[amolitor]

As a salmon, I am very turned on right now.