Blacklight Photography

I

Irishwhistle

New Member
I'm trying to do some blacklight photography for some stock photos and am having some trouble. I took the blacklight in a dark room and then turned it on. I then got a white sheet of paper and three CDs... I put the CDs on the sheet of paper and then switched on my camera. I set it to f/3.4 (since the scene was pretty flat and I wanted as much light as I could get) and the shutter speed to 60. My ISO was set at 100 (I also tried 200.) I took some shots and they came out VERY dark. What should I do? Should I use a tripod and set a very low shutter speed? Any other ideas? Thanks!

btw, my camera is a Fuji Funepix S700 (aka S5700.)
 
Does your camera have an exposure meter? If so, set the camera to spot exposure then go to full manual. I'd go about halfway p your aperture (I hear that gives you the sharpest results for most cameras) and move the exposure point around the subject. Adjust your shutter speed (and perhaps ISO) accordingly.

The problem I see, though, is if you have a back light, you're going to have a blown out background regardless. You're camera's probably doing a matrix exposure of some sort, thus trying to get the scene as even as possible.

Have you tried using a flash, or any form of lights in front of the subject? Here's a photo I took inside an abandoned building a while back. Without the flash, the room was dark due to the exposure/light coming in from the windows. At this angle, I didn't get any glare, thus lighting up the room and still being able to see outside.
 
The_Other_One said:
Does your camera have an exposure meter? If so, set the camera to spot exposure then go to full manual. I'd go about halfway p your aperture (I hear that gives you the sharpest results for most cameras) and move the exposure point around the subject. Adjust your shutter speed (and perhaps ISO) accordingly.

The problem I see, though, is if you have a back light, you're going to have a blown out background regardless. You're camera's probably doing a matrix exposure of some sort, thus trying to get the scene as even as possible.

Have you tried using a flash, or any form of lights in front of the subject? Here's a photo I took inside an abandoned building a while back. Without the flash, the room was dark due to the exposure/light coming in from the windows. At this angle, I didn't get any glare, thus lighting up the room and still being able to see outside.
Click to expand...

I think you've mistaken BLACKLIGHT for BACKLIGHTING... I have a blacklight, a special kind of light bulb that emits purple light and I'm trying to figure out how to get good shots with it. If I use flash it destroys the purple color. Thanks anyway! :)
 
I have a blacklight, a special kind of light bulb that emits purple light and I'm trying to figure out how to get good shots with it. If I use flash it destroys the purple color. Thanks anyway!
Click to expand...
Am slightly confused as to exactly what you're trying to accomplish .... from how i see it, there are two interpretations

[1] You're using the blacklight to light the paper up and the cds are on the now glowing paper

[2] you're using the blacklight like a normal light and it's making everything purpleish (except for the paper which will be psychowhite)
 
but shurly the thing there would be is that the black light is actually an ultraviolet light right
so that would be outside the visible spectrum ?

well im lost :confused:
 
Use a tripod and a shutter speed of a second or more. Depending on your iso settings you may need to bump it up to even 10 seconds or so.

I'd be able to help you more, but it was on the semi-auto setting for those pictures. I also did some in manual mode, but the only settings I remember was having the iso on 100 and a shutter speed of 5 seconds.
 
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4NGU$ said:
but shurly the thing there would be is that the black light is actually an ultraviolet light right
so that would be outside the visible spectrum ?

well im lost :confused:
Click to expand...

blacklights are mostly out of your visible spectrum, but some things that are colored white or bright colors shine very brightly, i think they take the light that goes into them and convert it a little. this makes an effect that makes everything that is not blacklight reactive stay the same, and anything blacklight reactive turns extremely bright.
 
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