How can I photograph fluorescent or neon clothing so the colors look realistic?
Asked 9/1/2012
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I photograph clothing for our website in a small studio using a Sony Alpha a550, shooting RAW and editing in Photoshop Elements 9. Our new collection includes fluorescent/neon colors, but in photos they look dull rather than bright and fluorescent.
What lighting and shooting approach will best capture fluorescent fabrics realistically? Is there anything specific I should do in post-processing, or is this mainly a lighting issue?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
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The key is to start with the right lighting—you need to make the colours fluoresce, and for that you need something that gives off a significant amount of ultraviolet light. Without a UV source—if you use tungsten light or a UV-filtered daylight source, all you'll get is the reflective colours. You need the colours these dyes and pigments emit when they absorb UV.
As Phil points out in the comments, the emitted colour may overwhelm the sensor. Keeping the UV source secondary (say, a black light bulb or tube you can move toward or away from the subject independently of the visible light source) should allow you to balance the reflected and emitted light satisfactorily. You do want the colour exaggerated, but you don't want to lose all of the detail in the process.
Originally by user2719. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2719
13y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
This is mainly a lighting issue. Fluorescent fabrics don’t just reflect color—they can also emit visible light when excited by ultraviolet (UV) light. If you light them only with tungsten or a daylight source that filters UV, you’ll mostly record the ordinary reflected color, so the neon effect looks weak.
To make the colors appear more fluorescent, include a UV-rich light source, such as a black light, along with your normal visible lighting. Use the UV source as a secondary light that you can move closer or farther away to control the effect.
Be careful not to overdo it: the emitted fluorescent color can become so strong that it overwhelms the camera sensor and causes loss of detail. The goal is to balance the reflected light and the fluorescent glow so the garment still shows texture and stripe detail.
Shooting RAW is the right choice, but post-processing can only refine what the lighting captured. Start by getting the look in-camera with a controllable UV component, then use RAW adjustments for final tuning rather than trying to create the fluorescent look entirely in software.
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AI13y ago
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