HELP... Advice on How to shoot in a UV Party!

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RichardH78

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I have just done a halloween party in a night club, results where ok. Club loves the images and want me to go back in a week to shoot a UV Party they are having..

Unless I am wrong my method of longer shutter, 2nd curtain flash to capture ambient light will the flash pop at the end cancel out the UV effect on peoples faces and clothing?

If it will how do I prevent this whilst still being able to get a good exposure?
 
Well UV light itself is not visible to to the human eye (and is filtered out in camera), but the effect of UV is fluorescence where high-energy UV light hitting clothes etc causes blue-white light to be emitted (basically UV light that has lost some of it's energy and downshifted towards red).

So you are in effect photographing normal blue-white light. If you use flash, you will quickly overpower it and "wash it out" as you suspect.. To retain the full effect you really need to go ambient only - wiiide apertures.

You COULD gel your flash.. kind of cheating as also non-fluorescent materials will be washed with blue.. and everyone will look like smurfs ;)
 
I did wonder about using a GEL... I suppose I could go with a 50mm 1.4 or 1.8 means I will struggle with groups but combine that with a HIGH ISO and i might stand a chance... ? Oh god I am not looking foreward to cleaning up the Noise in those ... lol
 
a UV camera will record something allright, but not what human eyes see.. instead you should probably have a UV barrier filter on the lens to stop all that excess UV from the blacklights.

I guess you could also get an UV exciter filter for the flash.. no idea where you could get one though! There are some specialized flash units that emit UV and of course UV torches can be bought.. but most UV photography (whether real UV or fluorescent) is for scientific purposes where continuous lighting can be used..
 
Think I am gonna give it a go see what happens. Might take a tripod for larger shots and see what I can get. Will be an intersting experiment for sure!

Not enough time or cash to get a 50mm 1.8 so kit lens it is.. will re-invest cash from sale of my D5000 when it goes.

If anyone is in somerset and fancies lending me a 50mm for the weekend I would be one grateful bunny!!
 
In a past life I used to go out clubbing quite a bit, and when I did I used a website called dontstayin.com. It might be worth checking out the Pro Spotters section for info:

http://www.dontstayin.com/pages/prospotters

I know a lot of the pro-spotters tend to use primes and / or ultra wide angles.

I hope that helps!
 
Oh one last point, almost all pro spotters using a flash will use an external one and some kind of diffuser.
 
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