[pure-silver] Re: UV vs IR photography

I could believe the effect, although would quibble
with the cause...

Strobes do have higher colour temperatures than the
ideal lighting for portraiture.  Most blemishes and
close to the surface blood vessels etc tend to be in
the red end of the spectrum, therefore if the light is
warmer, the blemishes will be less visable.  Therefore
it stands to reason that using a studio strobe rather
than tungsten lighting for a B&W image would result in
a less flattering portrait.  

On the positive side, a studio strobe with a high
colour temperature will provide greater contrast for
such things as red lips.

It seems as though a much easier solution would be to
simply put a warming filter on the camera if this were
what you wanted to achieve.  If you want to retain
contrast with lips, use a darker colour of lipstick.

Mark


--- "Koch, Gerald" <gkoch02@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Need input as I am unfamiliar with studio lighting.
> 
> I ran across an interesting entry on APUG from a
> photographer who claims
> that as a professional photographer [his emphasis]
> he spends hundreds of
> dollars testing B&W films.  He states that one
> reason for doing this is
> that strobe lights generate a lot of UV radiation
> and this radiation
> makes the capillaries in the skin very prominent. 
> He therefore must
> determine the UV sensitivity of any film he wishes
> to use.  I find this
> very hard to believe for many reasons, among them
> the amount of UV light
> present, transmission cutoff by the glass in the
> bulbs, in the lens,
> ....
> 
> He erroneously states that UV radiation penetrates
> "several millimeters"
> into the skin and then is reflected back to the
> camera.  He argues that
> if he is not careful in his selection of film
> everyone comes out looking
> like W.C. Fields.  Now, UV-B radiation (which
> penetrates the farthest)
> is attenuated by over 90% by passing through 2
> millimeters of skin.
> Therefore the amount reflected back into the camera
> cannot be more than
> 1%.  Hardly enought to appear in a photograph.
> 
> My question, has anyone experienced the problem that
> this guy states
> about capillaries being particulary evident in
> photos taken with strobe
> lighting?  Or is this guy full of himself?
> 
> The problem he states is true for IR radiation and
> IR film which makes
> human skin appear waxy and translucent.  But you
> shouldn't see this
> effect with ordinary B&W film.
> 
> BTW, one reads the most appalling statements on
> APUG.
> 
> Jerry
>
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