UV Paint Nightclub Advice Needed

[Bedworth]

Hello guys and gals

I am in need of advice as I have been asked to cover a Nightclub next month on a UV Paint night and i've never done anything like this before but like new challenges.

Will i need anything different for the flash or any different equipment or is it a matter of turn the flash down and use the lighting in the club.

Any help/advice is massively appreciated

 

[juggler]

You'll probably want to turn the flash off altogether. Unpainted bits may look completely black, so you may want a tiny bit of fill to lift those.

UV paint is often incredibly dim unless the club has or you can hire some massive UV cannon.
You're going to be pushing ISO and metering and focusing are going to be tricky. Shutter speed will be an issue too unless you can pose your subjects and get them to hold properly still. Depending on the lights you could easily be at ISO 1600 at f2.8 to get 1/250, and possibly higher ISO that that. You may be better off going for deliberate motion blur.

One minor point which probably won't be relevant:
Fluorescent and luminous props / paints behave differently. Hitting luminous objects with a burst from a strobe before taking the shot will make it glow more brightly; it's a good way of charging them up. Fluorescent objects only glow under UV.

 

[Bedworth]

Thanks, well I will be using a Canon 5dmk3 with 16-35mm f/2.8, really appreciate the advice.

Im going to ask if they are having UV cannons and see what black light stuff they will be using

 

[Denyerec]

I think you're gonna have to experiment with a mix of low power flash in conjunction with the club lighting. If they're only illuminated by the UV blacklights you're going to be looking at some pretty long shutter times :/

 

[Bedworth]

Ye it looks like just a big experiment lol.

Do you guys know if there is a paint or gel i can put on a diffuser to make it into a uv blacklight?

 

[juggler]

Ye it looks like just a big experiment lol.

Do you guys know if there is a paint or gel i can put on a diffuser to make it into a uv blacklight?

I'd be very surprised if you found anything; it would need to convert nearly all the visible light to UV. UV Cannon are the way forward.

Another irrelevant aside: If you want to make them into a bigger, more diffuse light source then bouncing the light off a metal mirror would be your best option; anything else would absorb UV and (perhaps) emit visible light instead.

 

[Tintin124]

Other option is get a couple of UV torches and strap them to camera or flash (flash turned off) should brighten up things a little Better.

 

[Bedworth]

Fair enuf. Well thats the option then. Uv flashlight. Luckily they are only cheap now which is good.

Thanks again everybody