New Project

[escape]

I work in a large old industrial facility with 2000 employees, overhauling trains for the NYC subway system.
Over the years, I have taken many photos at work but few that contain people. That is about to change.
Friday, I asked a worker if I could take his picture, and he agreed.
He overhauls large, heavy drawbars that connect train cars. It's a dirty environment. I thought it would make an interesting picture.
In my conversation with him, I learned that he is about to retire. Now I plan to seek out those who are retiring and taking their photos. Probably the only picture they will have of themselves at work. So I would expect them to be cooperative in the photoshoot.
I took some test shots of the area with my phone. Very difficult composing to avoid harsh florescent lighting and capturing the environment.
I'm excited about this. I Will post images as I go along.
The photo below is to shows the old industrial nature of the facility. And because I just like the can image.

[IMG]_1070274 by pongo now, on Flickr[/IMG]

[xpatUSA]

Now I plan to seek out those who are retiring and taking their photos. Probably the only picture they will have of themselves at work.

A good theme, I reckon. I have only about a dozen of such photos, often group shots, and certainly wish I had more ...

Here's one from the 60's:

Corporal Ted testing a Thor-missile control valve at the mighty Lox Clean Room pressure-test console, RAF North Luffenham, England.

[escape]

I love it. It's bursting with analog technology. I should be retiring in a few more months. I want to do this while I still can. If you find others please post. Some things increase in interest with the passage of time. Thanks for posting. Daniel

[Manfred M]

Those cool white fluorescent tube are some of the worst light to take pictures of people in, mostly because they have a colour spectrum that has a few significant spectral spikes, especially in the greens which makes skin tones look awful. The problem is caused by the phosphors used by the lamp manufacturers, but these vary by manufacturer, so even the fluorescent settings on the camera or in the raw convertor can only do so much.



There is no magic "filter" to correct for the colour response of these types of light sources. This is very much the type of situation I faced when I shot in an industrial setting last month. My solution was to bring in a powerful (640 W-s) studio light to overpower the fluorescent light.



Another common solution is to convert to B&W.

[escape]

Manfred, converting to B/W might be an option. The area is devoid of color and that might work well. Will see about setting up my camera for B/W.

Ted your suggestion to do a custom white balance is something I will try as well.

Next week I will bring my camera and take test photos of the area with different settings. I'm still learning and want to set up properly for the shoot. Don't own nor have I ever used lights. Their use in this situation would probably attract too much attention and make my subject uncomfortable.
Thank you both!

[billyb1191]

I like it