Indoor lighting, B&W film, and colour shift?

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nygdan_morteauxspam@yahoo.com - 26 Nov 2006 02:13 GMT

Is it possible to tell from a B&W photo if it was shot with natural
light, rather than indoor artificial light?

With regular colour film, using it under some types of artificial
lighting can produce a colour shift and give the photo a different
look, because the film has slightly different light sensitivities than
the human eye. Does anything like this happen in B&W film? I know that
using a color filter with B&W film can give a different photo than not
using one, so is it possible to distinguish between the lighting from
one photo?

I suspect not, but figure it might be worth checking with some other
people. Someone has suggested that this photo:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k72/blader4eva/bloodlabdulce.jpg

might, despite the claim that it was made in indoor lighting, have
natural lighting from an outof frame window.

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Colin_D - 26 Nov 2006 03:23 GMT

> Is it possible to tell from a B&W photo if it was shot with natural
> light, rather than indoor artificial light?
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> might, despite the claim that it was made in indoor lighting, have
> natural lighting from an outof frame window.

Well, that is such a poor photograph that it is hard to tell even what
it shows, let alone what the lighting was. A waste of time doing
anything with that.

Colin D.

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Al Denelsbeck - 26 Nov 2006 05:24 GMT

nygdan_morteauxspam@yahoo.com wrote in news:1164507210.471064.297220
@l39g2000cwd.googlegroups.com:

     As for your first question, even if you knew the type of film and
its sensitivity to certain colors of light, I doubt there's enough detail
there to measure that finely. It's a pretty contrasty, muddy shot. I
suspect you'd also have to know the actual colors of several objects
within the photo to measure their relative luminosity.

     That said, I don't get an impression of window light at all. The
two big drums/bowls show distinct highlights on their rims, as well as
details within them, definitely hinting at overhead lighting. You can
also see this on the tops of the white boxes at right, including the
bowls/funnels atop of them, and on the top of the column thing at dead
center. See also the plug (?) on the side of that column. Even the
openings in the white boxes indicate lighting from overhead.

     The two big drums/bowls give some indication that lighting is
*also* coming from the side in some small way, but not as primary light
for the image. It could be a window, it could even be reflected light
from nearby objects (there could be a pattern on the right one from the
boxes alongside, giving some indication that it's highly reflective, but
I don't consider that conclusive).

     There's little indication of light dropping off with distance,
something that you would expect with light from a window to the side, and
no indication of light sliding underneath the workbench or onto the face
of cupboards or kickpanels below the foreground items, but there's a
bright spot in the lower right corner that might be the floor - it's the
right distance. My argument goes for overhead lighting, and fairly even
(multiple fixtures). This does not rule out natural light from overhead
skylights.

     So, what's the issue with this photo?

    - Al.

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