“And they were all … orange” (with apologies to Coldplay)

It’s May, so it’s election time again. With the General Election out of the way for a few years, this time it was just our local council wards who were choosing their councillors. In a rare vote for common sense, it was decided that an overnight count was NOT required for this, so it was off to the local sports hall on Friday last week. I was lucky. Many of my colleagues were obliged to work a 24hr+ shift, covering those who still felt self-important enough to hold an overnight count. (Or perhaps, thanks to our bosses..)

Now, the rival paper’s snapper and I have a name for this place – “The Orange Temple of Doom”. It has possibly the worst lighting I have ever seen in a hall. Orange sodium vapour lamps give a terrible colour cast and there is precious little light anyway. An utterly dismal place to shoot....

More after the break. 

This light is almost impossible to find a really good balance for. It isn’t full-spectrum lighting, which means it’s not just colour-shifted – it lacks any emission at all in some colours. Last year I thought I had managed to get something passable, but even then, shot raw, they needed further work. If anything, the light seemed even worse this time and, unfortunately, because it was during the day I had other pic jobs to do and then go to the count, which meant that I hadn’t got any set-up time. It was a case of editing the earlier jobs then straight into the declarations. Less than ideal.

Here are some of the better ones – these are a mix of horrible ambient and flash, at 1600ISO, 1/100^th and f4 and variations around those settings. Shot raw on a D3, I had some chance to make some adjustments afterwards. But add to that the fact that it was just local council seats and, well, it was a pretty unsatisfying afternoon and evening. 

Mike Henderson (LibDem), right, retained his Davington seat.
Harder shadows than I like, but at least the flash has overwhelmed the
orange sufficiently that the scene looks OK.

Colin Prescott (Con) re-elected for East Downs. Same as
the above, the close proximity of the walls means the flash kills
some of the colour cast.

At its worst - I am only feet away from Leysdown
councillor Pat Sandle (Con), but the lighting
gives a harsh orange cast even through the flash.

Minster Cliffs councillors Ken Pugh, left, and Adrian Crowther,
pleased to be re-elected for the conservatives. Raw adjustment
in addition to the flash means their skin tones are OK, but the hall behind
really shows the problem - how can anyone play sport in that?

The AV referendum count goes on into the evening. Oddly,

one of the better shots with a little work, though the lurid blue

shadows around the papers give the game away - this is not

full-spectrum lighting.

Well, there's always next time. Lets hope for a little set-up time before the next one. I have some more ideas, but no real solution yet...