Dealing with emergency lighting

[tandeejay]

I have an issue with "emergency exit lights" in the wrong place...

a crop from a recent photo:

exit.JPG

Yes, I know about using my feet to change angle so that the exit isn't behind the subjects, but I had an idea about a possible way to deal with the light.

If I could get a linear polarizing film to put over the exit sign, and then attach a CPL to my lens, with the CPL at the right angle, this should theoretically "remove" the exit sign before capture, but still allow the sign to be seen?

So, 2 questions really:

1) would this work effectively?
2) Could this be done such that no fire regulations are broken?

(got the idea from the Company I work for who had a section of their Data Centre that contained computer systems from an organisation that was extremely concerned about privacy of their systems, which we installed polarizing film on the computer monitors, and on the glass surrounding the computer system, was put polarizing film at right angles to the film on the monitors which left the glass area see though so you could clearly see who was in the area, but totally blocked visibility of the computer monitors.)

[ameerat42]

I would say that you should not interfere with the signs in any way.
Not, at least, unless you got some dispensation from a relevant fire
or OHS authority.

The thing about the sign being "seen" with a Pol film over it still would not
work (going on the above), as you might just happen to get a passer-by
wearing polaroids who did not then see it

I reckon that if you must have a sign, then you might have to avail yourself
of your local, friendly, neighbourhood clone tool

[ricktas]

Agree with Am. There are legislated requirements in relation to exit signs.

if you put film over it, and there was a fire, and people became trapped and said they could not see the sign.. you could be in deep doggy doo.

What is wrong with an emergency exit sign being in the background? They are in fairly much every building and people generally ignore them.. in real life .. and in photos. It is like looking at a photo of a street scene. People tend to overlook the parking meters.

[tandeejay]

Polaroid sunnies always have their polarization going the same direction so that they are effective against light reflected of the road, so it would be possible to align the film so that polarized sunnies would not eliminate the sign. It would only be people with their heads held sideways wearing the polarized sunnies that would have that issue.

But I guess a polarized filter still does cut down on the light transmission so even without taking into account people wearing polarized sunnies ( and who would be wearing polarized sunnies in that auditorium anyway?) that slight reduction in light transmission could be an issue (not to mention the fact that I'd have to put a CPL on my lens to make that work, which would reduce the light getting to my camera sensor which would probably not be good given the low light conditions anyway)

I have spoken to our OH&S guy who is going to check out the legislation.

The sign is usually much more blown out than that.

I guess I should photograph from the otherside more (towards a bright red fire hose reel...) and/or get real good with that clone tool

[ameerat42]

Lts f peple d - wear sunnies in auditoriums

[tandeejay]

What is wrong with an emergency exit sign being in the background? They are in fairly much every building and people generally ignore them.. in real life .. and in photos. It is like looking at a photo of a street scene. People tend to overlook the parking meters.

Except for the photographer who is taught to look at the background for distracting objects. And bright over exposed blobs tend to attract much critique from fellow 'togs (I managed to recover the highlights in that image such that the exit sign wasn't over exposed... cloning and cropping has helped at times as well...)

"if you moved a few steps to the left/right you could have missed that parking meter/wheely bin/etc.."
"you have a highlight that is distracting"
"my eye is drawn to <some item in the background> instead of <the subject>"

- - - Updated - - -

Lts f peple d - wear sunnies in auditoriums

the ONLY person I've seen wearing sunnies in the church auditorium was my son .... this morning...