What is this red splotching and how do I prevent it?

Just as a forewarning, I know relatively little about photography in general.

Ever since I built more powerful lamps, I've been plagued by this weird red haze, so I think it has something to do with the lighting. Example is below:

weird red shit by Drone Bee, on Flickr

The photo above was very brightly lit, is properly white corrected, and none of the shadows present in the photo were present in person.

I can't really figure out what causes it, it's in probably 90% of the photos I'll take under these conditions, but about 10% of them come out just fine, so I have no clue. My goal is to be able to take nice looking photographs without editing, so I'd prefer to adjust whatever is actually causing this rather than just cleaning the images.

 

This is the EXIF output from Flickr for that photo,

Spoiler

• Make - NIKON CORPORATION

• Orientation - Rotate 90 CW

• X-Resolution - 300 dpi

• Y-Resolution - 300 dpi

• Software - Ver.1.00

• Date and Time (Modified) - 2017:03:12 20:49:40

• YCbCr Positioning - Centered

• ISO Speed - 400

• Sensitivity Type - Recommended Exposure Index

• Exif Version - 0230

• Date and Time (Original) - 2017:03:12 20:49:40

• Date and Time (Digitized) - 2017:03:12 20:49:40

• Components Configuration - Y, Cb, Cr, -

• Compressed Bits Per Pixel - 4

• Exposure Bias - +1/3 EV

• Max Aperture Value - 5.7

• Metering Mode - Multi-segment

• Light Source - White Fluorescent

• Sub Sec Time - 40

• Sub Sec Time Original - 40

• Sub Sec Time Digitized - 40

• Flashpix Version - 0100

• Color Space - sRGB

• Sensing Method - One-chip color area

• File Source - Digital Camera

• Scene Type - Directly photographed

• CFAPattern - [Red,Green][Green,Blue]

• Custom Rendered - Normal

• Exposure Mode - Auto

• White Balance - Manual

• Digital Zoom Ratio - 1

• Focal Length (35mm format) - 82 mm

• Scene Capture Type - Standard

• Gain Control - Low gain up

• Contrast - Normal

• Saturation - Normal

• Sharpness - Normal

• Subject Distance Range - Unknown

• Maker Note Version - 2.11

• Quality - Fine

• White Balance - White FL

• Focus Mode - AF-A

• White Balance Fine Tune - -6 -4

• WB_ RBLevels - 2.0625 2.45703125 1 1

• Program Shift - 0

• Exposure Difference - 0

• Flash Exposure Comp - 0

• Image Boundary - 0 0 2992 2000

• External Flash Exposure Comp - 0

• Flash Exposure Bracket Value - 0.0

• Exposure Bracket Value - 0

• Crop Hi Speed - Off (6016x4016 cropped to 6016x4016 at pixel 0,0)

• Exposure Tuning - 0

• Serial Number - 3019031

• Color Space - sRGB

• VRInfo Version - 0100

• Vibration Reduction - On

• VRMode - Normal

• Active D- Lighting - Off

• Picture Control Version - 0100

• Picture Control Name - Standard

• Picture Control Base - Standard

• Picture Control Adjust - Default Settings

• Picture Control Quick Adjust - Normal

• Sharpness - 3

• Contrast - Normal

• Brightness - Normal

• Saturation - Normal

• Hue Adjustment - None

• Filter Effect - n/a

• Toning Effect - n/a

• Toning Saturation - n/a

• Timezone - -04:00

• Daylight Savings - Yes

• Date Display Format - D/M/Y

• ISOExpansion - Off

• ISO2 - 400

• ISOExpansion2 - Off

• Auto Distortion Control - Off

• Lens Type - G VR

• Flash Mode - Did Not Fire

• Shooting Mode - Single-Frame

• Lens FStops - 5.33

• Shot Info Version - 0230

• Firmware Version - 1.00

• Noise Reduction - Off

• Color Balance Version - 0221

• Lens Data Version - 0204

• Exit Pupil Position - 85.3 mm

• AFAperture - 5.7

• Focus Position - 0x11

• Focus Distance - 0.56 m

• Lens IDNumber - 162

• Min Focal Length - 18.3 mm

• Max Focal Length - 55.0 mm

• Max Aperture At Min Focal - 3.6

• Max Aperture At Max Focal - 5.7

• MCUVersion - 189

• Effective Max Aperture - 5.7

• Retouch History - None

• Image Data Size - 2639747

• Shutter Count - 6305

• Flash Info Version - 0106

• Multi Exposure Version - 0100

• Multi Exposure Mode - Off

• Multi Exposure Shots - 0

• Multi Exposure Auto Gain - Off

• High ISONoise Reduction - Normal

• Power Up Time - 0000:00:00 00:00:00

• AFInfo2 Version - 0100

• Contrast Detect AF - Off

• AFArea Mode - Auto-area

• Phase Detect AF - On (11-point)

• Primary AFPoint - Mid-left

• AFPoints Used - Mid-left, Mid-right, Upper-right

• Contrast Detect AFIn Focus - No

• File Info Version - 0100

• Directory Number - 25600

• File Number - 17664

• Interop Index - R98 - DCF basic file (sRGB)

• Interop Version - 0100

• Compression - JPEG (old-style)

• Thumbnail Offset - 15872

• Thumbnail Length - 11143

• Rating - 0

• MPFVersion - 0100

• Number Of Images - 3

• MPImage Flags - Representative image, Dependent parent image

• MPImage Format - JPEG

• MPImage Type - Baseline MP Primary Image

• MPImage Length - 2712016

• MPImage Start - 0

• Dependent Image1 Entry Number - 2

• Dependent Image2 Entry Number - 3

• MPImage Flags - Dependent child image

• MPImage Format - JPEG

• MPImage Type - Large Thumbnail (VGA equivalent)

• MPImage Length - 27937

• MPImage Start - 2712064

• Dependent Image1 Entry Number - 0

• Dependent Image2 Entry Number - 0

• MPImage Flags - Dependent child image

• MPImage Format - JPEG

• MPImage Type - Large Thumbnail (full HD equivalent)

• MPImage Length - 626567

• MPImage Start - 2740224

• Dependent Image1 Entry Number - 0

• Dependent Image2 Entry Number - 0

• Camera ID - 72157639563966544

• Camera Type - Digital SLR

Also, what do you mean by another photo of my set-up? A photo of the overall area where I am taking pictures?

 

The below photo is a photo taken with the same set-up as before, camera may have been moved and refocused, not sure if I fiddled with any other settings, but no changes to the lighting otherwise. I don't think there's a filter on the camera? (It's not my camera and I'm just using whatever lens apparatus is on it).



(Comparable EXIF

Spoiler

• Make - NIKON CORPORATION

• Orientation - Rotate 90 CW

• X-Resolution - 300 dpi

• Y-Resolution - 300 dpi

• Software - Ver.1.00

• Date and Time (Modified) - 2017:03:12 20:50:29

• YCbCr Positioning - Centered

• ISO Speed - 400

• Sensitivity Type - Recommended Exposure Index

• Exif Version - 0230

• Date and Time (Original) - 2017:03:12 20:50:29

• Date and Time (Digitized) - 2017:03:12 20:50:29

• Components Configuration - Y, Cb, Cr, -

• Compressed Bits Per Pixel - 4

• Exposure Bias - +1 EV

• Max Aperture Value - 5.7

• Metering Mode - Multi-segment

• Light Source - White Fluorescent

• Sub Sec Time - 30

• Sub Sec Time Original - 30

• Sub Sec Time Digitized - 30

• Flashpix Version - 0100

• Color Space - sRGB

• Sensing Method - One-chip color area

• File Source - Digital Camera

• Scene Type - Directly photographed

• CFAPattern - [Red,Green][Green,Blue]

• Custom Rendered - Normal

• Exposure Mode - Auto

• White Balance - Manual

• Digital Zoom Ratio - 1

• Focal Length (35mm format) - 82 mm

• Scene Capture Type - Standard

• Gain Control - Low gain up

• Contrast - Normal

• Saturation - Normal

• Sharpness - Normal

• Subject Distance Range - Unknown

• Maker Note Version - 2.11

• Quality - Fine

• White Balance - White FL

• Focus Mode - AF-A

• White Balance Fine Tune - -6 -4

• WB_ RBLevels - 2.0625 2.45703125 1 1

• Program Shift - 0

• Exposure Difference - 0

• Flash Exposure Comp - 0

• Image Boundary - 0 0 2992 2000

• External Flash Exposure Comp - 0

• Flash Exposure Bracket Value - 0.0

• Exposure Bracket Value - 0

• Crop Hi Speed - Off (6016x4016 cropped to 6016x4016 at pixel 0,0)

• Exposure Tuning - 0

• Serial Number - 3019031

• Color Space - sRGB

• VRInfo Version - 0100

• Vibration Reduction - On

• VRMode - Normal

• Active D- Lighting - Off

• Picture Control Version - 0100

• Picture Control Name - Standard

• Picture Control Base - Standard

• Picture Control Adjust - Default Settings

• Picture Control Quick Adjust - Normal

• Sharpness - 3

• Contrast - Normal

• Brightness - Normal

• Saturation - Normal

• Hue Adjustment - None

• Filter Effect - n/a

• Toning Effect - n/a

• Toning Saturation - n/a

• Timezone - -04:00

• Daylight Savings - Yes

• Date Display Format - D/M/Y

• ISOExpansion - Off

• ISO2 - 400

• ISOExpansion2 - Off

• Auto Distortion Control - Off

• Lens Type - G VR

• Flash Mode - Did Not Fire

• Shooting Mode - Single-Frame

• Lens FStops - 5.33

• Shot Info Version - 0230

• Firmware Version - 1.00

• Noise Reduction - Off

• Color Balance Version - 0221

• Lens Data Version - 0204

• Exit Pupil Position - 85.3 mm

• AFAperture - 5.7

• Focus Position - 0x11

• Focus Distance - 0.63 m

• Lens IDNumber - 162

• Min Focal Length - 18.3 mm

• Max Focal Length - 55.0 mm

• Max Aperture At Min Focal - 3.6

• Max Aperture At Max Focal - 5.7

• MCUVersion - 189

• Effective Max Aperture - 5.7

• Retouch History - None

• Image Data Size - 2654114

• Shutter Count - 6313

• Flash Info Version - 0106

• Multi Exposure Version - 0100

• Multi Exposure Mode - Off

• Multi Exposure Shots - 0

• Multi Exposure Auto Gain - Off

• High ISONoise Reduction - Normal

• Power Up Time - 0000:00:00 00:00:00

• AFInfo2 Version - 0100

• Contrast Detect AF - Off

• AFArea Mode - Auto-area

• Phase Detect AF - On (11-point)

• Primary AFPoint - Bottom

• AFPoints Used - Bottom

• Contrast Detect AFIn Focus - No

• File Info Version - 0100

• Directory Number - 25600

• File Number - 19712

• Interop Index - R98 - DCF basic file (sRGB)

• Interop Version - 0100

• Compression - JPEG (old-style)

• Thumbnail Offset - 15872

• Thumbnail Length - 10873

• Rating - 0

• MPFVersion - 0100

• Number Of Images - 3

• MPImage Flags - Representative image, Dependent parent image

• MPImage Format - JPEG

• MPImage Type - Baseline MP Primary Image

• MPImage Length - 2726383

• MPImage Start - 0

• Dependent Image1 Entry Number - 2

• Dependent Image2 Entry Number - 3

• MPImage Flags - Dependent child image

• MPImage Format - JPEG

• MPImage Type - Large Thumbnail (VGA equivalent)

• MPImage Length - 35805

• MPImage Start - 2726400

• Dependent Image1 Entry Number - 0

• Dependent Image2 Entry Number - 0

• MPImage Flags - Dependent child image

• MPImage Format - JPEG

• MPImage Type - Large Thumbnail (full HD equivalent)

• MPImage Length - 684838

• MPImage Start - 2762240

• Dependent Image1 Entry Number - 0

• Dependent Image2 Entry Number - 0

• Camera ID - 72157639563966544

• Camera Type - Digital SLR

)

 

Thank you for all the suggestions so far!

I double checked, it does actually look like it has a filter on it "Vivitar Series1 UV 52mm" I'll look that up later and see what that does and if I should remove it.

Camera is a Nikon 3300, the lens says "Nikon DX VR AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5 - 5.6G II"



Lighting is direct unfortunately, so that may have something to do with it. (I can't think of a good way to build a reflector or diffuser yet.

 

Sweet, thank you very much, I'll try shooting without it and see if that improves it! (I didn't even know it was on there in the first place!)

And thank you @lkayet for the original suggestion of the filter!

Also, I'll read up on it, but in-case you know easier, before I go taking this off, is there a reason it is on the camera in the first place? Quick reading on it seems to indicate that there is no real benefit for me using it vs. the trade-off, so...

 

So, it's not the filter, but I did notice something about the behavior,



In a string of continuously taken images, the red haze cycles through them, so I think it may have something to do with the AC switching? I have the frequency correction turned on and set for the correct frequency and it's nowhere near as awful as with my cell-phone camera, but perhaps I need to use a different exposure setting or something?

EDIT: Switching to shutter priority and setting it to 1/60th seems to have sufficiently resolved it! Switching to live view with aperture priority and attempting to focus to take a photo made the camera go berserk and the pattern seemed to confirm that it was electrical interference. Aperature was forcing it into 1/8th or 1/4th or something which I think was just too slow.

 

I'm actually using a mix of metal halides and fluorescent so it is probably more pronounced. It is kind of fun to play with with a cellphone camera though.




Thank you for the link and for the info btw. I will read more closely on my break.