We searched for signs of the presence of circumstellar gaseous matter in photometric data for massive contact early-type binaries by analyzing residual curves (the dependence of the difference between the observed and theoretical brightness variations on the orbital-period phase) for three such stars. The residual curves make it possible to estimate the influence of gas in the common envelope on the observed light curves for different phase intervals and to qualitatively describe the character of the distortion of the light from the system's components. Changes of the residual curves from filter to filter indicate varying conditions in the circumstellar matter. Changes of the residual curves from one observation epoch to another indicate varying conditions in the circumstellar matter. We compared the residual curves obtained for different photometric bands and epochs via a correlation analysis. The distortion of light from the components of LY Aurigae in the ultraviolet differs from that in the visual. The distortion of light from the components of SV Centauri is appreciable, but not selective, and does not vary in time, while the distortion of light from BH Centauri possesses a strong selective component. A comparison of the radii computed for the components of BH Centauri and SV Centauri shows that the gas distribution near these binaries varies in time. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2010.