We present and analyze long-term optical photometric measurements of the three active stars V2253 Oph , IT Com and IS Vir .
All three systems are single-lined spectroscopic binaries with an early K giant as primary component but in different stages of orbital-rotational synchronization .
Our photometry is supplemented by 2MASS and WISE near-IR and mid-IR magnitudes and then used to obtain more accurate effective temperatures and extinctions .
For V2253 Oph and IT Com , we found their spectral energy distributions consistent with pure photospheric emission .
For IS Vir , we detect a marginal mid-IR excess which hints towards a dust disk .
The orbital and rotational planes of IT Com appear to be coplanar , contrary to previous findings in the literature .
We apply a multiple frequency analysis technique to determine photometric periods , and possibly changes of periods , ranging from days to decades .
New rotational periods of 21.55 \pm 0.03 d , 65.1 \pm 0.3 d , and 23.50 \pm 0.04 d were determined for V2253 Oph , IT Com , and IS Vir , respectively .
Splitting of these periods led to tentative detections of differential surface rotations of \delta P / P \approx 0.02 for V2253 Oph and 0.07 for IT Com .
Using a time-frequency technique based on short-term Fourier transforms we present evidence of cyclic light variations of length \approx 10 yrs for V2253 Oph and 5-6 yrs for IS Vir .
A single flip-flop event has been observed for IT Com of duration 2–3 yrs .
Its exchange of the dominant active longitude had happened close to a time of periastron passage , suggesting some response of the magnetic activity from the orbital dynamics .
The 21.55-d rotational modulation of V2253 Oph showed phase coherence also with the orbital period , which is 15 times longer than the rotational period , thus also indicating a tidal feedback with the stellar magnetic activity .