Red gel on underwater video light

[Roo 13]

Anyone have any experience shooting with red gel on video lights during night dives? The idea being of course to avoid annoying wildlife and limit those pesky larvae that like the lights so much. Any advice on specific gels to use will be gratefully accepted.

[ScubaBob 37]

Anyone have any experience shooting with red gel on video lights during night dives? The idea being of course to avoid annoying wildlife and limit those pesky larvae that like the lights so much. Any advice on specific gels to use will be gratefully accepted.

 

This topic came up here before (in 2014 I think) and I was also interested in this - someone said they were going to do a test. I know on land at least, the closest I can get to a correct white balance with red light is somewhere in the yellow spectrum. I'm thinking this might also require some kind of filter on your lens as well to get back to white. Not sure if this will slow things down too much or push ISO to high..

[kc_moses 142]

Roo, it won't work. I shoot video with the stealth mode of my video light (Archon D32vr) before and attempted to "white balance" it. All the video shows up very yellow.

 

I'm in Kota Kinabalu now to visit family, may be we can pick each other's brain some time? Just PM me.

[Interceptor121 711]

I have used 'red diffusers' read more on this post

 

http://interceptor121.com/2013/06/16/tips-for-capturing-mating-mandarin-fish/

 

I remember I did custom white balance in general it depends on the resulting temperature the filter brings it back to 2700-2900K which is still in range for auto white balance

If you do use custom white balance you may have more issues than what you try to sort out

 

Generally the idea of using only red light as the fish does not see it is a bit of a legendary thing to be honest. If you beam strong power light even if it is red the fish will see it

Edited March 1, 2015 by Interceptor121

[wydeangle 33]

Roger,

 

I second (or third) the idea that shooting with red light at night is problematic, so I've arrived at a compromise that I believe works more often than not.

 

I use red filters on my video lights, keeping them on low power while I am looking for critters. This seems to spook them less than the white lights.

 

I have previously white balanced with my lights on medium power (or whatever power I intend to use) without the filters.

 

When I find a subject, I remove or rotate the filters out of the way and do the shooting.

 

Whether this really helps, or just makes my life more complicated I couldn't say - I do think it helps sometimes.

 

Tom

[Roo 13]

Thanks everyone. I've used red light as a spotting light before underwater in the same way as Tom. Then shooting for a small time period with normal lights until the larvae start getting in front of the lens. I was hoping to be able to shoot with red light throughout but it seems like that might not do the trick from Interceptor's feedback. Anyhow I have some red gel on order and some seawolf lights so I'll let you know how I go.

[Nick Hope 151]

Sometimes a decoy light can work. e.g. A very bright light pointing away from the scene, back over your shoulder.

[Drew 0]

Hey Munnster

Over the years, I've experimented with red lights for night shoots to reduce wriggly larvae things. The important thing is to counter the red light with a filter on the lens.
With 6000°K+ HMI/LED/HID lights, I used double Lee 622 or CL106 filters on the lights and to counter on the lens, I've tried blue Lee CL119/141 and greens Lee 131/CL115 and a few others. I always MWB and then color correct in post. Since you are shooting RAW, then obviously the MWB is just for reference.

Just remember you're removing about 3-5 stops of light depending on filters so the noise can creep up a bit. The post boys can handle the rest. It's a lot of work though. Hope this helps.

[ScubaBob 37]

Drew - We should be able to "Like" your posts, even if you are a Moderator

[Roo 13]

Hey Munnster

Over the years, I've experimented with red lights for night shoots to reduce wriggly larvae things. The important thing is to counter the red light with a filter on the lens.

With 6000°K+ HMI/LED/HID lights, I used double Lee 622 or CL106 filters on the lights and to counter on the lens, I've tried blue Lee CL119/141 and greens Lee 131/CL115 and a few others. I always MWB and then color correct in post. Since you are shooting RAW, then obviously the MWB is just for reference.

Just remember you're removing about 3-5 stops of light depending on filters so the noise can creep up a bit. The post boys can handle the rest. It's a lot of work though. Hope this helps.

Thanks Drew. That's all great information. Going from your experience it probably needs more time to play around than I'll have on the shoot. Reckon I'll keep things simple this time and then experiment with some filters when I get some 'play' time later this year. Cheers mate.

[Drew 0]

Roger, I am not going to feel too sorry that you live in Sabah and can jump in at Sipadan/Layang2 whenever you feel like it to test. You could always get Pie to do the testing for you before the shoot! LOL Oh btw, just for trying to get sympathy from us, you are buying the 1st round in April if I see you there!

[peterbkk 110]

Shoot a critter like a banded shrimp and let them eat the wrigglies. They'll love you for it and you'll get some nice action footage...