Storm
Contributor
Before we "dive" in to this, let me preface this with the following:
I'm pretty comfortable with my old UW photography set up for stills and a lot of that theory technology transfers to video, but I didn't use filters in the past, just lights, and I typically only the rig with me when hitting sited below 40 feet, so matching my WB to my lights was the only real priority. It was also for stills so individual pops and not constant filming.
I understand that when going shallow and using ambient light a red filter helps bring back those red and orange tones lost through light diffusion, but I have also read articles (and watch a ton of videos) that say "just use the Hero 6 auto white balance and no filter). So for shallow dives, will a red filter improve much over the Auto WB? If using a red filter, will Auto WB be thrown off, thus requiring using a custom WB. Like I mentioned above, I seldom bothered with snorkeling, or shallow dive, so not sure the right configuration for the GoPro when there is enough ambient light to work with.
I have always done custom white balancing when shooting stills at depth (great than 40 feet), but that was matching the camera WB to the same temperature as my lights as it was only my immediate subject in the shot.. I, mean, unless you diving with the sun in your pocket as a light , you're not likely going to get enough light penetration from most entry level lights to do "underwater landscapes" or reefscapes.
So I guess the main questions are:
Under what conditions and when do you use:
If using twin lights, do I even worry about filters when at depth?
Is just matching WB to the temperature of my lights is good enough, or do I have to do custom WB and keep adjusting it during the dive, despite the fact that I artificial lighting?
Now a Rigging question as well
GoPro are not huge cameras, neither is my tray and arm set up Any suggestion on small floats/float arms for a smaller rig like this. Would prefer to have the rig neutral when at depth.
All help is appreciated.
- Not new to diving
- Not new to UW photography
- Not a GoPro newbie either, but fairly new to UW video shooting
I'm pretty comfortable with my old UW photography set up for stills and a lot of that theory technology transfers to video, but I didn't use filters in the past, just lights, and I typically only the rig with me when hitting sited below 40 feet, so matching my WB to my lights was the only real priority. It was also for stills so individual pops and not constant filming.
I understand that when going shallow and using ambient light a red filter helps bring back those red and orange tones lost through light diffusion, but I have also read articles (and watch a ton of videos) that say "just use the Hero 6 auto white balance and no filter). So for shallow dives, will a red filter improve much over the Auto WB? If using a red filter, will Auto WB be thrown off, thus requiring using a custom WB. Like I mentioned above, I seldom bothered with snorkeling, or shallow dive, so not sure the right configuration for the GoPro when there is enough ambient light to work with.
I have always done custom white balancing when shooting stills at depth (great than 40 feet), but that was matching the camera WB to the same temperature as my lights as it was only my immediate subject in the shot.. I, mean, unless you diving with the sun in your pocket as a light , you're not likely going to get enough light penetration from most entry level lights to do "underwater landscapes" or reefscapes.
So I guess the main questions are:
Under what conditions and when do you use:
- Bare bones GoPro with just Auto WB;
- Bare bones GoPro with a red filter (and what WB balancing would you use)
If using twin lights, do I even worry about filters when at depth?
Is just matching WB to the temperature of my lights is good enough, or do I have to do custom WB and keep adjusting it during the dive, despite the fact that I artificial lighting?
Now a Rigging question as well
GoPro are not huge cameras, neither is my tray and arm set up Any suggestion on small floats/float arms for a smaller rig like this. Would prefer to have the rig neutral when at depth.
All help is appreciated.