Tips for Shooting Translucent Fauna (Night Diving)

[krukster86]

Hey all! I have a filming technique question for you. There are a lot of really gorgeous translucent creatures in the water during night dives that just sparkle with color in the light of your dive light (jellies, squid, etc). I have been trying to capture these creatures on a GoPro Hero3+ BE with a SOLA 1200 Dive / SOLA 2000 Video. I have tried the 2000 at lowest power, 1200 at lowest power (floodlight), and have tried aiming the light so that the creature is only illuminated by the outer edge of the light beam. In all cases, the creature in looks perfectly exposed in when viewed with your eyes however in the video, it is completely washed out/blown out with light.

What sort of lighting technique would you recommend in this case? Different kind of light? Is there a DIY diffuser I can make to attach to my video rig to clip onto the light that would help?

Thanks!

 

[sea_ledford]

Is your light attached to the camera on a frame of some sort? If so, try taking the light off and hand holding it farther away from the subject. You also have a lot more options with light positioning that way. I've found that lighting from about 30 degrees from straight above and in line with the subject works pretty well (ie light the critter from straight above and move you hand over to the left or right a bit). You also get the benefit of less backscatter.

Freehanding the light certainly takes some practice, but is a valuable tool once you figure it out.

-Chris

 

[krukster86]

The light is attached on loc-line arms of a two handed GoPro tray. Sounds like a good idea to try out. I will have to really focus on keeping the camera steady one handing it.

 

[sea_ledford]

That is the hard part, especially with cameras as small as GoPros. You can use a flex clamp with a 2lb weight as a quick and dirty steady cam solution.

 

[_Ralph]

GoPro, white stuff, lights .... crank down the EV control!


_R

 

[gr8jab]

Maybe try a near-UV light to get some bioluminesence??

 

[Telstar2112]

sea ledford, can you elaborate on the 2lb weight "steady cam" idea? Does the weight need to be able to pivot or something?

 

[sea_ledford]

It was an idea I stole form Peter Bucknell. He used to post on here all the time, but I haven't seen him around lately. There is a picture of the set up on his website here: GoPro Book
But you basically use one of the gopro flex clamp mounts but instead of clamping the mount to a pole or something, you just clamp onto a hard weight to use as a counter weight for the camera.

It is an easy way of adding mass to the camera, which will always make shots more steady, and it adds in in the correct place to act as a fulcrum to stabilize unintended movement like a steadicam. Pretty slick.

-Chris

 

[Jeff Godfrey]

Try lighting from the side instead of from the front.