Dive Into Your Imagination

The “Art” of Underwater Video Lighting Techniques Based upon Chapter Seven The Camera Coach, Your Guide to Creating Underwater Video

Underwater we lose light as we descend. Red is the first color to disappear due to absorption. Housings come with red filters. A red filter transmits red from the color spectrum and helps correct the loss of ambient red light.

Manufacturers design their filter system differently. Whichever type of filter you use, you want to ensure it is always clean and free of debris or else when you go to look at your footage, there may be funky lines in every shot because of how this affects the light entering your lens. Also if the filter is not cleaned properly, everything may be out of focus. Filters should be cleaned with a dry lint free cloth. Sometimes in temperate waters or where you have green water, some filmmakers use a magenta filter. The same techniques apply when using these filters.

A great rule of thumb to use when shooting video is to put your red filter on as soon as you start descending and leave it there for wide angle video. By using the red filter when white balancing with or without lights, you will maintain a rich blue in your background, this is a great trade secret I discovered after years of practicing with all different lighting conditions. Every rule made can be broken, there are a few exceptions, if you are shooting up close wide angle of silver fish with your lights, then the fish might get too close to you and have a red tint, or if you are shooting a silhouette directly into the sun, the sun may get a red glow. When using the red filter, it is important to take some test footage to insure the red filter is appropriate to your shooting situations.