Lighting And Filter Question

[Scubajt41]

Hopefully an easy question...

If i have a nice lighting rig for my gopro hero 4. Do i still need a filter on it?

I have two UK LED lights on a wing tray

 

[socaljohn]

I am no expert but colored filters are not generally needed if you are lighting the subject. They are mostly used to overcome color loss at depth.

 

[ronscuba]

Get a filter. Use lights for close ups, filter for everything else.

 

[Storker]

Lights add light. At all visible wavelengths. Generally, filters are superfluous if you have lights - or at least if your lights are able to light your subject, i.e. if you're close enough. If your lights can't light your subject (i.e. shooting a big wreck), don't bother bringing them. Inverse-square law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Filters subtract certain wavelengths. If you have enough light, they can improve the color balance by filtering out some of the blues and greens to give a more natural-looking color balance. However, at depth, where you simply don't have any red left, they won't help. There's no way a filter can make the reds, oranges and yellows "pop" like a light does, particularly at depth.

If you combine lights and a filter, IMO there's more than an even chance you'll get some weird colors.

 

[ronscuba]

Lights add light. At all visible wavelengths. Generally, filters are superfluous if you have lights - or at least if your lights are able to light your subject, i.e. if you're close enough. If your lights can't light your subject (i.e. shooting a big wreck), don't bother bringing them. Inverse-square law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Filters subtract certain wavelengths. If you have enough light, they can improve the color balance by filtering out some of the blues and greens to give a more natural-looking color balance. However, at depth, where you simply don't have any red left, they won't help. There's no way a filter can make the reds, oranges and yellows "pop" like a light does, particularly at depth.

If you combine lights and a filter, IMO there's more than an even chance you'll get some weird colors.

Can I ask the thread starter is his question for photo or video ? I realize this thread is in the photo section, but the GoPro is mainly a video camera. Plus he has video lights, not strobes. Weak video lights to be specific.

Your statements are correct, but lighting for video and photo is different. A photo is a single frame shot. Video is recording 24-60 frames per second and combining them into video footage. Video lighting requirements are much greater and therefore, we have to compromise. In a nutshell, for video shooting, use a filter for medium and wide angle, lights for closeups, night dives, very deep dark dives. $70 or less for a filter. Plenty of discussions on this in the video section.

 

[Storker]

Your statements are correct, but lighting for video and photo is different. A photo is a single frame shot. Video is recording 24-60 frames per second and combining them into video footage.

The basic physics is the same, regardless of whether it's still photography or video.

 

[ronscuba]

The basic physics is the same, regardless of whether it's still photography or video.

Yes the physics is the same.

The difference is what is required for lighting in photo is different than video. Powerful video lights costs thousands of dollars, but still are not powerful enough to replace photo strobes. That is because photo requirements are split second lighting vs. video requirements of constant lighting.

The standard recommended video setup uses a filter for wide angle and lights for closeups. If you or the thread starter do not want to believe me, don't buy the $75 filter and shoot with just the 600 lumen lights. Don't be surprised when all your wide angle and background footage has no color.

What do photographers do for wide angle lighting when the subject is more than 5 ft away ?

 

[Storker]

The standard recommended video setup uses a filter for wide angle and lights for closeups.

Right. Which is basically is in line with what I've been trying to say

 

[Tbar]

What do photographers do for wide angle lighting when the subject is more than 5 ft away ?

12mm lens, two good strobes with or without diffusers.

For go-pro video I see a of red filters, but as commented above 'red' light will not be added in, the blue is filtered out. With photos the preference would be to take RAW images and to post process.

 

[ronscuba]

12mm lens, two good strobes with or without diffusers.

For go-pro video I see a of red filters, but as commented above 'red' light will not be added in, the blue is filtered out. With photos the preference would be to take RAW images and to post process.

Makes sense. I know good photographers shoot raw and white balance in post.

Cannot necessarily do the same with video. Video is more limited for color adjustment in post, plus since video is 24-60 pictures every second, color adjustment in post requires a lot of computer processing power.

This is part of the reason people compromise and use filters for W/A video.