August 29, 2010
Shinning Light on Video Lights
A beginners guide to video lights
Lumens? Kelvin? Color temperature? Halogen versus LEDs? The world of video lights can be a confusing one for new underwater videographers. If you're looking for the perfect video light to add to your rig, here's what you need to know...
Why You Need Video Lights
Light is emitted from the sun in the form of various wave lengths. Longer wave lengths, like red and orange, are more quickly absorbed by water than short ones, like blue and green. Put simply, the deeper you descend and/or the further away you are from your subject, the more blue-green in color your video will be… unless you dive shallow and shoot close to your subject or utilize artificial light.
This is a photo taken from a video shot 18 feet below the surface using natural light. While the reef in the foreground is colorful, the background gradually becomes more blue-green in color the further away it is from the lens. I didn't need to use artificial light because I was shallow, the sun was intense and there was very little matter in the water.
Once you descend below 20 feet, you'll likely need to use artificial light. This photo, taken by Conrad and Carol 45 feet below the surface, clearly demonstrates the importance of using artificial light. While the anemone illuminated by the Ikelite PRO-V8 Video Light is colorful, the area outside the beam is blue-green in color.
LED Versus Halogen
Light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, are the new black in lighting. LEDs are popular among dive and video light manufacturers because they are small, energy efficient and durable. They are expensive to produce though, making dive and video lights featuring them more expensive than halogen-based products.
In contrast, halogen light bulb-based products are cheaper to produce, but less efficient, durable and environmentally friendly than LEDs. Therefore, most dive and video light vendors have discontinued their Halogen-based products in favor of LEDs.
Light Lingo
Like any industry, video lights have their own lingo. Here’s what everything means and why it matters to you...
• Lumens: The brightness of a light. Three-hundred lumens is less bright than 500 lumens. Many video lights allow you to adjust brightness. For example, the Light & Motion SOLA600 switches between 600/300/150 lumens.
• Kelvin: The color temperature, or warmth or coolness, of a light. The smaller the number, the warmer the light. The larger the number, the cooler the light. While difficult to articulate, here’s a great example: Incandescent light bulbs, which are popular in households, give off a warm yellowish light (warm), while new energy-efficient light bulbs emit a white light (cool). Natural daylight, for example, is around 5,500 kelvin, while LEDs are around 6,000-9,000 kelvin.
• Color Correction Filter: Filters that make video light color temperatures warmer. These filters, like the Fisheye LED Twin Filter/Diffuser, easily attach to video lights. They unfortunately also significantly reduce the brightness of the light.
What You Need to Get Started
• A camcorder or still camera: Most point-and-shoot cameras record video, as do some digital SLRs, like the Canon 5D Mark II and 7D and Nikon D300s and D3100.
• An underwater housing:
- Point-and-shoot: Ikelite makes inexpensive housings. Some vendors, like Canon and Olympus, make their own housings too. Review both options and compare prices, ergonomics and features.
- Digital SLRs: Vendors include Ikelite, SeaCam, Subal, Aquatica, Nauticam and Sea & Sea. Prices range from $1,300 to more than $5,000 depending on the material the housing is comprised of and its features. If price is your key consideration, Ikelite is likely your best choice. Make sure you demo all the housings you’re considering since cost, features and ergonomics vary.
- Camcorders: Vendors include Light & Motion, Seatool, Aquatica and Gates. Like with Digital SLRs, make sure you demo all the housings you’re considering.
• Arms: They extend from housing handles and easily attach to video lights. There are two types of arms – ball joint and flex arm. Both work well, but ball joint arms are more flexible and expensive. Here’s what they look like:
• Video Lights: While it’s best to use two video lights to reduce shadows, using one is better than none.
Which Video Light is Best?
That depends on your budget and what you’re hoping to achieve. To help you decide, below is a comparison of the entry-level video lights offered by prominent video light vendors.
Most Common Errors
What most commonly ruins a perfectly good video is backscatter – matter illuminated by video lights. Here’s what backscatter looks like:
Example of Backscatter from Joe Roualdes on Vimeo.
See the dandruff-like spots throughout the video? Backscatter occurs when video lights are angled in, illuminating the space between the lens and subject, which is exactly the mistake I made when shooting video of this puffer fish. Here’s a great illustration featured in a Backscatter article by Sy Harris.
To ensure that backscatter doesn’t ruin your video, angle your video lights so that their inner edges illuminate your subject and create a dark space between the lens and subject. Here is an illustration of this technique (from Sy’s article also).
As you can see, the space between the lens and subject is free of light and doesn’t illuminate matter.
Hot spots -- an area of your video that is significantly brighter than the rest -- are also another phenomenon you want to avoid. They are caused by reflective surfaces, like sand or fish, and overexposing a high-contrast photo. To prevent hot spots, check your exposure and turn down your video light lumens if possible or point your strobes away from reflective subjects.
Always remember to wipe bubbles off your dome before shooting video. If you don’t, you’ll wind up with tiny bubbles that reflect the sun and ruin your video.
Important Shooting Techniques
Write this down, it’s important… always keep the sun at your back. It will help reduce shadows. If you shoot into the sun, the area behind your subject may be dark. To determine the direction of the sun, hold your hand up at the beginning of each dive. The side of your hand that’s illuminated marks the direction the sun is coming from.
Don’t rely on zoom -- get as close to your subject as possible! Most video lights only project light several feet. By getting close to your subject you limit the backscatter, illuminate your subject and get a sharper video.
Remember to shoot your subject at various different distances and angles. Viewers typically tire of videos that don’t transition after 10 seconds. Therefore, shoot an establishing video that places your subject in a scene, then transition to a close up shot.
Use the rule of thirds, which states that your composition should be divided into nine equal parts -– two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines. Your subject should be placed along those lines to create the best composition. Note that most camcorders and still cameras have a feature that allows you to turn on and off a grid on your LCD screen.
Everyone has video of fish swimming. Differentiate your videos from others by filming fish doing something different, like hunting, hiding or mating. The more you can make your video standout from the rest, the better.
We hope you found our guide to video lights illuminating -– pun intended. Let us know if you have any questions or comments. We’re currently out testing Light & Motions new SOLA600 video and focus light. Keep an eye out for our review next week.
Posted by jroualdes at 03:50 PM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2010
Underwater Video Tips & Tricks From a Pro
Becky Kagan, Owner of Liquid Productions, LLC, recently posted a super-helpful video on underwatervideography.com that highlights video techniques -- plan your shots before getting into the water.
One of the techniques she highlights is getting video of subjects from multiple angles and distances -- wide, medium and tight. For me, that's been a difficult yet rewarding lesson to learn. On a recent dive trip to Maui, I camea cross a white tip reef shark. Worried I wouldnt get any video of it at all, I simply turned on my Canon 7D, adjusted the apperature and ISO and hit record. The result was a three-minute long video of the sharks backside.
Reviewing the video that evening I realized I'd blown the shot. When I came across a green sea turtle the next day, I took my time, shot it from multiple angles and distances. The resulting video is much more appealing.
I hope you're able to learn something new from the video.
Posted by jroualdes at 02:48 PM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2010
New Underwater Housing, Arms and Video Lights... Oh My!
Today's as close to Christmas as I'll ever get in August. My new Ikelite Canon 7D housing, 8 inch dome port and Ultralight arms finally arrived! As an added bonus, Light & Motion sent me two brand new SOLA600 video lights to review.
You know that dog you occasionally see standing outside the grocery store, fixated on the entrance, anxiously waiting for its owner to appear? Yeah, that was me this morning. Except I was waiting for the UPS guy.
Here's everything assembled...
What's the reason for the new rig you ask? I'm headed to Key Largo and Maui, where I'll write an article about shooting video with digital SLRs, a beginners guide to video lights, a review of the new SOLA600 video light and overviews of various dive sites.
I don't plan to post those articles until after I return at the end of August. However, I'll blog throughout my adventures... so keep an eye out for sneak peaks, first takes, photos and videos.
Posted by jroualdes at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)
July 13, 2010
Great Web Site for Underwater Videographers
I'm about six years late, but I recently discovered Vimeo -- an online community where filmmakers and video creators can share their creative work. Think YouTube, but with HD-quality video and social features that help you connect with your favorite videographers, track their work and view their favorite videos.
Here are a few underwater videographers whose work I've enjoyed:
I highly recommend you check out Vimeo if you're an aspiring underwater videographer, like myself, or simply enjoy underwater films.
Posted by jroualdes at 12:33 AM | Comments (0)
July 08, 2010
Farallon Islands Becoming a Popular Swim Hole
Karen Rogers, a 43-year-old Bay Area native, planned to swim 30 miles from the Farallon Islands to San Francisco Bay last Friday -- becoming the first woman and third person overall to do so. Strong winds and 12-foot waves forced her to abort the swim though early Friday morning.
Last month, a relay team attempted to swim from the Farallon Islands to the Golden Gate Bridge, but fell short when one swimmer became disoriented due to the 49-degree water.
While I admire Karen and the relay teams' attempts from a human endurance standpoint, the Farallones are a nutorious salad bar for large great white sharks -- especially this time of year. In fact, the first person to attempt the swim, Ted Erikson, reportedly swam within 50 feet of three great white sharks before they were scared away with gun shots from a support boat.
I realize sharks donn't intentionally attack people. However, if you willingly dive into their buffet, you become fair game in my book. I'm left asking myself... Is it worth the personal risk and the potential shark backlash from the public if one of the great white sharks mistakes Karen for a steller sea lion?
I don't think so. Do you?
Posted by jroualdes at 06:20 AM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2010
Great White Shark Warning Issued in Channel Islands
Last week, the National Park Service issued a great white shark warning around Santa Barbara Island in the Channel Islands -- a chain of eight islands located off the coast of Southern California that are popular among divers.
The warning said there have recently been three attacks on California sea lions by great white sharks -- one at the Santa Barbara Island Landing Cove and two offshore of Cat Canyon on the southeast side of the island.
When I teach PADI Open Water classes, students often ask me if there are great white sharks in Monterey Bay. While everyone knows the answer is “yes,” a lot of questions remain, like:
- Roughly how many great white sharks are in the bay?
- What percentage are male versus female or adults versus adolescents?
- Where are they located?
- Are great white shark numbers in the bay increasing or decreasing?
I’ve always wanted to provide students with a better response than “Yes, great white sharks are in the bay.” Prompted by this warning, I’ve contacted several great white shark experts, including representatives of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Great White Shark Project, to answer questions like the ones above and develop a post that sheds more light on great white shark behavior in the bay.
Stay tuned!
Posted by jroualdes at 05:14 AM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2010
Taking a Bite Out of SHARK WEEK
Next month marks the 23rd anniversary of cable’s longest-running event -- SHARK WEEK. I used to consider SHARK WEEK a holiday second only to Christmas. These days though, I’m not a fan.
The Discovery Channel says SHARK WEEK helps "viewers learn more about one of the ocean's most imperiled creatures and how they can help save them from the threats of overfishing and habitat loss." Sounds good, right? Absolutely! Where do I sign? It’s unclear though how the programs support that statement when you review what the Discovery Channel calls “SHARK WEEK 2009 highlights”:
"Great White Appetite" conducted "experiments that uncover the great white sharks unique eating habits." In reality, the show’s host – a former Navy Seal – fed a great white shark five whole tuna to determine the limit of its appetite. I don’t think tuna-on-a-rope qualifies as a unique eating habit.
Les Stroud – whose Survivorman show I enjoy – hosted "Deadly Waters." During the program, Les tested the waters in the world’s “sharkiest hotspots” to answer one simple question: Which water is the deadliest?
Another program, titled "Day of the Shark 2," illustrated what happens “when a great white shark breaks through a 300-pound aluminum shark cage and traps the divers inside."
How do these programs help viewers learn about sharks and how they can help save them? I don’t know.
On the flip side, some SHARK WEEK programs claim sharks are harmless. One program exemplifies this: In 2007, shark behaviorist Dr. Erich K. Ritter hosted a program about bull sharks, which are known for their aggressive behavior. Standing in a bay amidst several bull sharks, some up to eight feet long, Ritter says, “They realize were not a threat to them and they couldn’t care less.” Seconds later a bull shark who apparently could care less removes Ritter’s left calve in one bite.
While sharks aren’t out to kill people and most don’t pose a threat, some sharks are dangerous. While Ritter certainly understands sharks better than most, the fact remains that sharks are wild and unpredictable. I have no problem with experts introducing people to harmless sharks to disprove the popular “man eater” stereotype, but it’s dangerous for experts to present all sharks as harmless.
I’m hungry for something other than shark bite survival and breaching great white shark programs. This year, SHARK WEEK will have to chum the Discovery Channel with less sensational and more educational programming to lure me in.
Posted by jroualdes at 07:49 PM | Comments (0)
June 25, 2010
Stuck Between a Reef and a Hammer
A word to the wise diver: Expect the unexpected and always prepare for the worst. I know, I know. You've heard it before from various dive instructors, assistant instructors and dive masters. While some of you will heed my advice, others – yes you – will need to learn this lesson the hard way, just like I did.
My girlfriend Carolina and I recently took advantage of a trip to Boca Raton, Florida, for two weddings to get a boat dive in. We conducted research prior to the dive to identify the dive spots we were most interested in and qualified to dive. When we, along with another diver from Minnesota, boarded the boat the morning of our dive, the dive master asked if we had any dive spot requests. We anxiously suggested a spot that interested us because it’s one of the best dives to spot reef sharks. I love sharks, so saying I wasn’t disappointed when the dive master said we wouldn’t see sharks this time of year is an understatement. Deflated, I pumped myself back up thinking about the turquoise blue waters awaiting us.
With 10 minutes to go before we hit the water, the dive master began his overview of the dive spot. Our max depth was 60 feet. We were supposed to keep an eye out for lion fish on the reef and manta rays, sail fish and turtles during our ascent. While the excitement of the upcoming dive makes some divers’ minds wander during these critical overviews, Carolina and I listened to his every word since this was only our third drift dive. Since there were only three divers, the diver master opted not to dive with us. After the overview, Carolina and I discussed our dive plan with the other diver. He planned to look for lobsters, while Carolina and I would take photos of interesting critters. We’d stay together and at 1,000 PSI, we’d head to the surface. We ran through signals, checked each other’s gear and then suited up.
One giant stride later we discovered more bad news – while we had a sunny skies and little wind, visibility was reduced to merely 30 feet due to a storm that had blown through a few days earlier. Oh well, still better than Monterey’s average visibility, I thought. Once we finished our decent, I took the lead with Carolina a few feet behind and to my right. The Minnesota diver darted back-and-forth inspecting every nook and cranny that could be harboring lobsters.
Despite the poor visibility, we spotted a sting ray, sea turtle, several large lobsters and numerous large sponges. As I surveyed the reef, amazed by how quickly the current was carrying us, I felt a tug on my right fin. Turning to my right nonchalantly, my mind cycled through a list of things Carolina may have spotted: a manta ray, dolphin, or maybe even an elusive frog fish! Interrupting me mid thought, Carolina pulled up along my right side and wrapped her left arm around my right as our eyes locked. Her eye lids were wide open, fully exposing the whites of her eyes – not good!
Behind Carolina, a shadow emerged. Again my mind cycled through images, attempting to define the outline quickly approaching us. Seal… no. Dolphin… no. Manta Ray… no. Shark… yes! But it wasn’t a reef shark. Nearly 20 feet away, its outline was unmistakable. It was a scalloped hammerhead and it was big – 8 feet at least with a dark grey, muscular body that effortlessly cut through the water. First, I was in awe. Then my instinctive fight or flight response kicked in. This was the first shark I’d come across that was large enough to pose a threat. Carolina and I had planned what we’d do if we came across much smaller reef sharks, not a hammerhead. What do we do? We knew our hand signals, but there weren’t enough hand signals or time to sufficiently communicate in this situation. Fortunately for us, the hammerhead banked a u-turn around us and then leisurely swam off. Amidst pulling the regulator out of our mouths to smile and exchanging rapid-fire hand signals illustrating our excitement, the other diver swam up with his hands out asking what all the fuss was about. I gave him the sign for shark, and then extended my arms all the way out to emphasize how large it was. Unfortunately for him, he’d had his head in a hole searching for lobsters and missed the whole thing.
After boarding the boat a few minutes later, I turned to the dive master and said, “You said it’s not shark season. Does that include 8 foot-long hammerheads?” All kidding aside, Carolina and I were lucky. While we hadn’t planned for it, we’d seen a large hammerhead without any issues arising. Chatting over dinner that night, we realized that despite all the research we’d done and questions we’d asked we hadn’t planned for the unexpected and prepared for the worst. While no one – including our dive master who had dived that spot numerous times beforehand – expected us to see a large hammerhead, we came across one. Carolina and I should have taken it upon ourselves to identify all the potentially hazardous animals located in the area and planned how we’d respond if we came across each of them. While the hammerhead simply swam off, what if it hadn’t? What if it we’re inquisitive, didn’t leave the area and we were on low air? What if the diver from Minnesota panicked and shot to the surface?
At the end of the day, every diver is responsible for his or her own safety. While seeing certain things may be highly unlikely, always consider all the things you could come across during your dive and plan for them in advance. Here are a few suggestions to help you prepare for your next dive:
· If you dive with a dive shop, call prior to your dive and ask for an overview of all the marine life you could come across during your dive. Most importantly, ask for a list of all the potentially hazardous marine life. Then, prior to your dive, double check the information you received with your dive master.
· If you’re conducting a dive and don’t have access to a dive shop or divers who are familiar with the site, search online for overviews of your dive site. One site I visit frequently before conducting beach dives is www.shorediving.com, which provides maps of the dive site and overviews of marine life and hazards.
· Become a member of the Divers Alert Network and complete some of the training courses.
· Complete PADIs Rescue Diver course. The course teaches valuable skills that teach you to save your dive buddy and yourself.
· If you dive with a partner, always establish a dive plan, review hand signals and review their gear so you understand how it works. If it’s the first time you’ve gone diving with that person, conduct your first dive together in shallow water with good conditions to evaluate their abilities before taking on more challenging dives.
· Always abort a dive if conditions are poor or you feel you are not qualified to make the dive.
Posted by conradb212 at 04:43 PM | Comments (0)
