I can not tell you how much this video has improved the quality of my underwater photography! I am using an Olympus TG-5 and this one piece of knowledge has really brought back the color to my photos. Thank you Vanessa!
Hi thank you so much for the sharing! I have been watching videos of UW photography for a week and it is my first video seeing a female photographer talking, plus in a really clear and super funny way!!! Will check all the videos on your channel :)
Wow I love listening to you. Your subtle humor makes EVERYTHING you say interesting. I dive a beach in Thailand every day for 3-4 months out of the year with my Sony a6000. I've stopped using strobes and playing a lot my with MWB now.
Perfect explanation thanks! I love the studio setup in the background of your videos, it looks like a lot of effort went into that with the shelving and lighting etc. Very cool.
Thank you very much INDEED! Your advice is consistent with the laws of physics precisely - the the greater the length or weight of subject - the less chances for a vibration. Your lessons are very useful and practical. Wish you the best possible water clarity : )
super, vielen Dank, ja die kleinen Karten hatte ich auch probiert, das war so wie du erklärt hattest - nicht so ideal, auf jeden Fall sehr hilfreich das Video und werde es beim nächsten Mal testen
Hi thank you so much for the sharing! I have been watching videos of UW photography for a week and it is my first video seeing a female photographer talking, plus in a really clear and super funny way!!! Will check all the videos on your channel :)
Amazing content, went filming to the reef yesterday (before watching this video), everything is blue. Going back in a couple of days with your tips! Muchas gracias, saludos desde Cancún!
Great content as usual. You touched on cameras that film in raw which is an unlikely option for most mere mortals. What codec do you recommend and would you recommend shooting in S log. It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on this considering most divers are recreational video makers and not working in film.
Yeah I touched on raw so one knows these are out there ;) tho blackmagic habe a small raw capable camera and for sure we will see more cheaper cameras with raw in the near future.. hopefully 😎📽 V log, C log, S log,... of course this is a great option! But it just totally depends. If you shoot in thoose you need to know your way around colorgrading, also setting focus and exposure can be challenging too especially if you dont habe a monitor and that can display luts. So as this is a beginners series, I would not start with log just yet. I will cover log and everything later btw :) this will be a whole episode. I usually use a natural color profile and dile down contrast saturation and sharpness a bit and try to get the best colors and exposure. Also it depends for who and what I shoot. If best quality is the goal then I will shoot in 400mbs 4k and 24p.
Hey Vanessa, danke für das super Video. Ich hoffe das bald Kameras mit RAW zu deutlich günstigeren Preisen auf den Markt kommen 🤣. Weißabgleich ist für mich Unterwasser echt ne Katastrophe 😁. Weiter so 👍🏻 AMMMMAZZZIINNG 😎
such a great tutorial Vanessa thank you very much, What do you recomend when we change our depth quickly. I am freediver in this is my main concern.. shooting scenes from the surface al the way to 15m and up makes almost impossible to have a correct white balance.
Actually depending on the lighting condition I d use a redfilter and set the Kelvin to around daylight if you are filming in daylight. Otherwise set a manual WB at the depth you will film most of your time. Will be hard to reset it every 1-2m sure. If you are doing one take then you have to choose at what depth you want the inage to look best and do a test run and pre set it.
@@ReefPatrol thank you so much for your reply, daylight WB works ok for shallow works indeed. I haven't tried with red filter yet and so far is always a compromise, as you said, of what depth I want my images to look the best. Great video and looking forward to keep learning from you 😊🙏
Great video just subscribed. A bit off topic but for snorkelling would you recommend a gopro 7 or osmo action? Not seen any comparison vids on this - underwater will be the primary purpose of my action cam.
Both are great action cams. The osmo has a bit better stabilisation, but not sure how well it performes with WB. The Hero7 has ProTunes where you can set a sort of RAW WB that is not too bad actually.
@@ReefPatrol Oh just the general stuff and how my new Scubalamp V6Ks are going to pair with my RX100 and turn me into a Nat Geo cameraman. Can you do that? :-) White balance with video lights would be cool..
@@ReefPatrol I like to see how to do white balance callibration with red filter fitted onto the camera in conjunction with different lighting options (strobes & video lights + ambient filter).
Wonderful video Venessa! I started doing white balance from ocher color brain corals which is very abundant in Maldives. Since then I completely dropped the white slate. It makes the blue background really nice. What is your opinion about using this brownish brain corals?
You can use warmer tones to do the WB yes, it will give you a richer blue. It just depends on what kind of look you want to go for. Sometimes the warmer grey/skintones make sense sometimes not. Depends on the visibility light depth and scene ;) for macro I manly use grey for wide I sometimes choose sand over grey. Usually I do a testdive to check out the conditions and test the different colors of WB cards and sand etc.
Because I am happy with your hi-res explanation and laughing at the way you did it, may I white-balance you? On cannot coz it's already being Kelvinized. LOL. Love you and see you underwater ....
Thanks for the great tutorial........just not sure why you only used 30 seconds out the 17 minutes to tell us that we should use a grey card......can you elaborate on what the issues are using a homemade laminated card (too reflective?), do you have a grey scale value to use for the grey white balance card, is there any point in using a primary colour reference card in a shot to help post processing colour balance? Cheers
If you use laminated ones they are toooooo reflective and the surface is not equalilly lit. So any grey card that is plastic will work that you can buy for whitebalance. If you have a color checker sure use that in the begining of the recording of each clip, then you can do a proper color correction :) Also any uw camera store can advise you on grey cards ;)
I really appreciate Vanessa's sense of humor and the time she takes to inject that humor into the video. Keep 'em coming Vanessa, I'm learning a lot from this channel. ~B
Thanks a lot, great lesson. For compact cameras with wide angle lens I would recommend A3 size white plastic (used for posters printing), which you may fold to the size of your pocket.
Great videos. I learned a lot and I will learn every day a little bit more. So, you're right with the automatic white balance under water. I tried it with and without the Keldan spectrum filter, the results aren't good. My camera is a Sony RX 100 III, with a manual white balance the measurement is always 9900K A-B:B0, G-M:M7, with or without the filter. The results are better, but in my opinion that can't be ok. The camera is limited to 9900k, for the former RX100 II Sony recommended 9900k A-B:B5, G-M:M7. I tried this setting but it wasn't good. So, the question is, is the reality above 9900k and the camera can't follow or is the realty below 9900k and the camera is damaged. I don't know. Maybe it's a Sony problem, maybe I did something wrong. What do you think with your experience.
Hi thanks for your videos, people can learn a lot from you great job! I would like to ask you one question, because I am starting with underwater video I don't have any expensive camera yet.. so I just use GoPro (7black) and there is option to set WB under water from2300 to 6500K but no manual by using white card... just curious if you have any average numbers how deep what WB or if is better to use auto In this case...?
Well as usual it depends. If you want to get best colors I d reccomend to tedt it out. Note on your slate what wb at what depth whilst recording, when check at PC and see what works best. Auto WB I would avoid, because you will get color shifting during your shot. If it doesnt matter to you well stick with auto. If it does, try dialing in daylight so around 5600k and use a redfilter for gopro. This will give you the best color in my opinion. If you stay in the shallow to about 10m. Defently invest in a luttle gopro redfilter. But if you are snorkeling take it off. Will work best bmsomewhere between 3-10m on daylight setting.
Yet another great video. Solid advice and well explained. I'll admit I'm lazy with WB and more often set kelvin manually and tweek in post. Gonna spend a day with my grey card and stop being lazy! I've used red filter on camera shallow but stopped using it when I moved to using video lights, so I'm really looking forward to the next episode. I use Sony and found the red filter cut out too much light, hence the reason I stopped using it. I did look into blue filters for video lights but again loosing a stop of light put me off. After your next episode I'm guessing the filter issue something I'll have to revisit.
But the Sonys have great low light, so bunping up ISO shouldnt be an issue! If the redfilter cuts out tooo much light get a less dense one. Defently worth it! :)
Thank you for a wonderful video, I would like to know how you stabilize your footage in Premier? Especially when currents are pushing the diver around a lot.
You can use warp stabilizer in Premiere or film with 120fps or so. Nice slowmotion so that will smooth out the shakyness. But usually no autofocus ;) if u use that.
What about auto underwater white balance on the sony a1 for example ? I have practice with the grey card , yes its always the best , but when diving in a group, there is not much time to white balance.
Georg Huss Thanks a lot for this helpful and informative tutorial. After a long research in this field now I am eventually an enthuisiatic beginner with a Olympus EM1MII / Nauticam setup. So I am looking forward to your other videos. I am also amazed by the professional quality of your tutorials.
I've been using my dive slate. But only for UW photography, I didn't know it really applied to UW Videography. is it necessary to do a white balance on night dives? I do a lot of night dive photography. Thanks a lot for this outstanding video BTW
Well nightdives are waaay simpler ;) set the WB to the Kelvin value of your lights and you should be good to go. Manly they are daylight so you can also set the WB to the little sunshine ;) so Daylight. Let js know how it went 📽😎
Ich benutze eine Tafel aus weißem Plexiglas (bekommt man im Baumarkt)- gibt es in verschiedenen Größen - bzw. weiße Aufkleber aus Plastik für den Weißabgleich.
Hi Vanessa, this may never be read but this is such helpful advice. So thank you for putting the time in and with such wonderful explanation! If you do happen to catch this however - I have some loaded Q's as i'm doing something a bit different nowadays. Here are 2, one on light metering and use of vNDs for separation (that young turtle you guys filmed - I think it was a Red Sea shot, it looks so brilliant, I was simply wowed. What do you think of using luminance/spectrometers to help with subject level color accuracy that would help in post? I know that devices like the c-700 Sekonic has a housing or 2, but if I have a shot list (i.e. a narrative film - we're in pre-prod) I need to work with , most of my time will be on FFM communicating w the surface, safety divers, etc yet juggling laminated shot lists, plus slates, plus middle gray or white cards (also small video color tests too to for more specific targets), but I've found it cumbersome if don't have an AC physically nearby to help with the efficient flow of getting good shots completed during the time we have while I'm making fairly constant adjustments to the camera on multi-level dives). Lighting arrays for black background shots are something we've tried in the past, but that required a crew on its own. I've seen your video advice for lighting, but on one location, we're gonna need some powerful daylights for a scene that will take place on an open wreck at about 20m - avg viz 25m. But I know to get detail and separation, I'll have to stop the cam down. What are your thoughts on vND's to keep lenses at their largest aperture for DoF?
Hello, I have an SJ8PRO, and used it to shoot my freedive sessions. Somehow, the color temperature changes erratically to different temps, mid shot. does this have anything to do with white balance? I set it on auto.
Thank you for this video, can’t imagine how helpful it has been for me. Im seeking for your advice with a problem I’m having. Recently I bought a Sony A6700 and a housing for underwater video. When I try to perform the custom white balance it goes to 9900K and a red tint. Do you know what’s happening? Out of the water that feature of the camera works flawlessly. Should the white balance be done with a red filter? Thank you Best regards
For photography, is it better to set auto white balance on your dive, or will I get equivalent in post, since I am shooting raw? I saw what you mentioned in the video, just want to make sure. Just trying to decide what my priority should be. Thanks!
In then shallows with enough light auto should be fine. I dont really shoot stills so for sure an expert will see this and answer :) with raw you can change WB a lot but it for sure would help to do a WB anyhow. With strobes this will be different for sure too.
Not sure but when photographing in raw picture profiles (portrait, true, vivid, standard etc) are deleted when uploading into lightroom. Maybe its the same for WB so it would make no difference when shooting raw. But im not sure just guessing. (At the end of the day WB is also just digital just like exposure etc. So its digitally enhancing reds. Same thing happens when you do it in LR or PS... a red filter is different though because youre actually adding something. Same priciple as turning up iso or adding a light) my two cents. Not sure if its correct though. Maybe just try and see what works :)
Vanessa: how do you suggest those of us who don’t shoot expensive camera rigs (which I would venture to say are quite a few who follow you) address the white balance issue from a Go Pro, for example. Should we set AWB, or play around with a kelvin setting and ISO range, use filters and lights, and hope for the best?
Hi. I shoot a lot of video with the Panasonic GH5S and rely on preset white balances. I use Keldan lights rated at 5500k when diving deeper than 20 ft. At deeper depths everything is blue unless I am close. At some point, as you go deeper the color will never be there in a wide shot. Do you have experience putting red filters between the sensor and lens to help correct for this? Filming with Gates Housings, I got spoiled from the flip down diopter. Thanks
Hi Iv just randomly come across this video. It was great. Iv been diving for 17 years and only messed around with GoPro type filming. But this has inspired me to start photographing. Can you recommend a camera for a total novice to start out with. Thanks Ian
Thanks so much for your video! Can I ask, if I have video light, do I still need to use manual white balance? If this is needed, should I adjust the white balance while turning on the video light? Sorry for these questions and thx in advance for help!
Wouldn't custom white balance on the temperature of your underwater lights solve any issue? Sorry if it's a dumb question but i've just purchased a Gh5 and i'm trying to figure out white balance for the first time!
Do you need a polarising filter on a gopro. I’m trying to do some fish filming in a shallow clear river, but the water is showing up like it’s opaque, losing all depth of field and detail. Colour is the least of my problems. I would appreciate any advice.
Hey Vanessa. Echt cooles video! Wirklich gut erklärt! Ich plane mir eine a6400 zuzulegen und da Panasonic für die gute WB bekannt ist wollte ich fragen ob du vielleicht weisst wie es mit Sony steht. Danke!
2'57''... but if you messed up the white balance, well, you're screwed(!) Loooool 4'27'' ... I don't have a green fruit... Looooool Just hillarious Simply put: I love you Sensei! You make me laugh out loud! POWER & RESPECT to you miss V-C-K
I know its gonna be the topic of upcoming videos but maybe you can give me a short tip since im leaving very soon for my diving holiday. My Setup: Canon EOS 80D, 2 8" B&J Arms on either side and 1 video light on each side. I have a red filter. My approach was to use the red filter+ custom WB with ambient light for wide shots. For close up/(maybe even macro) shots(/video) i thought i wouldnt use the red filter but bring the lights and either set a custom WB or even keep it on auto since im lighting everything in view with my lights. Does this make sense or is there a better option? (with the red filter everything would turn out red if i bring lights right? or mess with the WB of the background a LOT!) I saw a video on the behind the mask channel where you used red filters and blue filters for the lights. sadly i couldnt find any blue filters for my lights (just red or violet). As shown in the video if i use a red filter with lights everything will be super red... any suggestions/tips how i can achieve the best result with what i have?
Redfilter and Ambient Light for Wide work good if not too deep. For Close/Macro you don't have to use a Redfilter. If you dont have Ambient Filter it might get too red. But dont use auto WB! ;) set it either to the Kelvin of your lights usually around Daylight and defently do a manual WB on the dominant light source, so your video lights.
@@ReefPatrol ok thanks for the help! i know the exact temperature of my lights (mentioned by producer and very color accurate) is it better to dial that value in or rather do a manual wb set with a greycard? and i just found some blue gels (plastics) on amazon that are use for theaters. does it make sense to buy those as ambient light filters for my lights? theyre not rated like keldans, but keldan filters are also basically just blue plastic/glass in front of the lights or not?
@@ReefPatrol maybe an addition to my question to clarify. Those are photography gels used to correct warm light to cooler light (CTB standards). Is this a good idea for underwater use?
@@simon1234567ful I just use color gels UW for lighting effects. Never used them to shift the color temp. So I cant really say. I am sure it would work to some extent, depending how dense the filters are. The Keldan System is high quality and engineered to be perfect with their lights and spectrum filters. Also depending on how deep you go you will need different dencities and thent how strong your lights are. So a looooot to concider. I would just use it as a test and nothing serious. Just to try it out. But if the gels are super expensive i d maybe just leave it and save up for a system that offers blue/ambient filters.
Can anyone recommend good (not too expensive) video editing software ? Something to take shake our, pan zoom adjust colour etc. not super professional stuff which take year to learn
Hello, I am using the little white plastic piece that is on the tank of my G-16 cam to soften the flashlight, and I put it against my cam so it fills the whole frame before I manually set the WB. Usually I am doing this in a horizontal way. I remarked that then on the computer the sand at the bottom/floor of the sea spot is often too white (almost light pink). Any advice? should I orientate my cam towards the bottom of the sea spot before I set the WB?
Try setting the WB in the direction you are filming and also do the wb with a bit of distance to your camera. Perhaps use a bigger sate. If it still doesnt look nice do the wb on the sand. This will get rid of the pinkish look, but only if the sand is close to you and not in the deep.
Great video, thanks ! It helps a great deal ! One question though (I'm pretty new to this)… Once we've reached the intended depth of the dive, should I do the manual white balance with my dive torch ON (as I will probably use it to shine some light on the subject) or OFF, to set the manual wb to the ambient light / current depth and conditions ? ( I am using an Olympus TG-4 in its dedicated PT-056 housing and a hand-held 1000 lumen torch light, and I mostly take photos, not videos) Thanks again for your video and your answer ;-)
@Olivier La Buse I often get mixed lights, as there often is light from the surface (I dive mostly in summer time, in the 20 to 45 m area) together with the torch I use to light the subject, but thank you for your time & your answer. I'll give a thought about using the temp of my torch for the wb, and I'll try to find the other videos about mixed lights. Thanks again, and nice dives !
To my opinion, and i use white Fins :-) i got the most and best Videos with a gopro 7 or 3 black, easy to use and with a slightly light on top...most impressive.. Also use a Iphone 12/15 in any housing---challenging, because of all possible settings under water... The manual white balance does not seem to be feasible...
Do you think there would be any advantage to using a color checker vs grey card? I've begun to use Davinci Resolve 16 which appears to have a "color match" for X-rite. Currently, I plan to use my fins (Grey Cressi Gara 3000 LD) and I'm 5"11...so ~1.5 meters from the camera. I’ll try it out ASAP, but I was wondering if I should investigate the color checker approach. You mentioned a prototype card in the vide.
Just subscribed , your explanation is crystal clear , thank you so much and hopefully this can help improve my underwater shots , only trouble is I’m a free diver so it will be harder ha ha
Keldan ;) I used step up rings for 58mm to 72mm with my 12-35mm lens. And I use Keldan Spectrum gels for Fisheye and Wideangle. But there are other Brands too that make decent redfilters. UW camera stores usually have a variaty of redfilters :) but we love the Keldan Filters, thats why we use them. Best color for what we do especially in combination with the Keldan Lights and Ambient Filters for them.
Reef Patrol. I’ll just keep waiting for the keldans to be available in the states. Love your videos! If you are ever in Guam would be a blast to go film the underwater world with you guys.
Reef Patrol so I just got the new 58mm keldan filters in and they are amazing. I’m using the GH-5 with keldan 4x’s with the ambient filters. Have you noticed any blue casting at the top of the frame? Also with the -2 stops you really have to push the iso up there to get proper exposure. What is the highest iso you are using with your setup?
@@bradleymonell4653 cool! No I havent noticed a blue cast. I push the ISO to max 1600 but try to stay below 1200. Can help to film in 25p to have 1/50 Shutterspeed. You will have a bit more light that way. Otherwise use wide Aperture like 2,8F. I use the 8x so plentx of light usually ;) Perhaps stay a bit more in the shallows ?
Great and informative video! If using a GoPro (H10), would you recommend shooting in “Native” WB and then adjusting it in post-production? If so, what are some best tips for adjusting native WB in post? Cheers!
Awesome tutorial, unfortunately the is only dark water here in sweden :/, btw do you guys lock the exposure before going underwater? if so..what should i lock on, the darkest spot or the lightest one?
What would be the best option with a goPro, since I can't change anything during the dive? Thx! (Love your vids btw)
Had the same question...I think us go pro shooters are “screwed”
You can get colour filters that help :) it's discussed in another of their videos. GoPro's strength is its weakness, simply and point and shoot.
That said, I imagine you can pre-set the white balance? Set it low and experiment?
I believe you either get to use filters or shoot in log and color grade it in post. At what depths do you plan using it?
I can not tell you how much this video has improved the quality of my underwater photography! I am using an Olympus TG-5 and this one piece of knowledge has really brought back the color to my photos. Thank you Vanessa!
welcome Bill! :)
"white balance is as important as breathing underwater".. Not for freedivers! ✌️✌️
Hi thank you so much for the sharing! I have been watching videos of UW photography for a week and it is my first video seeing a female photographer talking, plus in a really clear and super funny way!!! Will check all the videos on your channel :)
Wow I love listening to you. Your subtle humor makes EVERYTHING you say interesting. I dive a beach in Thailand every day for 3-4 months out of the year with my Sony a6000. I've stopped using strobes and playing a lot my with MWB now.
Awesome video Vanessa.
The AWB attached to the whiptail ray swimming away was hilarious.
Yeah I had a good laugh too 🤣
awesome video thanks so much! This was really helpful and entertaining
Glad you enjoyed it, Vanessa is top!
Perfect explanation thanks! I love the studio setup in the background of your videos, it looks like a lot of effort went into that with the shelving and lighting etc. Very cool.
thanks!
Excellent explanation of white balance underwater, and the practicalities of setting it. Beautifully amusing too :-)
Thank you very much INDEED! Your advice is consistent with the laws of physics precisely - the the greater the length or weight of subject - the less chances for a vibration. Your lessons are very useful and practical. Wish you the best possible water clarity : )
Excellent. Learned some stuff!
great!
Thanks!
Wiedermal ein toll gemachtes Video :) danke dafür
Daaankkkkkeeeeee
super, vielen Dank, ja die kleinen Karten hatte ich auch probiert, das war so wie du erklärt hattest - nicht so ideal, auf jeden Fall sehr hilfreich das Video und werde es beim nächsten Mal testen
Danke 😎
thanks very nice , learning lot
Glad to hear that!!
Hi thank you so much for the sharing! I have been watching videos of UW photography for a week and it is my first video seeing a female photographer talking, plus in a really clear and super funny way!!! Will check all the videos on your channel :)
Amazing content, went filming to the reef yesterday (before watching this video), everything is blue. Going back in a couple of days with your tips! Muchas gracias, saludos desde Cancún!
Cheers and good luck! Let us know how it went!!! :) feel free to share with us!
Great content as usual. You touched on cameras that film in raw which is an unlikely option for most mere mortals.
What codec do you recommend and would you recommend shooting in S log.
It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on this considering most divers are recreational video makers and not working in film.
Yeah I touched on raw so one knows these are out there ;) tho blackmagic habe a small raw capable camera and for sure we will see more cheaper cameras with raw in the near future.. hopefully 😎📽
V log, C log, S log,... of course this is a great option! But it just totally depends. If you shoot in thoose you need to know your way around colorgrading, also setting focus and exposure can be challenging too especially if you dont habe a monitor and that can display luts.
So as this is a beginners series, I would not start with log just yet. I will cover log and everything later btw :) this will be a whole episode.
I usually use a natural color profile and dile down contrast saturation and sharpness a bit and try to get the best colors and exposure. Also it depends for who and what I shoot. If best quality is the goal then I will shoot in 400mbs 4k and 24p.
Wow! Didn't know you had teaching like this. Love your videos on Instagram. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with me!
I'm so glad I found your videos! They're super helpful and super fun. And beautifully filmed. Vielen Dank!
Hey Vanessa, danke für das super Video. Ich hoffe das bald Kameras mit RAW zu deutlich günstigeren Preisen auf den Markt kommen 🤣. Weißabgleich ist für mich Unterwasser echt ne Katastrophe 😁. Weiter so 👍🏻 AMMMMAZZZIINNG 😎
Daaaaaanke ;)
such a great tutorial Vanessa thank you very much, What do you recomend when we change our depth quickly. I am freediver in this is my main concern.. shooting scenes from the surface al the way to 15m and up makes almost impossible to have a correct white balance.
Actually depending on the lighting condition I d use a redfilter and set the Kelvin to around daylight if you are filming in daylight. Otherwise set a manual WB at the depth you will film most of your time. Will be hard to reset it every 1-2m sure. If you are doing one take then you have to choose at what depth you want the inage to look best and do a test run and pre set it.
@@ReefPatrol thank you so much for your reply, daylight WB works ok for shallow works indeed. I haven't tried with red filter yet and so far is always a compromise, as you said, of what depth I want my images to look the best. Great video and looking forward to keep learning from you 😊🙏
Thank you 😃
Great video just subscribed. A bit off topic but for snorkelling would you recommend a gopro 7 or osmo action? Not seen any comparison vids on this - underwater will be the primary purpose of my action cam.
Both are great action cams. The osmo has a bit better stabilisation, but not sure how well it performes with WB. The Hero7 has ProTunes where you can set a sort of RAW WB that is not too bad actually.
When is the video light episode? I need it ASAP 😂 These vids make me happy.
Working on it. Any special questions abiut Video lights? Topics you want us to cover?
@@ReefPatrol Oh just the general stuff and how my new Scubalamp V6Ks are going to pair with my RX100 and turn me into a Nat Geo cameraman. Can you do that? :-) White balance with video lights would be cool..
@@ReefPatrol I like to see how to do white balance callibration with red filter fitted onto the camera in conjunction with different lighting options (strobes & video lights + ambient filter).
@@ReefPatrol where can we find this video?
AMAZING, fantastic tutorial as usual. You rock girl! :)
😉😚💙 thanks...
Stop kissing ass pls
Just kidding. Love the vid!
I love your voice!
Wonderful video Venessa! I started doing white balance from ocher color brain corals which is very abundant in Maldives. Since then I completely dropped the white slate. It makes the blue background really nice. What is your opinion about using this brownish brain corals?
You can use warmer tones to do the WB yes, it will give you a richer blue. It just depends on what kind of look you want to go for. Sometimes the warmer grey/skintones make sense sometimes not. Depends on the visibility light depth and scene ;) for macro I manly use grey for wide I sometimes choose sand over grey. Usually I do a testdive to check out the conditions and test the different colors of WB cards and sand etc.
cheers vey good info great
Because I am happy with your hi-res explanation and laughing at the way you did it, may I white-balance you? On cannot coz it's already being Kelvinized. LOL. Love you and see you underwater ....
so to set the white balance you only need a white paper for example to let all the colers shine
Thanks for the great tutorial........just not sure why you only used 30 seconds out the 17 minutes to tell us that we should use a grey card......can you elaborate on what the issues are using a homemade laminated card (too reflective?), do you have a grey scale value to use for the grey white balance card, is there any point in using a primary colour reference card in a shot to help post processing colour balance?
Cheers
If you use laminated ones they are toooooo reflective and the surface is not equalilly lit.
So any grey card that is plastic will work that you can buy for whitebalance.
If you have a color checker sure use that in the begining of the recording of each clip, then you can do a proper color correction :)
Also any uw camera store can advise you on grey cards ;)
@@ReefPatrol please elaborate on the meaning of a Color Checker. is this some kind of a color palette to photograph underwater before shooting?
I really appreciate Vanessa's sense of humor and the time she takes to inject that humor into the video. Keep 'em coming Vanessa, I'm learning a lot from this channel. ~B
glad to hear ;) I do my best...
Thanks Vanessa not only very informative but entertaining as well
Dan
Trying my best 🥳🤠
Reef Patrol I have a very long way to go with my videos but maybe one day with your help they might come out a little better 🥴
Reef Patrol just got my first slr underwater camera and case the journey begins
Hopefully!!! If you have questions let us know please :)
Reef Patrol will
Do
Thanks a lot, great lesson. For compact cameras with wide angle lens I would recommend A3 size white plastic (used for posters printing), which you may fold to the size of your pocket.
Great videos. I learned a lot and I will learn every day a little bit more. So, you're right with the automatic white balance under water. I tried it with and without the Keldan spectrum filter, the results aren't good. My camera is a Sony RX 100 III, with a manual white balance the measurement is always 9900K A-B:B0, G-M:M7, with or without the filter. The results are better, but in my opinion that can't be ok. The camera is limited to 9900k, for the former RX100 II Sony recommended 9900k A-B:B5, G-M:M7. I tried this setting but it wasn't good. So, the question is, is the reality above 9900k and the camera can't follow or is the realty below 9900k and the camera is damaged. I don't know. Maybe it's a Sony problem, maybe I did something wrong. What do you think with your experience.
Hi thanks for your videos, people can learn a lot from you great job!
I would like to ask you one question, because I am starting with underwater video I don't have any expensive camera yet.. so I just use GoPro (7black) and there is option to set WB under water from2300 to 6500K but no manual by using white card... just curious if you have any average numbers how deep what WB or if is better to use auto In this case...?
Well as usual it depends. If you want to get best colors I d reccomend to tedt it out. Note on your slate what wb at what depth whilst recording, when check at PC and see what works best. Auto WB I would avoid, because you will get color shifting during your shot. If it doesnt matter to you well stick with auto. If it does, try dialing in daylight so around 5600k and use a redfilter for gopro. This will give you the best color in my opinion. If you stay in the shallow to about 10m. Defently invest in a luttle gopro redfilter.
But if you are snorkeling take it off. Will work best bmsomewhere between 3-10m on daylight setting.
@@ReefPatrol thank you
@@petrjakubac3749 welcome :)
Also ich muss echt sagen, mit den Leuten von Backscatter, macht ihr/du die besten Tauchvideos im ganzen TH-cam! Ganz tolle Leistung 👍🏻
Wow daaaaankeeee
hi vanessa what white balance would i set onto my gopro for this
My dive buddy has white fins so i use those to set my white balance at varying depths
Good choice of buddy!
Any recommendations on where we can buy a white balance card?
Amazon, Ebay and for sure soon from Keldan Lights and ask uw camera stores first of all :)
Nice video can you please next time talk about blue filter for the video light
In the making ;)
Yet another great video. Solid advice and well explained. I'll admit I'm lazy with WB and more often set kelvin manually and tweek in post. Gonna spend a day with my grey card and stop being lazy! I've used red filter on camera shallow but stopped using it when I moved to using video lights, so I'm really looking forward to the next episode. I use Sony and found the red filter cut out too much light, hence the reason I stopped using it. I did look into blue filters for video lights but again loosing a stop of light put me off. After your next episode I'm guessing the filter issue something I'll have to revisit.
But the Sonys have great low light, so bunping up ISO shouldnt be an issue! If the redfilter cuts out tooo much light get a less dense one. Defently worth it! :)
Hallo Vanessa, danke für die tollen Tips zum Thema Weissabgleich. 🐠🐡🐟🦑🐙🐚
😊😉😎
REALLY INFORMATIVE VIDEO!!! THANK YOU FRIENDS! ❤️
Welcome 😊😉📽
Thank you for a wonderful video, I would like to know how you stabilize your footage in Premier? Especially when currents are pushing the diver around a lot.
You can use warp stabilizer in Premiere or film with 120fps or so. Nice slowmotion so that will smooth out the shakyness. But usually no autofocus ;) if u use that.
Can you set up white balance in gopro/dji osmo action? How do you approach that in action cameras?
What about auto underwater white balance on the sony a1 for example ? I have practice with the grey card , yes its always the best , but when diving in a group, there is not much time to white balance.
Georg Huss
Thanks a lot for this helpful and informative tutorial. After a long research in this field now I am eventually an enthuisiatic beginner with a Olympus EM1MII / Nauticam setup. So I am looking forward to your other videos. I am also amazed by the professional quality of your tutorials.
so happy to read this! Thank you!
I've been using my dive slate. But only for UW photography, I didn't know it really applied to UW Videography. is it necessary to do a white balance on night dives? I do a lot of night dive photography. Thanks a lot for this outstanding video BTW
Well nightdives are waaay simpler ;) set the WB to the Kelvin value of your lights and you should be good to go. Manly they are daylight so you can also set the WB to the little sunshine ;) so Daylight. Let js know how it went 📽😎
@@ReefPatrol Thank you I will try that and let you know how it goes
Ich benutze eine Tafel aus weißem Plexiglas (bekommt man im Baumarkt)- gibt es in verschiedenen Größen - bzw. weiße Aufkleber aus Plastik für den Weißabgleich.
Klappt das gut? Überlichtet das Weiß nicht? Guter Tipp ;)
also you can buy the rk3 apeks fins grey and do white balance there it isn't?
Very interesting as always, but don't forget Green Filters! It's not everywhere you will have perfect blue seas ;) Thanks again Vanessa!
you mean Magenta filters ;) On the list :) actually I am talking about them in the next episode already. Stay Tuned.
Hi Vanessa, this may never be read but this is such helpful advice. So thank you for putting the time in and with such wonderful explanation!
If you do happen to catch this however - I have some loaded Q's as i'm doing something a bit different nowadays. Here are 2, one on light metering and use of vNDs for separation (that young turtle you guys filmed - I think it was a Red Sea shot, it looks so brilliant, I was simply wowed.
What do you think of using luminance/spectrometers to help with subject level color accuracy that would help in post? I know that devices like the c-700 Sekonic has a housing or 2, but if I have a shot list (i.e. a narrative film - we're in pre-prod) I need to work with , most of my time will be on FFM communicating w the surface, safety divers, etc yet juggling laminated shot lists, plus slates, plus middle gray or white cards (also small video color tests too to for more specific targets), but I've found it cumbersome if don't have an AC physically nearby to help with the efficient flow of getting good shots completed during the time we have while I'm making fairly constant adjustments to the camera on multi-level dives).
Lighting arrays for black background shots are something we've tried in the past, but that required a crew on its own. I've seen your video advice for lighting, but on one location, we're gonna need some powerful daylights for a scene that will take place on an open wreck at about 20m - avg viz 25m. But I know to get detail and separation, I'll have to stop the cam down. What are your thoughts on vND's to keep lenses at their largest aperture for DoF?
What's the fps in underwater 30fps or 60fps
we usually choose 60 or 50! :)
Hello, I have an SJ8PRO, and used it to shoot my freedive sessions. Somehow, the color temperature changes erratically to different temps, mid shot. does this have anything to do with white balance? I set it on auto.
Thank you for this video, can’t imagine how helpful it has been for me.
Im seeking for your advice with a problem I’m having. Recently I bought a Sony A6700 and a housing for underwater video. When I try to perform the custom white balance it goes to 9900K and a red tint. Do you know what’s happening? Out of the water that feature of the camera works flawlessly. Should the white balance be done with a red filter?
Thank you
Best regards
looking forward the upcoming episode! red filters and lighting!
in the making ;) stay tuned!
where can you order a waterproof gray card ?
For photography, is it better to set auto white balance on your dive, or will I get equivalent in post, since I am shooting raw? I saw what you mentioned in the video, just want to make sure.
Just trying to decide what my priority should be. Thanks!
In then shallows with enough light auto should be fine. I dont really shoot stills so for sure an expert will see this and answer :) with raw you can change WB a lot but it for sure would help to do a WB anyhow. With strobes this will be different for sure too.
Not sure but when photographing in raw picture profiles (portrait, true, vivid, standard etc) are deleted when uploading into lightroom. Maybe its the same for WB so it would make no difference when shooting raw. But im not sure just guessing. (At the end of the day WB is also just digital just like exposure etc. So its digitally enhancing reds. Same thing happens when you do it in LR or PS... a red filter is different though because youre actually adding something. Same priciple as turning up iso or adding a light) my two cents. Not sure if its correct though. Maybe just try and see what works :)
Vanessa: how do you suggest those of us who don’t shoot expensive camera rigs (which I would venture to say are quite a few who follow you) address the white balance issue from a Go Pro, for example. Should we set AWB, or play around with a kelvin setting and ISO range, use filters and lights, and hope for the best?
Very good video
Merci 😚
Hi. I shoot a lot of video with the Panasonic GH5S and rely on preset white balances. I use Keldan lights rated at 5500k when diving deeper than 20 ft. At deeper depths everything is blue unless I am close. At some point, as you go deeper the color will never be there in a wide shot. Do you have experience putting red filters between the sensor and lens to help correct for this? Filming with Gates Housings, I got spoiled from the flip down diopter.
Thanks
Hi Iv just randomly come across this video. It was great. Iv been diving for 17 years and only messed around with GoPro type filming. But this has inspired me to start photographing. Can you recommend a camera for a total novice to start out with. Thanks Ian
Thanks so much for your video! Can I ask, if I have video light, do I still need to use manual white balance? If this is needed, should I adjust the white balance while turning on the video light? Sorry for these questions and thx in advance for help!
Wouldn't custom white balance on the temperature of your underwater lights solve any issue? Sorry if it's a dumb question but i've just purchased a Gh5 and i'm trying to figure out white balance for the first time!
Do you need a polarising filter on a gopro. I’m trying to do some fish filming in a shallow clear river, but the water is showing up like it’s opaque, losing all depth of field and detail. Colour is the least of my problems. I would appreciate any advice.
Does shooting video in V-Log help with bringing back lost colours in underwater footage, similar to filming in ‘raw’?
so can i do a manual white balance on my gopro hero 8 black? do i set the WB to Native? and can i use a WB card with gopro?
Great video Vanessa!! Thank you for all the important tips. Btw if you were a fruit you’d be a fineapple 😎🍍
So if you could take one WB card it would be a large grey one?
yes grey :)
What fin you used it?
Hey Vanessa. Echt cooles video! Wirklich gut erklärt!
Ich plane mir eine a6400 zuzulegen und da Panasonic für die gute WB bekannt ist wollte ich fragen ob du vielleicht weisst wie es mit Sony steht. Danke!
Sony eher nicht so gut ;) Rotfilter unbedingt benutzen! :)
@@ReefPatrol Dankeschöön
2'57''... but if you messed up the white balance, well, you're screwed(!) Loooool
4'27'' ... I don't have a green fruit... Looooool
Just hillarious
Simply put: I love you Sensei! You make me laugh out loud!
POWER & RESPECT to you miss V-C-K
Hehe thanks... had a good laugh myself... and had to collect all the veggis after the shoot 🤭🥴
I know its gonna be the topic of upcoming videos but maybe you can give me a short tip since im leaving very soon for my diving holiday.
My Setup: Canon EOS 80D, 2 8" B&J Arms on either side and 1 video light on each side. I have a red filter.
My approach was to use the red filter+ custom WB with ambient light for wide shots. For close up/(maybe even macro) shots(/video) i thought i wouldnt use the red filter but bring the lights and either set a custom WB or even keep it on auto since im lighting everything in view with my lights. Does this make sense or is there a better option? (with the red filter everything would turn out red if i bring lights right? or mess with the WB of the background a LOT!)
I saw a video on the behind the mask channel where you used red filters and blue filters for the lights. sadly i couldnt find any blue filters for my lights (just red or violet). As shown in the video if i use a red filter with lights everything will be super red... any suggestions/tips how i can achieve the best result with what i have?
Redfilter and Ambient Light for Wide work good if not too deep.
For Close/Macro you don't have to use a Redfilter. If you dont have Ambient Filter it might get too red. But dont use auto WB! ;) set it either to the Kelvin of your lights usually around Daylight and defently do a manual WB on the dominant light source, so your video lights.
@@ReefPatrol ok thanks for the help! i know the exact temperature of my lights (mentioned by producer and very color accurate) is it better to dial that value in or rather do a manual wb set with a greycard?
and i just found some blue gels (plastics) on amazon that are use for theaters. does it make sense to buy those as ambient light filters for my lights? theyre not rated like keldans, but keldan filters are also basically just blue plastic/glass in front of the lights or not?
@@ReefPatrol maybe an addition to my question to clarify. Those are photography gels used to correct warm light to cooler light (CTB standards). Is this a good idea for underwater use?
@@simon1234567ful I just use color gels UW for lighting effects. Never used them to shift the color temp. So I cant really say. I am sure it would work to some extent, depending how dense the filters are. The Keldan System is high quality and engineered to be perfect with their lights and spectrum filters. Also depending on how deep you go you will need different dencities and thent how strong your lights are. So a looooot to concider. I would just use it as a test and nothing serious. Just to try it out. But if the gels are super expensive i d maybe just leave it and save up for a system that offers blue/ambient filters.
@@ReefPatrol the gels are just 10€ for a whole pack with 3 intensities for blue ill just buy that an see how it goes :) thanks for the help :)
I've 1 noob question - are we suppose to do white balance callibration at every 5 - 10m we descend into the water with red filter fitted as well?
YES!!! Absolutely... every 1-2 meters actually. But no redfilter if you stay above 3m: check out this video: th-cam.com/video/9gh2ll8kPvI/w-d-xo.html
What is the best white balance in 2 meters water. Clear water, mediterran sea. ? Without using a filter. All the best
Can anyone recommend good (not too expensive) video editing software ? Something to take shake our, pan zoom adjust colour etc. not super professional stuff which take year to learn
Hello, I am using the little white plastic piece that is on the tank of my G-16 cam to soften the flashlight, and I put it against my cam so it fills the whole frame before I manually set the WB. Usually I am doing this in a horizontal way. I remarked that then on the computer the sand at the bottom/floor of the sea spot is often too white (almost light pink). Any advice? should I orientate my cam towards the bottom of the sea spot before I set the WB?
Try setting the WB in the direction you are filming and also do the wb with a bit of distance to your camera. Perhaps use a bigger sate. If it still doesnt look nice do the wb on the sand. This will get rid of the pinkish look, but only if the sand is close to you and not in the deep.
Great video, thanks ! It helps a great deal !
One question though (I'm pretty new to this)… Once we've reached the intended depth of the dive, should I do the manual white balance with my dive torch ON (as I will probably use it to shine some light on the subject) or OFF, to set the manual wb to the ambient light / current depth and conditions ? ( I am using an Olympus TG-4 in its dedicated PT-056 housing and a hand-held 1000 lumen torch light, and I mostly take photos, not videos)
Thanks again for your video and your answer ;-)
@Olivier La Buse I often get mixed lights, as there often is light from the surface (I dive mostly in summer time, in the 20 to 45 m area) together with the torch I use to light the subject, but thank you for your time & your answer. I'll give a thought about using the temp of my torch for the wb, and I'll try to find the other videos about mixed lights. Thanks again, and nice dives !
What if I do have a red filter? I assume setting WB after the filter is on would be correct?
Would setting WB as you demonstrated make a difference for RAW files in still photography also or what you said applies to video only?
To my opinion, and i use white Fins :-) i got the most and best Videos with a gopro 7 or 3 black, easy to use and with a slightly light on top...most impressive.. Also use a Iphone 12/15 in any housing---challenging, because of all possible settings under water...
The manual white balance does not seem to be feasible...
Do you think there would be any advantage to using a color checker vs grey card? I've begun to use Davinci Resolve 16 which appears to have a "color match" for X-rite. Currently, I plan to use my fins (Grey Cressi Gara 3000 LD) and I'm 5"11...so ~1.5 meters from the camera. I’ll try it out ASAP, but I was wondering if I should investigate the color checker approach. You mentioned a prototype card in the vide.
thanks for that :)
No Fruit or Vegetables were harmed in the making of this video...
So are you saying that at depth, if you have a red filter, still set the White Balance with the filter on?
What's the cheapest camera for use underwater that has manual WB. I'm not a professional.
nearly all cameras provide manual WB :)
Just subscribed , your explanation is crystal clear , thank you so much and hopefully this can help improve my underwater shots , only trouble is I’m a free diver so it will be harder ha ha
I know keldan just released a new set of spectrum filters to include a 58mm for us GH5 users but what filter have you been using to this point?
Keldan ;) I used step up rings for 58mm to 72mm with my 12-35mm lens.
And I use Keldan Spectrum gels for Fisheye and Wideangle.
But there are other Brands too that make decent redfilters. UW camera stores usually have a variaty of redfilters :) but we love the Keldan Filters, thats why we use them. Best color for what we do especially in combination with the Keldan Lights and Ambient Filters for them.
Reef Patrol. I’ll just keep waiting for the keldans to be available in the states. Love your videos! If you are ever in Guam would be a blast to go film the underwater world with you guys.
@@bradleymonell4653 I was in Guam 2 years ago 🏝😎📽 cool Island! Made a short video too ;)
Reef Patrol so I just got the new 58mm keldan filters in and they are amazing. I’m using the GH-5 with keldan 4x’s with the ambient filters. Have you noticed any blue casting at the top of the frame? Also with the -2 stops you really have to push the iso up there to get proper exposure. What is the highest iso you are using with your setup?
@@bradleymonell4653 cool! No I havent noticed a blue cast. I push the ISO to max 1600 but try to stay below 1200. Can help to film in 25p to have 1/50 Shutterspeed. You will have a bit more light that way. Otherwise use wide Aperture like 2,8F.
I use the 8x so plentx of light usually ;)
Perhaps stay a bit more in the shallows ?
You're funny lately :)
🥳
Great and informative video! If using a GoPro (H10), would you recommend shooting in “Native” WB and then adjusting it in post-production? If so, what are some best tips for adjusting native WB in post? Cheers!
the recommended white balance cards are big. how are they carried underwater?
Such a helpful and well presented video. Thanks so much!
Pleasure!
guys where can I get those red filters for the back of the fish eye lenses???
I'm thinking about buying white fins... 🤔
Ist as erlaubt den blau-türkis Schimmer zu mögen weil man so zumindest das gefühl hat tauchen zu können trotz 2020/2021?
What do you recommend for go pro 7 white balance?
Do i need manual wb if use light video?
Yes :) do the wb on the dominant light source.
Awesome tutorial, unfortunately the is only dark water here in sweden :/, btw do you guys lock the exposure before going underwater? if so..what should i lock on, the darkest spot or the lightest one?
what software do you use for editing?
Final Cut Pro!