Underwater lighting

R

randomname

Well-known member
Hi everyone! I'm working on a music video I'll be shooting in a few weeks, and one of the main segments involves a lot of segments of a model dancing underwater. I'm super excited for the shoot, but don't have the first clue of where to start with lighting the underwater segments. This is the reference video we're going off of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3KXxR0uTFk

Is it going to be best to just shoot during the day? Should I put a giant diffusion rig over the pool? Any with tips for how to get a great looking shot would be greatly appreciated.
 
These may be useful:

Von Wong blog posts:
http://www.vonwong.com/blog/baliunderwater/
http://www.vonwong.com/blog/underwaterbalipart2/
(he may have posted more stuff about that shoot)

Anything you can find about Underwaer Realm. I know they have posted better info than this, but as a starting point...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57nRHy1q7ic
http://nofilmschool.com/2011/12/kickstarter-video-update-filmmakers
http://philipbloom.net/2012/09/27/r...-set-with-the-underwater-realms-eve-hazelton/
 
Water eats light - yep daytime I guess

Main thing I think is to get a dark bacground - easy with a massive cloth and weights to hold it in place.
 
wetpixel.com is where all the underwater photographers (and a few videographers) hang out.

If you need a portable rig, the cheapest way to go is to grab two of the Impact lights sold by Dive Right in Scuba. They're about $130 each last time I checked. Color is a little purple, but the beam is nice and even and it puts out a decent amount of light. You'll need a rig for them (ULCS tray and arms or similar).

If you have a serious budget and want to purchase, call Reef Photo or Backscatter and tell them your needs.

Hollywood Divers in LA rents underwater rigs, including BMPCC and higher-end stuff, and can talk you through technical needs.
 
- you need a big pool
- you need warm water (if it's cold your performers will exhaust themselves extremely quickly)
- you need to black out a large section of the pool to give yourself separation from the performers
- you need a lot of light (in a 3m deep pool, a 1.2km HMI just above the water was barely enough for me to get away with 1600ISO, 1/50, 25fps)
 
Nobody mentioned that you must have anything (lights or otherwise) that's running at 120V near the water plugged into a GFI.
 
Moseph said:
Nobody mentioned that you must have anything (lights or otherwise) that's running at 120V near the water plugged into a GFI.
Click to expand...

And safety chains and a tonne of sandbags on the stands for each and every fixture you use. Seems an obvious point, but yes, absolutely worth mentioning.
 
We're definitely taking every precaution when it comes to safety. Really, I'm more looking for the best way to get the look they got with the lighting in that reference video. One thing I've seen that looks interesting are the DIY underwater LED lights that fishermen use, has anyone had any experience with those?
 
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