CC filter + lights + manual white balance

I always habitually flip my UR-Pro filter out of the way and switch to automatic white balance when I've turned on my lights during daytime dives (which isn't very often). The results are OK but the background is too green for my liking and needs warming up a lot in post to match the ambient light stuff. See typical pics below after and before correction in Vegas.

Reading Mike Veitch's of the Magic Filter with his stills camera has got me wondering whether to try his technique of leaving the CC filter on even with the lights on, and manually white balancing on my white fin/subject/rocks/sand etc., hopefully giving the background a better colour balance while avoiding redness on the subject.

Mike, do you do this with video too? Has anyone else tried this technique? How did you get on?

I'm also wondering if anyone has tried putting green filters over their lights, like some stills photographers put over their strobes, in order to neutralise the redness created when the CC filter is left on. It would take a lot of light out but with HIDs in close proximity to the subject, this wouldn't matter too much. I tried it way back when but without much success because my homemade filters were too dark and my halogen lights were too dim.

I was also very surprised to read Mike's quote:

When shooting video, a very common practice is to leave the red filter on during night dives and WBing on a slate using the lights to illuminate it.  This creates a very pleasing warming result and is my preferred method.

I have never heard of this before and I'm wondering if others have tried it and what the results were like.

Nick

Hi Nick

Yep, you get much richer colour by using MWB with your lights, usually i only shoot macro with lights (i don't own a decent set so don't use em on daily stuff) and i always use MWB. Simple really, just set out a card a foot away from camera, like what you would be shooting your subject with, and get your edge lighting on it. Then hit your WB.

I find you get much nicer colours this way than with AWB.

Nick

MWB is the way to go with lights at night and you can MWB to the warm side of things for a nice effect. Sometimes I will mixed filter with lights to give the background more blue during the day but you have to be careful that the lights don't make the subject have a pinky/red tinge to it, but it can be a nice effect.

Never tried the green filter thing out.

Today I shot some surface Manta's (4 feeding) with the URPRO in still, I have it now sitting inside the end of the camera. The camera WB through it no problems and as it dropped my fstop down, I did not have to spin the shutter up, just kept it on 50 and as the fstop was around 8 + ish.

Wags have you tried MWB at night with the URPRO still in?

No I have not Nick as it cuts the power of my lights way down.

Having said that I got myself one of these.

DARKBUSTER

Cheap as and boy does it put some light out, burns for 130 mins and easy to charge up. Two of theses @ 24 watts each all for under $1000... have yet to night dive with them. If the HID globe fails, just buy another whoe light

Funny that, I'm the opposite. I always seem to have a battle to keep the power of my lights down at night. In close at night I almost always have my Light and Motion halogens on their lowest setting, sometimes with ND gels on them too to reduce the light even more so I can get closer to stuff and also not blow out the whites.

How are you mounting that Darkbuster? Adding any buoyancy or just hand-holding it? Is the beam wide enough?