pretty dumb question, lighting

I've only used my two underwater cameras in pretty shallow water. I have a TG4 in a housing and a Nikon P7100 in an Ikelite housing. I have a 1500 lumen video lite and a backup 650 lumen light on the other arm. Do I still need a red filter? If I'm "bringing my own light" then do I worry about loosing the red even though I'm using video lights? Thanks for any help!

No such thing as a dumb question. It's the answer that can be the problem

I'm not a videoista (hence the caveat!) but if you are using lights to illuminate a scene you don't need to use a red filter. That is likely to create a red cast to the image. Red filters can be helpful if you have no lights.

Thanks! I have a strobe but I'm waning to try LED lights to see if it's easier. I'm really new to this but have been diving for 30 years. I'm signing up for the PADI underwater photo course this week. I shot this 2 weeks ago in the Galapagos

those are amazing. thanks for sharing.

Thanks! I have a strobe but I'm waning to try LED lights to see if it's easier. I'm really new to this but have been diving for 30 years. I'm signing up for the PADI underwater photo course this week. I shot this 2 weeks ago in the Galapagos

 

http://www.palousephoto.net/Galapagos/i-szkgTc4

Wow - those are pretty darn good!

Thanks!

If you are talking stills, then apart from macro shots lights generally don't have enough output, though if you are using compacts, (assume you are talking the P7100 compact rather than the D7100 SLR) you can generally shoot them with a wide aperture for wide angle shots and use something like f2.8 to f4 range. You may find your shutter speeds to be too slow though and risk motion blur depending on how far waya the subject is. Strobes have the advantage of a very brief pulse of light which will freeze motion and can put out significantly more light than a video light for the brief duration of that pulse.

The reason macro shots are more feasible is you are are much closer to the subject and can get the light much closer. You may want two lights though to produce eben illumination and fill in the shadows cast from each light source.

Thanks for all the tips! I decided to buy a small strobe, the Sea and Sea YS-03 strobe. I'm also going to take the PADI underwater photo class online.

I find strobes are always the way to go. Red filters can never match the value that a good light provides. Good luck!