Blue Light Filter ??

[John C. Thompson]

Hi guys,

Im just curious about something..... I was at an event last week and saw some guy shooting a live band with a XL1s on a dark stage with a extra light source mounted to the top of the cam, on the front of the light was a blue filter? My question is simply, why? I dont know all of the in's and out's of lighting YET, but I will soon. Just wondering what the blue color is for? Does it just tone the brightness down or is it something totally different?

Thanks guys.

[Ken Tanaka]

Perhaps he got the light at KMart on special? (Ooh, sorry, couldn't resist.)

I don't know the answer but three possibilities come to mind.

1. He was doing some sort of funky white-balance trick, or

2. he was simply trying some sort of theatrical lighting color trick, or

3. it was a blues band. (Oooh, sorry about that, too.)

[John C. Thompson]

I would have guessed it was for color balance or white balance like you said. Actually, I dont think it was a "K-mart" light. It was a very professional looking crew. There was stage/concert lighting, but he also used this "blue light" for closeup type stuff on stage. It looked like a VL-10Li style. There was just a blue gel taped on to the front of it.

Oh well, no big deal, just wondering..... Thanks.

[Rick Bravo]

Based on what you are describing, it sounds like he may have had a dichroic filter in front of the tungsten light in order to balance it to daylight. This would make sense if they were using daylight to light the rest of the stage. It could also have been a CC gel like a 1/4, 1/2, or full blue, to achieve the same purpose.

If the rest of stage was lit with tungsten lights then he is probably going for a bluer look with the fill afforded by the on camera light, basically, what Ken described in #2.

RB