r4e
Contributor
A year ago, when I commenced looking for photography/videography gear, I assumed that I would be targeting wrecks and underwater scenery. Well, having been lost a couple of times inside a fish ball, I made my first attempt of videoing fish:
Solitude with Roncadores on Vimeo
These shoots are from three different sites on different days. Consequently there is some difference in lighting which I attempted to tweak in post production.
During the shots I used the red filter inside the Aquatica casing. Apart from this the camera was set to AWB (my bad). However, I always turned the camera on so that it was facing either white sand or gray rock. I do not think the end result is that bad after all. This mode of operandi seemed to work, if I performed the power on (and AWB reset) at depth of 10-20 meters (30-60 ft).
But, couple times I made the mistake of turning the camera on much deeper, at 40-50 meters (120-150 ft). Then the colors were ok at that depth, but, when ascending, the green color would completely oversaturate. Well, I learned this by trial and error. I should have readjusted WB.
However, I did learn a lazy short-cut. Turn on the power at 10-20 meters (30-60 ft) and keep the power on. This seemed to work further down as well with the green color fading away. The setting was also close enough for shallower water, with a slightly reddish tint.
What was the reason that I did not bother doing a proper WB?
Well, atleast on my Sony MC50E it requires far too many clicks:
- First you have to click the touch screen somewhere else than the active buttons
- Select menu
- Select White Bal
- Select One Push whilst pointing at a slate? At this point I run out of hands.
A total of four (4) clicks, whilst my short-cut requires just checking that the red filter is in its proper position in front of the lense and then powering the camera on. Point-and-shoot style, you know.
For the first video (above), I listened to maybe a thousand music files at beatsuite.com and made a short list of twenty before making a final selection of music with the right rhythm and mood for the video.
For the second video (below), I did not bother anymore, and left the music away. The idea of the second video is to replicate the feelings of diving such an interesting site as this one:
The Tunnel on Vimeo
In the first video I am quite pleased with the camera movements, floating in the swell and following synchronized fish movement. However, I am not that pleased with my own lamp work.
In the second video, the light of the torch is lost in the vast space of the cave. The biggest problem was the low light levels and consequently the camera had occasional trouble hunting the focus. I tried to help this with the lamp, but the autofocus was often distracted. Maybe I should have changed to manual focus. Focusing was not made easier by the water movement caused by swells. In the main tunnel the water movement was 2-3 feet horizontally and in the vertical shaft the movement was even more than this vertically. You might notice this movement in the video at time codes 03:15-03:35 and 06:00 onwards.
I suggest viewing the videos in full-screen mode and setting the HD ON.
Any comments and suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
Solitude with Roncadores on Vimeo
These shoots are from three different sites on different days. Consequently there is some difference in lighting which I attempted to tweak in post production.
During the shots I used the red filter inside the Aquatica casing. Apart from this the camera was set to AWB (my bad). However, I always turned the camera on so that it was facing either white sand or gray rock. I do not think the end result is that bad after all. This mode of operandi seemed to work, if I performed the power on (and AWB reset) at depth of 10-20 meters (30-60 ft).
But, couple times I made the mistake of turning the camera on much deeper, at 40-50 meters (120-150 ft). Then the colors were ok at that depth, but, when ascending, the green color would completely oversaturate. Well, I learned this by trial and error. I should have readjusted WB.
However, I did learn a lazy short-cut. Turn on the power at 10-20 meters (30-60 ft) and keep the power on. This seemed to work further down as well with the green color fading away. The setting was also close enough for shallower water, with a slightly reddish tint.
What was the reason that I did not bother doing a proper WB?
Well, atleast on my Sony MC50E it requires far too many clicks:
- First you have to click the touch screen somewhere else than the active buttons
- Select menu
- Select White Bal
- Select One Push whilst pointing at a slate? At this point I run out of hands.
A total of four (4) clicks, whilst my short-cut requires just checking that the red filter is in its proper position in front of the lense and then powering the camera on. Point-and-shoot style, you know.
For the first video (above), I listened to maybe a thousand music files at beatsuite.com and made a short list of twenty before making a final selection of music with the right rhythm and mood for the video.
For the second video (below), I did not bother anymore, and left the music away. The idea of the second video is to replicate the feelings of diving such an interesting site as this one:
The Tunnel on Vimeo
In the first video I am quite pleased with the camera movements, floating in the swell and following synchronized fish movement. However, I am not that pleased with my own lamp work.
In the second video, the light of the torch is lost in the vast space of the cave. The biggest problem was the low light levels and consequently the camera had occasional trouble hunting the focus. I tried to help this with the lamp, but the autofocus was often distracted. Maybe I should have changed to manual focus. Focusing was not made easier by the water movement caused by swells. In the main tunnel the water movement was 2-3 feet horizontally and in the vertical shaft the movement was even more than this vertically. You might notice this movement in the video at time codes 03:15-03:35 and 06:00 onwards.
I suggest viewing the videos in full-screen mode and setting the HD ON.
Any comments and suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
