A Day at the Beach

[_Paz_]

One continuous shot taken using my modified FigRig.

The sand is as white as sugar and it is blindingly brilliant out there. I set my camcorder in hopes that my highlights wouldn't be blown and instead everything came out waaaay too dark. I've used software to lighten the video dramatically, though not as much as I'd like all the way through. Any more and the degrading of the image becomes very obvious instead of slightly obvious.

I tried and tried, using software, to get the horizon level. I couldn't figure out a way. I found a clip on YouTube advertising a software in which the demonstration was getting the horizon level on a beach shot. Big difference from my shot was that they were using a tripod and once the horizon was level for part of the film, it was level for all of it. Mine kept waving around! At once point I had cut the worst camera dip area and leveled - stabilized that. That worked pretty well, except the video in the cut section had been reduced in size to trim the edges, so when viewing the video, the surfer was suddenly smaller, then suddenly larger. So I tried stabilize on all. I'm still not happy. Oh, and that horizon leveling software is Mac only.

The audio quality was horrid due to the stiff breeze. Long ago I purchased some 'nature sounds' and selected, sometimes repeated, ocean waves audio. I was pleased at how well my random selection worked out.

Hope you enjoy! I've watched over and over, remembering the glorious day!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pOnVhaI9bw[/youtube]

(I know YouTube only needs the ID number, but I'm not sure how much to delete. Several attempts. None worked. Sorry.)

Fixed.

[momoffduty]

I'm packed & ready for the beach now Paz! Not blowing the highlights with the glare off of sand would be difficult. I think I would have exposed for the sand too. The horizon was a little off, but I think video is more forgiving than if you shot a photo. Did you try the Warp Stabilizer in PrPro? I don't know if it would work since you had the wave actions. Sometimes that effect is too strong at the 50% default and I've reduced to 20% before.

Beach time! Thanks for sharing.

[_Paz_]

Thanks for fixing the link, Mom.

Yes, I did use PPro warp stabilizer, eventually over the entire clip. It took a looooong time to process. It looked better when the warp stabilizer was only applied to the cut section, except that the sudden jump in surfer dude size was quite noticeable.

I usually groan about my 4 hour drive to the beach. Can't guess how long it will take you to get there, but HAVE FUN!

Paz

[videovillageidiot]

Beautiful job Paz!!!!! Horizon not level? Never noticed, because I was too busy enjoying. The movement in the video made me feel like I was there, bobbing along on the waves. Loved those big waves, especially at one point where they crashed right in front of the camera.

Loved the ball tossing segment - especially watching the boy tossed around by the water. It just looked like so much fun!!!

Reminded me of seeing the ocean in Iceland...though NOBODY was frolicking in the frigid surf there!! haha. And stiff breeze? You should hear the wind on my finished video - I had to lower the audio A LOT in editing to be able to hear the music over those gale force winds - but I kept some of it in 'cause it really set the mood...plus it helps viewers to understand why the video is jumpy I had brought my PVC stabilizer but never took it out of the suitcase - with the winds I thought it would be too hard to control. YOU did an awesome job using your rig!

You put a whole lot in a short video - and it was all FUN.

Thanks for posting...

Hope you enjoy! I've watched over and over, remembering the glorious day!

i've already watched it over and over and i wasn't even there!!

[Ron Hunter]

This video reminds me of all the beach vacations my family has taken.

I also did not notice the horizon being "unlevel". It wouldn't have occurred to me to even look for that if I hadn't read about your efforts in the original post. Paz I think you are being too hard on yourself!

What camcorder setting did you use for exposure? Did you manually stop the exposure down, did you use the "beach" setting, or something else?

[_Paz_]

Thank you! You guys have made my day.

I don't remember the specific wind speed, but tropical storm Karen was threatening hurricane development. We don't normally have waves anything like that big. I was surprised at how well the surfers did considering this is not surfing surf normally.

If I hadn't had my rig I'm sure all would have been jittery. I used my 5x7 monitor and the wind pushed it pretty hard. Good thing I had it though, since my small screen showed up as totally black. On the larger screen I could discern the difference in the sky - lighter - and the water - darker. That's pretty much all for the guys in the water. I simply pointed in their direction. When I swung back around to the football game, I could see the shadows of the figures, but no detail. It's blinding out there.

I tried looking up metadata in Premiere Pro CS6. Assuming I found the right place, it seemed to be more of a place I could make notes for myself. I did not see any specific info relating to either brand of camera or any settings. I did set the camera manually and I believe it was around minus 1.7. Wish I'd been able to go back the next day, after seeing how dark my footage was, but sadly, all daydreams must come to an end and it was back to mid Alabama instead.

thanks again,

Paz

[IndyMike]

Paz you did a good job on shooting that video. I know that's one thing I struggle at when shooting. I look at the scene on the camera screen and I'm outside and clouds in the sky. I move my my iris to where the clouds look right. Then I'm looking at the screen and other stuff look dark. I think you did great. From what I'm learning if that was a big film production. They would of had reflectors putting light on the guys playing with the football if they want show them in detail more.

[sidd finch]

I think the video looked good. The horizon was not even noticed as the action was all in the foreground. Nice job.

Sidd.

[Francesco Carzedda]

I agree with Ron and Videovillage, I like natural camera shake so that I think that the horizon must "dance", as it does in the eyes.
It is the first time I like the manuaz zoom in and out while shooting, I must say your hand is very firm.
I too liked very much the close-up on the waves after the fast pan.
I enjoyed it.
Ciao dalla Sardegna !