My segment is a fully formed video because I originally started it for UWOL 11.
I couldn't get enough cold-related material, so just went with a "white" theme, and finished it off. Each of the other three segments will be a story in itself, too. One will deal with migrating songbirds, another with seabirds, and another with plumage adaptations. My biggest problem will be to weave the whole into a cohesive story. I haven't decided whether to make this a sort of travelogue of wildlife refuges, or to try to add a historical perspective, which would be a lot more fun. Please comment on this piece, especially the audio, which in the past has been a concern in my UWOL entries. No criticism is too small, so please point out any errors you see, or thoughts on how to improve this.

Return of the White Birds on Exposure Room

Return of the White Birds Version 1.1 By steven siegel On ExposureRoom (http://exposureroom.com/members/oporornis.aspx/assets/ad6742edbd3d42f6b736da94cf501e61/)

Hey Steve,
I loved the story! I can't wait to see how you put all your ideas together for your final piece. I thought the sound was really good, only one small thing, & it may well have been my little speakers on the laptop, but when all the geese took off at once towards the end, the sound to my ears was a little distorted. Again, this could be due to the speakers i was listening to it on, but if not, you may need to look at being ready to turn the mic down a bit when they take off to avoid that clipping.
Good luck with the rest of the project,
Bryce

Steve, wow that was some stunning footage! I have never seen that amount of birds anytime, 60 000 snow gees is a huge crowd!

Your sound seem ok to me. You got a good narrating voice. Maybe in a short sequence at 0:29 - 0:35 the ambient sound was a little bit to load compared to your narrating.

Your frame blending starting at 3:40 of the flying snow gees was nice.

I have some technical comments though: It seems that you record in interlaced mode and that you have some serious issues (interlaced interference) in the compression for web delivery. It's very noticeable in some of your pans and flying scenes. It might be an issue how Exposure Room compress it for the web. How does it look at your place when you export it from your NLE?

Hi Steve.
Great footage and I like your topic.
In fact we have one thing in common, the sea birds :)
The other three segments will it be from the same area?
Is this a special wetland area?
Looking forward to see more.

All the best.
Geir Inge

What a scenery!
You have already a very good film.
Many enviable shots, well edited, good narrating and choice of music (not too much).
I will be waiting with interest for the continuation.

Finn-Erik

Thanks for the comments, everybody. I really need the input.

Per,
Yes, I saw the interlace interference in several of the shots (like the first crow, and the leaves floating by in the stream). These were shot with a little hand-held camcorder where progressive mode isn't an option. I may have forgotten to deinterlace the scenes. The artifact only shows with compression for the Internet. Thanks.

Bryce, I purposely amped up the sound for the take off. Overdid it I guess.

Geir, Seabirds are really neat. They seem to have removed everything non-esssential from their lives, and concentrate just on what's important. I will be shooting in June on the Pribilof Islands, which are off the coast of Alaska in the Bering Sea. There are colonies of Crested Auklets, Paroquet Auklets, both Kittiwakes, etc. as well as fur seals. The other segments will be done in the Carolina mountains (about a 6 hr drive from where the geese were shot), and here in Florida.

I liked it, no I loved it all the way. Your scripts get better all the time and this one has some real gems ... "tomorrow will be different ..." and "tundra swans just warming up" and "frost on next year's pumpkins"; audio and visual links are strong all through and there was no moment without delight. For continuity I'd say 5 out of 5. and the facts and data were very neatly packaged from 1.35.

Downsides
The water mark was a nuisance (as it's meant to be)
The bird audio volume increase at 3.19 with the voice "and then" was very effective but was slightly impaired by the uncertainty created when the audio jerked momentarily at 3.02
One zoom-in to a close-up would help me to fall in love with the birds (to a good still image or 2?)
I would really like to see it in original quality.

Brendan,
Thanks for the comments. It's amazing how much the audio affects the viewers enjoyment of a video. It's got to be perfect. I can't take credit for the "frost on the pumpkin" line. It's from a poem by John Whitcomb Riley.

Oh yes, one more thing. The watermark, a necessary nuisance, really is necessary. I have already found some of my stuff on some kid's Facebook page. Who knows where else all of our videos are going to.

Steve... that was a very satisfying piece and visually compelling. You have an excellent VO narration voice and it adds to the piece as well. I heard some of the things others noted on the audio, but it was good... and close to excellent with those exceptions. I liked the background music and the VO mix was well executed.

I did notice some things on the flight sequences though and I was curious if you used a high shutter speed for some of that. Some of the wing movements appeared to have been filmed at a high speed and then when played back at the films final speed gave the effect of a strobed movement - or was that some other issue?

As a completed first part it was beautiful and I very much enjoyed it. I am looking forward to the next sequences.

Chris Swanberg

ps. What it must have been like to actually be there with that many large birds in flight!

Hi again Steve.
Just have to ask:
You say Pribilof Islands, is that the islands located north of the Aleutian Chain?
If so you have quite a journey ahead of you :)
Also a great chance to get some great birds on tape, like the Horned Puffins, Tufted Puffins and the Parakeet Auklet.

Geir Inge

Chris, I think I was shooting at about 1/1000 sec. However in order to get this file small enough to play without stuttering, I exported it at 15 fps, which eliminates every other frame. I think that is the source of what you are seeing. If you are talking about the way the blue sky seems to change shades in the swan part, I have no idea. The original is that way too.

Geir, That's the place.

Steve,

first, you have some great footage!! The Swans were awesome! some of the geese footage just as nice, particularly the close up on the ground.

I think you will have a terrific video here!!!

I personally really dislike wing flicker in flying birds as it is unnatural for how we perceive things. To me there was to much of that with the snow geese. Perhaps you did that on purpose for an effect.

Look forward to the entire show!!

Dale,
You aren't the first to comment on the unnatural look of the wing movements in these birds. I'm afraid that I have looked at this video so many times that it all looks normal to me. Would you mind explaining just what it is that you are seeing, so I can try to get rid of it. I am shooting 30 fps, progressive mode (my camcorder doesn't have 60p). I put the speed at 50% in post. I have played around with shooting at 60i then setting that at 50%, but you then have to deinterlace, and lose so much information that the result is worse than starting at 30p. On top of that I cut the frame rate to 15fps to reduce the file size for upload. Maybe one of these maneuvers created the flicker?

Thanks for your input.

Steve,

shooting in 30F or P is a good idea for wing movement. If you shoot at to fast of a shutter speed it captures individual sharp edged frames and the as the wings beat smoothly you will see wing flicker.
you can of course time stretch to slow the wing beat down, this works but to fast a shutter still causes issues.

I would recommend shooting 1/60 to 1/100 and no faster, then when you time stretch you do not have to go so far and the wings will smooth out and appear as we would see them.

If you like I could post some examples for you.

You can also shoot in 60 i, deinterlace through interpolation, then select your clip and then change the rate of play (because now you are seeing 60 frames/sec) and set by % or by frame. I thought this would allow me to shoot faster shutter speeds and get nicer wing movement, but alas "NO" you still have to shoot with slower shutter as far as I have been able to devine!!
some programes like Adobe time stretch by adding frames, others like Vegas time stretch by interpolation which I feel gives a better effect ( I have both programs).

I recently shot a gyrfalcon flying at 180/sec and it looks like I wasted the shoot because of this issue. I should have stuck to what I know works.

Dale,
Thanks for that advice. Shooting flight at low shutter speed sounds counter intuitive, but on the other hand, high shutter speed gives just the result you describe. I'll try it
this weekend. One problem is going to be that my Canon 100-400 is not at its sharpest at f-stops higher than 11. Probably will need to add a ND filter. If it's not any trouble, I'd love to see an example.

Thanks again,

Steve

good start, dang look at all those birds...flock footage is crazy!

Steve,
Here you go.

Secret Waters on Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com/2164137)

If go to this site I made this short clip for a friend to look at. It is snow geese and swans in DV well compressed. However, at 1:39 on I have snow geese framed and shot at 1/60th of a second.

It was shot on an xl2 with a 100 -400 @ the long end in farely low light

It took me quite awhile to get my head around shooting at slower shutter speeds as I came from the slr world of distant past!!!

It is all about impression. Our eyes do not see crystal clear images in flight. there are also numerous other clips on my page that have Flight and they are all shot at 1/60 to
1/90. Of course there is always Twixtor, if you have the bucks to spend.

Oh yes, one more thing. The watermark, a necessary nuisance, really is necessary. I have already found some of my stuff on some kid's Facebook page. Who knows where else all of our videos are going to.Yes, I can confirm that this happen all the time with my videos too! I do a search/scan on the internet from time to time and there's dozen of sites linking my stuff, others use some of my pics at their own sites without any reference :-(
I was quite shocked when I discovered one of my musox-films put up on a world wide and well-known organization site without my knowledge! At least they should have ask me in forehand before linking!

I would recommend shooting 1/60 to 1/100 and no faster, then when you time stretch you do not have to go so far and the wings will smooth out and appear as we would see them.In the next couple of months I'll investigate some settings of flight scenes of birds. Even though our qear is limited in a way, as the frame rate can be at 50 (PAL) or 60 fps at most there should be some way of doing motion smooth and nice to look at!

To show what I'm saying here's two examples of Mute Swan taking off from Lake Østensjøvannet in Oslo a couple of years ago. Note that this shoot was recorded in interlaced mode 1080i50! I've not used any special in the editing process, just captured the clip, reduced speed to 25% in timeline and exported as a QT-file. At that time I was editing in Avid Liquid 7 on PC and WinXP.
At this shoot I increased shutter speed to 1/210. You can see a small amount of wing blending but not so much even in the original speed clip. What about reducing shutter to 1/100 - 1/120 would it be better? Or even lower? What about increasing shutter to 1/250 - 1/300? What do you think?


Please Save as.. and download before viewing!
http://www.video-film.no/snutter/grace-realspeed_lg.mov (13MB of filesize) A pair of Mute Swans take off from Lake Østensjøvannet - original speed
http://www.video-film.no/snutter/grace.mov (15MB of filesize) Same as clip above, reduced to 25% of original speed

I will not hijack Steve's thread, so we might make a new thread regarding this subject as I will make some more reports of my findings in the next couple of months or so. Steve what do you think?

Morning,

Here is a video comparison I spent this morning putting together to show the options and effects.

Slo motion comparison on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/3350483)

First interlaced is bad news in my opinion, I usually shoot in Progressive but of late I have been shooting in 60I deinterlacing via interpolation, that gives the 60 full frames, then change the play rate to .5 to .66 depending on the shot. If you look closely at them all the .5 play rate is the best which only makes sense as it is using all 60 frames building 30 half frames.
time stretch in most is adding frames of the same images, ie premiere as an example.
Vegas interpolates entire frames which is actually better.
.5 play rate only builds half frames via interpolation when deinterlacing!!

The clips are not the best in the world but they will give one the impressions.

Faster that 100th and you get multiple wing position wing flicker unless it is a real slow wing beat. You can see this in the 180th of the gyrfalcon flying right in the beginning.

Also it is a balancing act determining how much slo mo to put in and give the correct impression of a single wing stroke.

Dale,
Thanks for putting together those clips. I saw wing-flicker (which I call "ghosting". Is it the same thing?) in only one of your clips, the one "time-stretched" to 52% (which is probably the same as Premiere Pro's speed=50% setting). All the rest of yours had discrete wings, no matter what you did to them. What I don't understand about your explanation is the idea of reducing flicker by reducing the shutter speed. Using a low shutter speed will blur the image a bit, but it won't affect where wings appear in subsequent frames.
I went back to my own clips and lo and behold, no ghosting or flicker at all. I have put together a Photoshop collage of sequential frames from swan and goose clips to show this.

Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket (http://s97.photobucket.com/albums/l212/ss4birds/?action=tageditmany)

The top row is 5 sequential frames. There is no flicker. If you choose to slow it down to 50%, Premiere simply displays each frame twice. There is still no flicker, you only see each frame twice as long. This is what I did in the video. If on the other hand (second group of stills), you choose "frame blending" and then set 50% speed, Premiere interpolates by showing a composite of the fore frame and the after frame in between the two. Full of flicker. I just recently learned this, all my previous videos were frame-blended, and flickery, but I don't see any in this one.
Even though there is no real flicker in the clip, I still can see what you are talking about. It is easy to sense the wingtip still at the top of the stroke, even though the wing has moved down. Since this is not double imaging in the clips, it must be something in how we perceive the motion. I looked again at your gyrfalcon (jeez, I need that for a lifer) you can see flicker, but by starting and stopping quickly to freeze individual frames, none of them have four wings. I wonder then if seeing flicker has nothing at all to do with shutter speed, or frame speed and everything to do with our brains. I notice all the time that live grackles or cormorants flying across a clear sky seem to have four wings. It's simply a perception thing. Of course that raises the question, if you can see it in nature, is it acceptable in video or not?

As another investigation, since there is a question as to whether 60i is better than 30p for flight, I went to a set I shot in 60i last year of a hovering Kestrel, and looked frame by frame. Whether deinterlaced or not, frame-blended or not, 100% or 50% speed there was unacceptable flicker showing as ghosting wings in every frame.

It seems that Per Johan's solution, slowing the motion to 25% solves the flicker problem because everything is so slow. The difficulty I have with that is that the audience will accept 50% speed as real because so few people actually pay attention to bird flight, but 25% is obviously slomo, and not appropriate in all situations.

Per, Thanks for the clips. I agree that a separate thread about slow motion bird flight would be a really good idea.

I started the thread in regular UWOL this afternoon. 60 I is a definite issue.

Great footage, but it is a shame about the strobing effect. Definitely use a slower shutter speed, it's more natural to the eye.

I look forward to seeing how your story develops.

Steve
All I can say is Wow! Wonderful footage and story. What an experience that must have been - 60,000 birds in one place!

I must say that I have learned a lot from this thread - and its continuation on the general UWOL thread. Thanks Steve, Dale and Per for your insights on filming birds flying.

Sorry for the late upload. We have been having some business and health problems around here.
In Part 2 I will continue with the theme of migrating birds and take it from the wintering of geese to the migration of small birds, which is a really big deal in North America, as it is the time when most people go out to see some of our most colorful creatures. I will try to weave in the final version some of the history of the two artist/scientists who took these birds out of the realm of ornithology and hunting, and made them accessible to the public, John James Audubon and Alexander Wilson. The Part 2 entry is little more than a collage of bird clips and stills. The titles will eventually be replaced by a narrative. I am especially interested to hear what you think about the length of each clip, and if it's boring to see a series of unrelated birds.
Please watch this Exposure Room version. To upload to UWOL at under 60MB, I had to make the frame so small that you can't even read the words.
Hope you enjoy.

UWOL Long Form Contest II Spring Migration By steven siegel On ExposureRoom (http://exposureroom.com/members/oporornis.aspx/assets/cd8b65d9459d4daba5b7830f4d227f84/)

Steve,

Nicely done segment. If I were to make one suggestion I would use a font without little edges and points and such. curiously, did you dull the white down by 10 % or so? sometimes the letters seem to bright on my computer.

A friend of mine owns a couple original wall sized audabon paintings of raptors. If I can get a picture of them you could legally use them if your work needs to be copyright free for TV, if you arre interested.


dale

Please use this link

UWOL Long Form 2 Spring Migration on Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com/4698404)

The Exposure Room one isn't working.

Dale, thanks for the offer, but I have sufficient Audubon images in book form that work fine. All of his stuff is fair use because it is so old. Any recent reproductions are simply derivatives, and have no rights.

Hey Steve

Well I missed you last time around. So, your first round footage - Well there was some great awe inspiring shots in this, filming huge gatherings of birds is always impressive but to get such a huge volume of big birds...well that is something else! You also build and pause into that 'money shot' nicely. I did pick up on a number shots where you seemed to be using very high shutter speeds, making the footage very choppy. Maybe you were thinking of slowing the footage down after ward and changed your mind. But I would say without the slowing out it looks odd and not visually pleasing.

Your second section is full of colour a lovely song. A lot of those species I can only guess at species wise but it was nice to see them anyway. What I would say is a lot of the shots were similar portrait mid/close shots, so maybe more thought on building sequencing and shot structure would help. You may be building more of a sequence to things further along but I'd take half the species and double the detail and behaviour! Also think about reveals, details and cut aways to build these sequences. You did go some way to answering this at the end of this section, bringing in the nest shot. This was good and did leave me more satisfied, but I thought I would add this by way of a critique all the same.

I like your narration in round one and missed this in round two. I'd also like to know more about the overall story and plan. If you have got this written up then be sure to post it.

Nice work
Mat

Steven,

What a colourful selection of birds! Was very enjoyably to watch and the background audio was lovely and crisp. I do agree with Mat, in that a variety of shot sizes would spice things up a bit. I also think some narration with species identification is a good idea.

Good stuff.

Mihali

Steve, very nice piece with lovely colors. Agree on Mat's comment that you could vary the sequences more.
Ambient sound was very well done!

I believe you was in some kind of hurry on this one, as the narrating was missing? I will strongly recommend that you do some kind of narrating or titling the species shown, as they was unfamilar for me!

Edit: Forgot to mention at 04:40 - birds inflight to the branch, was this just luck or did you observing and planning this entry? Very nice done!

Thanks for the commments.

Per, yes this was put together hurriedly, in fact it was only to avoid being disqualified for not entering something. As Mat suggested, there will be a lot more variation and working to the story in the final program.

Mat, do you remember which shots looked choppy because of high shutter speeds? My eyes just don't see it. I often use high shutter speeds because the Canon 100-400 zoom image becomes very soft over f/11. I have a 3 stop neutral density filter, but the extra glass also hurts the image.

Steve...lovely footage of birds in song. Your audio capture was superb. It served to remind me... sort of along the line of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" from the early 60's... that the rich sonic tapestry of nature we take for granted is in large part because of songbirds.

We all have thrown stuff togther to stay in, and I won't critique this piece beyond what others have said.

I look forward to seing your piece come together with this rich mix of beautiful birds.

Chris

Hi Steve,
Wow you have some really beautiful birds down there in Florida! I liked the story you told with the text, but can't wait to hear you narrate this as you did for your first piece. At about the 2 miin mark you have a beautiful black & orange bird that you have absolutely nailed the focus on with a magic DOF, but then for a few shots after that, you have soft focus that is quite noticable. As you have said, this was a "save me from the shark tank" entry, & i was in exactly the same position with my submission so i can completely understand if this was thrown in just to make up time. I loved the ambient bird sounds you have in this, along with the shots of the various birds singing. I especially liked the shot of the bird singing at the 4 min mark, that was awesome! You have a great story with some really beautiful footage, i can't wait to see more!
Regards,
Bryce

Hi Steve,
I enjoyed your first round so much that of all the second round entries I watched yours first. This is the first year in many that I wasn’t able to bird on the upper Texas coast in spring. Watching your vid made me feel like I was in High Island on a good day. Thanks. I especially liked the Chestnut-sided Warbler. I can’t wait to see your final video!

I’m sorry about your difficulties encoding. That is something I find difficult and I applaud Per Johan’s suggestion that we all discuss it. I’ve never been able to make .mov files that I like. I also looked at Sorenson, but couldn’t justify the expense for the small number of files I make. Lately I have been making .mp4 files with MPEG Streamclip Squared 5 - MPEG Streamclip video converter for Mac and Windows (http://www.squared5.com/) with much better results. You might give it a try. It’s free.

As I recall, you should be leaving for the Pribilofs in a few days. Is this a tour group or a trip you organized yourself? Best of good luck there. In June you should have a good chance at Asian vagrants. Touch wood!

Hi Steve:

Forgive me, but I will have little constructive and critical to say. I think I missed your video the first entry, and was mesmerized and fully taken in by this one. You gave me such informational and wonderfully helpful feedback on my thread, I wish I could do the same for you! You put this together in a pinch to avoid the shark tank? I'm impressed! I thought this was masterful! The capturing of the birds in flight was stunning!

Look to others for a critical review. I simply was taken in and loved it. I'm sorry and apologetic about this. I know with my own thread, I really soak up the critical feedback that will get me from point A to point B quickly and am so thankful for it. And if anything jumped out, I would certainly do this for you too! But I was taken. Perhaps this feedback is such that it lets you know that the masterful and critical eye will take you higher, but for the general viewer, this is captivating and beautiful.

Cat

Steve I too did not get a chance to comment on your first film so I will comment on both here.

The Return of the White Birds was nothing short of spectacular. Is was absolutely beautifully filmed, professional and fascinating to watch. The flocking behavior of so many birds really makes you think about group intelligence. I liked the various cuts you used in the editing the sound and your voice over were nice too. I really have no advice or criticism at all...just masterful

I watched both of your films back to back...and I noticed something...did you, on purpose, create contrasting pieces?

Because where the Return of the White Birds was filled with almost chaotic images the Spring Migration was simple and calm, where the Return of the White Birds was loud with many wings and babbling birds, the Spring Migration was quiet and filled only with the simple songs of individual birds. Where you narrated the first film you titled the second one. Where Return of the White Birds was dynamic and had you on the edge of your seat Spring Migration allowed you to slump back into your seat and enjoy the simple beauty in total relaxation.

I have to say my friend Bravo...brilliant pieces!

Hi Steve -

I always enjoy your work - mainly because birds are one of my favourite subjects too. You certainly have a beautiful selection here - the dazzling plumage and melodious songs are a real treat.

I missed the names - and the info as to where they had been and where they were when you filmed them but I guess that will be coming. The ambient sound is beautiful but there needs to be a little bit of this type of information too so the viewer has something to hold onto. (You will need longer clips for doing this in which case I don’t think they are too long.)

The little Chestnut-sided Warbler (Thanks Mike) near the end was razor sharp while some of the others seemed comparatively soft. I thought your nest footage was excellent - needs quite a bit of planning to do that I bet.

You have a super subject and your work is coming together well - looking forward to the next sequence!

(BTW - I viewed your video on exposure room before I read your note about it not working.)

Thanks for all the comments, everyone.

Marj, yes, I will be naming the birds in the final version. Everyone finds it annoying to see a species and not be told what it is. You might be interested in this. I am a pediatrician (day job), and one of my teenage patients yesterday told me that he was going to major in math in college. I asked him if he knew about Fibonacci sequences in flower heads...AND HE DID!!
Amazing.

Jeff, the change in mood between the two pieces was accidental, but sure looks like it needs to stay. The next section may be frenetic again.

Cat, I'm glad I was able to help. I really love your stuff, because there is always something new and experimental in it. Keep it up.

Mike, thanks for the link. I'm going to try it today. I wonder what it will be like when we all have hour-long videos to compress. My computer starts to protest at anything over 20 minutes. I take it you are also a birder. I hope to get a few lifers up there, but the Asian vagrants are supposed to be gone by mid-June. Maybe one will hang around. I sure will touch wood, but hope not to touch volcanic ash. Mt. Redoubt (near Anchorage) has developed a lava dome, just like Mt. St. Helens did.

I'm calling the third part of my Long Form entry "In the Land of the Barking Seals". This one has been the most fun of all because I got to go to Alaska. The whole section is 15 minutes long, but I am only putting in half of it here. It deals with breeding birds, lots of singing males, eggs and babies (notably absent is the fledgling sparrow that was run over by a truck while I was trying to shoo it off the road.) This section was the result of several days spent at St. Paul Island in the Pribilof chain, about 300 miles of the coast. As always, getting the audio right is the hardest part. After listening so many times, I don't hear the errors any more. Please point them out.

This is an Exposure Room version, which may be better quality.

In the Land of the Barking Seals By steven siegel On ExposureRoom (http://exposureroom.com/members/oporornis.aspx/assets/dc8ba4aa29cf4c15afed106b1d51d683/)

Marvellous, Steve. I mean I found it exciting and informative to observe. Once more I will be happy to steal some of your phrases and powers of description. I think I'll even try practising your method of delivery ... steady, measured, even-pitched, NEVER cool, NEVER know-all, ALWAYS sounding as if you're calmly delighted to be learning as you speak ...

.... and I was wondering what to do with my puffin, gannet, fulmar, razorbill & guillemot footage; to hear you explain WHY the fulmar's beak is so-shaped was exactly what I needed to learn; the word "precarious" would just not come to me when trying to describe where the cliffbirds hang on ... ... and what a good ad for Exposure Room!

Thank you, many times.

Hi Steve- It looks like you had a very productive trip. An oceanographer friend told me he’s been to the Pribilofs twelve times and never seen the sun. I’m sure glad you did! Very nice shots and great editing. What a heroic job of follow focus with the fulmar! Great murre shots. Where did you find a place to stand, or were you hanging on the cliff like they were? I really liked the interaction shots with the auklets. Great close up of the jaeger too. Were you shooting with a fast shutter? Seems like there was some wing snap on some shots- like the dovekies. It’s not bad though and might just be the compression. I can’t wait for the next round. Nice bobcat. I’ve been trying to shoot one all year for another project but you know how darned elusive they can be!

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the comments. For the most part there was room for a tripod at the cliff face, but for some shots, like the close-up of the cormorant, I had to lie on my stomach and dangle over the edge. I guess I'll never get rid of the wing snap. Everyone complains about it and several UWOLers have suggested cures. The problem is that it seems to originate from too fast a shutter speed. Unfortunately, as Per Johan explained in his thread, you cannot shoot a smaller aperture than f/11 with this camera, so a high shutter is necessary to avoid overexposure. I have put a good quality (Hoya) ND 4 or 8 filter on but I think it significantly degrades the image.

Than bobcat was really weird. After taking the shot you see in the clip, the cat began walking toward me on the road, stayed on the road, walked right past, no more than ten feet away, and kept on going. Could it have been rabid? Who knows.

Brendan,
Thanks for the compliments. You're going to make me need to buy a new hat.

Steve,

You have many fine shots. I am impressed over how you manage to follow the flying birds.
Your narrating is very good, but I would prefer to hear your voice a bit louder and in the middle (from both channels).

Thank you Finn-Erik,

I thought I had solved that two channel problem.

Hi Steve:

You amaze me. I am always captivated by your filming. This is stunning and your narration keeps it very interesting. I am so impressed. My only comment, and it's personal preference only, is that I would have liked to have seen some cuts to wide view of the scenery as a relief from the intense close ups. That is it! You are a very talented wildlife documentarian.

All the best,

Cat

Steve,

You have a great story and some fine footage. A few of the shots you have the heads chopped. the one where you have a chopped image and the immediately after it you have a head shot of its red face that is perfect. I'd skip the first shot.

I liked the voice over alot!!

Must have been a great trip. See any peales peregrines? Puffins are a primary food source for them!!

Hi Dale,
I have to blame Exposure room for the cut off heads. The uploaded footage was not that way. I didn't see any raptors on the island at all, except for one Pomarine Jaeger.
I'm not familiar with Peale's Peregrine, but I suppose the Island could support a pair or two.
The highest point on St. Paul is a large rise that would be accessible to mammals (ie Arctic Fox). There may not be suitable nesting sites for a falcon there.

Steve

A really well produced piece of work. It flowed nicely from sequence to sequence, it set up the story well and there were some interesting facts and nice narrated observations. - There are a few shots I would cut/edit due to shake/exposure or length but on the whole the photography was great and had a good mix of shots. - On the whole I thought the narration was well written and delivered, you have a nice tone and flow. Occasionally though it fell into more of a childs doc with some of the observations/quips, not that much and not that often but I did feel it a couple of times - I can point these out if you'd like.

A well produced, very watchable piece that I think will a bit more cutting/production value would stand up to broadcast! - One thing though fella, how does it fit into your previous sections....or have you changed direction? (sorry if I've missed something in your postings on this)

Steve,
an amazing piece you show us here. Second what others commenting already.

This bird cliff reminds me very much about Runde, the southern most bird cliff in Norway. Very much the same species there too.

Looking very much forward to your next installment about camoflace.