Please review my video. I need knowledgeable feedback

[Jeff Wisener]

A video of mine of Olympic competitor Rio Waida. A friend felt the video footage appear "hazy" suggested a polarizer filter. Thoughts, would it help, suggestions?

Thank you in advance, link below. View in 1080p.

YouTube (Short URL)

[Paul R Johnson]

Actually, that's not bad for surf shots. Polarisers might give you a bit more definition in the water reducing reflections. Maybe a UV filter might help too - theyr'e quite good with sunny haze issues. It's also difficult to stop the broken surf hitting the white limit. I bet if you look you'll find those big white areas are quite over exposed - but they move fast so get hidden. One of my longer lenses does the same thing with sharpness on sunny days on water - just a softening. I keep meaning to try a polariser and see,

[Jeff Wisener]

I went through my filters, found a 77mm Circular Polarizer Filter I forgot about. I will try it out soon and will see if it helps.

[John Nantz]

Another plus with a PL filter is that it will provide a bit of a Neutral Density effect that would then allow a lower f stop. Bright sun will usually be at the high end (f-22 or more - on 35mm) of the f-stop range with the smallest iris.

If the lens is designed with the mid-range f-stop as the sharpest area then approaching that would be a plus. Every lens is different so it depends.

[Andrew Smith]

Looking forward to seeing an example of the difference the filter makes.

Andrew

[Jeff Wisener]

Andrew, large swell, planning to shoot padang padang in the morning. I should have a video within 3 days time.

[Jeff Wisener]

Here is a video with the polorizer filter on it.

Thoughts in comparison to first video?

I noticed when I took screen shots there was very little photo enhancements needed from the photos taken using the polorizer filter.

YouTube (Short URL)

[Andrew Smith]

Definitely an improvement to the overall contrast and clarity.

What I am noticing this time is that the whites of the wave tips are burning out. Suggest reducing exposure by a stop (or whatever feels comfortable) to save this from happening, and boosting the midtones in post with some sort of RGB curve correction function.

Andrew

[Paul R Johnson]

Concur. Looks much nicer. To be fair I didn’t expect such a difference.

[Doug Jensen]

The whites are unacceptably all blown out and the shutter speed looks way too fast, thus giving the whole video a jittery look. What was this shot with, and what were your settings?

[Paul R Johnson]

I'm not an expert at surf - (apart from being in a Beach Boy Tribute Band!) but I quite like the higher Shutter speed - but for me, this is also a classic example of where the minute you start to shoot video with the lenses at the long end of their spec, you MUST have a decent head on the tripod. The artefacts that get revealed by the higher shutter speed - the droplets and the spray make the framing more important. I do a bit of airfield work - planes and parachutes and it's long lenses and extenders and my favourite support is an ancient Vinten post head. A number of reasons, but the ability to go vertical is very handy for still days, but when these are balanced for CoG and CoB it's fingertip control - and 45 degree movement really easy. Take your hands away at any angle and they just stay there. With a long lens it makes following movement so much easier. Not the right part of the world for surfing, or I'd be keen to have a go.

[Jeff Wisener]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

The whites are unacceptably all blown out and the shutter speed looks way too fast, thus giving the whole video a jittery look. What was this shot with, and what were your settings?

Doug, the jittery feel you are describing is a tripod issue. I am shooting with a 400mm lens in a high off-shore condition. The tripod I'd a Manfrotto with Coman Q5 head. The head is the culprit. Knowing this I already upgraded to a E-Image GH06 which is smooth. The long version is my girlfriend questioned me buying a new tripod then once she shot with the E-Image GH06 quickly claimed it. On this shoot we were both shooting, different angles, my unit being the camera B. Unfortunately, when setting up her camera she mistakenly moved the autofocus setting on the Telephoto lens to manual and all her clips were out of focus thus forcing me to rely on camera B with a shaky tripod. The real intention of this post was to test my 77mm polorizer filter on my Canon 400mm lens, get feedback on if it help. I believe it does so knowing that, plan to purchase the 95mm polarizer filter for my camera A lens, the Sony 200mm-600mm lens.

If you have suggestions on how to reduce the over exposed white water without underexposed the other areas l would appreciate it.

[Doug Jensen]

Jeff, in my earlier post I asked you what camera this was shot with and what your settings were. Unless I missed it someplace in this thread, you have not provided any of that information, so how can I offer any meaningful advice? What camera? Chances are I have no experience with whatever camera it was, but it would still be good to know.

You're right that the tripod is junk, but that does not entirely account for the jitter that is seen in your second video. The video is jerky and unstable because of the tripod, but the image is JITTERY because the wrong shutter speed was used. What was it? I'm betting it was set way too fast. Am I wrong?

I also suspect your aperture was way too small, thus resulting in problems with diffraction. What was your typical f-stop that you used? I'm betting it was too small. Am I wrong?

The ability to prevent highlights from blowing out without underexposing the rest of the picture BEGINS with the camera's paint menus settings, particularly the gamma setting, that have been chosen. What gamma and/or shooting mode were you using? What is the proper exposure for that gamma choice?

What method are you using to set the exposure during the shoot? Are you using zebras, histogram, waveform, or what? What is your exposure IRE target and how are you determining if you are hitting it, or going over, or going under?

How much leeway does your gamma choice allow before the highlights become irretrievably clipped?

This kind of subject matter is virtually impossbile to capture perfeclty in-camera, so some grading in post is always going to be necessary to bring it to life. Did you grade with Resolve or did you just make some random adjustments with some other program (FCP, Premiere, etc.) that is not up to the task? If you used Resolve, what was your workflow? Where did the scopes say that your whites were hitting? Clearly you let them go way too far. If you didn't use Resolve, why not? it's free.

A polarizer probably won't hurt, but it is not the answer. The problems I see have nothing whatsoever to with polarized light.

This is what you need to do . . .
1) The camera's paint menu settings need to be set correctly before you ever leave your house.
2) The correct shutter speed needs to be set for your chosen frame rate.
3) ND filters need to be used so that the aperture can be kept as close to fully-open as possible.
4) The exposure needs to monitored and adusted constantly as conditions change to ensure that it is correct.
5) The footage needs to be brought into Resolve (with proper monitoring) and fine-tuned to produce a pleasing final image.

As you can see, there is no single magic bullet answer or setting that is going to suddenly turn your footage into top-end material. There are many settings and techniques that all need to come together and if any of them is not done right, you won't have success.

I can't give you all the answers you need but I hope that I've at least pointed you in the right direction.

[Doug Jensen]

Hmm, some people ask for feedback but then they don't really want to provide any meaningful information to make that possible.

[Andrew Smith]

Neither do they even realise when greatness is in their midst. :-)

Reminds me of the pains we (of the graphic design industry) go through to help our clients succeed in spite of themselves. Probably never even rates a mention in those motivational speaker 'success' stories you hear about.

Andrew