Sony FX6 bird and wildlife shooting

[Doug Jensen]

While testing camera settings, lenses, etc. for my FX6 master class I shot a bunch of nature footage, mostly birds, so I decided to cull some of it together for a little nature video. I think some of it will do well as stock footage when I have the time to submit it.

Sony FX6 Demo: Birds of Central Florida - YouTube

[Bob Safay]

Doug, as usual great shots, color, music and editing. I have a question. I remember watching your course on selling stock footage (I am still making money doing that), you said to video in slow motion, don't slow it down in post. So my question is, how much of your wildlife is shot in slow motion? Bob

[Doug Jensen]

Man, that's a hard question to answer. It really depends upon how much action there is with the wildlife and what I'm going to do with the footage later. If it's birds in flight, etc. I will generally choose the slowest 4K slow-motion that whatever camera I'm shooting with is capable of. Slow motion is easier to shoot and it sells better as stock footage than similar non-slow motion footage. But if I'm shooting birds standing around, gators, turtles, etc. I'll shoot 29.97.

Also, If I'm shooting something that I think is a good candidate for submission to CBS Sunday Morning as a moment of nature segment I'll also shoot 29.97 and also try to get some good nat sound. If I shoot slow motion it can be speeded up a little in post if necessary, but you can't go too far or else the motion blur from the faster shutter won't look right. As we know from other posts on this forum some people say they can ignore standard shutter speed conventions, but I'm sure they don't make any money with that kind of footage because customers don't want it.

[Bob Safay]

Doug, thanks for the reply. That is pretty much what I have been doing. I shot things like turkeys, deer and wild hogs in slow motion, then buffalo, sand hill cranes and geese in 29.97. Take care, Bob