National Parks of the Southwest

[Doug Jensen]

Here's some stuff I shot during my trip to NAB this year. Finally had a chance to look at it.

Mostly EX1 with a little EX3 mixed in.
1080/30P

National Parks of the Southwest -- Highlights on Vimeo

[Bill Ravens]

Nice stuff, Doug.

[Raul Rooma]

Liked video. You have almost dreamy mood over the video,maybe it is good idea to use fade transition all over the movie? As some shots fades but some just cuts... Anyway liked it.
Kind Regards

Raul

[Doug Jensen]

Thanks, Bill.
I wanted to do some shooting around Santa Fe but it was snowing and raining the day I was passing through and I didn't see anything worth wasting my time on. I'll bet you've got some great stuff to shoot around there when the timing is right.

[Charles Newcomb]

Nice.

I'll bet you make your wife nuts: "Okay, okay... just five more minutes and this time lapse will be finished."

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Charles Newcomb

Nice.
I'll bet you make your wife nuts: "Okay, okay... just five more minutes and this time lapse will be finished."

Yeah, you've got that right. Although she's an audio tech and we met on the job, so she's somewhat used to it.

[Simon Denny]

Hi Doug,
Nice images.
What PP settings are, were you using and did you use Cine Gammas?.
Also on the wide shots where did you focus? or did you set this to infinite.
The reason I ask about shooting wide is I tend to get real soft images but this might be due to my f stop at times being around f6 to f8 or more at times.

Thanks

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Simon Ash

Hi Doug,
Nice images.
What PP settings are, were you using and did you use Cine Gammas?.
Also on the wide shots where did you focus? or did you set this to infinite.
The reason I ask about shooting wide is I tend to get real soft images but this might be due to my f stop at times being around f6 to f8 or more at times.

Thanks

Thanks for the feedback from everyone.
The only PP setting I ever use (100% of the time) is the one I describe in my training DVDs and Field Guides. However, I did use the 3-way color corrector filter in FCP to give a little more contrast to the Grand Canyon footage, and I boosted the saturation a little bit on everything. Uusually I don't have to do any fitlering in post, but I felt this needed a little fine-tuning. I would rather shoot with my main PP and fine-tune in post. I am not about to start messing with the PP settings on the edge of the canyon when it's snowing, a 30mph wind, and 16 degress. That's the nice thing about having a PP you trust.

For focus, I did it the same way I always focus . . . zoom into the subject . . . focus . . . zoom back out to my framing . . . and roll. Setting the lens to infinite will NOT assure you of sharp focus even if the subject is 20 miles away. There isn't time for me to explain why, maybe someone else can chime in.

If you're shooting at f/6 or f/8 I'm sure your video is going to be soft. That is one of the big things I talk about in my training guides.

[Brian Barkley]

Forgive my ignorance, but by PP do you mean "Post Processing", "Photoshop", or what?

I LOVED the video Doug . . . I've hike the Grand Canyon, rim-to-rim, 25 miles across. Its beauty is magnificant, and you captured it as well as I have seen.

[James Dierx]

PP = Picture Profile. Check the top of this forum there's a whole topic on it. Also, check out Doug's DVD's I heard they are amazing.

[Doug Jensen]

I'm not sure why, but Vimeo downconverted the HD file to SD when I uploaded it.
Here is the HD version.
Southwest National Parks - HD Version on Vimeo

[Darren Ruddock]

Hey Doug,

Stunning pictures....yet again!

Did you use any additional ND filtering for these shots?

Many Thanks.

[Doug Jensen]

Thank you.

Almost everything was shot with a cirular polarizer, 1/2 grad .6 ND filter, and a Chrosziel matte box.

In FCP I boosted the saturation a little and dropped the blacks on some of the grand canyon foootage. It was actually very bland and uninteresting lighting most of the time, when you saw it in person.

I've said it before, the EX cameras are better than reality. Stuff looks better than it did in real life.

[Brian Barkley]

Doug,

I find it interesting that you went with both dissolves and straight cuts. How did you determine when you would use one or the other?

I've been around this business for a while myself (over 35 years) . . . I was always taught in editing, when you can't resolve it, dissolve it. The stupendous video effects of today were non-existent, and I am glad.

Many of the effects I see young editors use today go way overboard and bring attention to the effect, which I consider a rule breaker.

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Brian Barkley

Doug,

I find it interesting that you went with both dissolves and straight cuts. How did you determine when you would use one or the other?

Good question. Wish I had an answer. I guess I just cut or dissolved however felt best for the flow at that point I only spent a couple of hours on it and I had about 90 minutes of footage to sift through. If I sat down to do it again it would be totally different. I might not even have choose some of the same shots. I don't consider myself to be a talented editor and I hate cutting anyting without a narration track. The air show video I posted was even harder for me to put together and that took about 6 hours.

If you'd like to comment more specifically about anything that you didn't care for withe the editing or shooting, I'd LOVE to hear it. I promise not argue and I'll take it in the light it was intended. Fire away, or even send me a private message if you prefer. Hey, I love to get constructive criticism from people who know what they are talking about.