Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Pacific Coast

[Doug Jensen]

My wife and I just got home last week from a trip out West. It was supposed to be a "vacation", but you know how it is when you get the urge to shoot. I decided to put togther some highlight reels of parts of the trip. I'm not thrilled with the music I've used, but I have a policy of never using music that I haven't licensed. I guess it's true that you get what you pay for. :-(

The Yosemite video is 100% EX1 and the other two are a mix of EX1 and F800.
Almost nothing has been graded or changed in post. I prefer to shoot as close to the final image as I can.

Yosemite was shot a single day because of rain the first day, and Yellowstone was shot whenever I could between rain storms and gloomy weather over a four-day period.

Highlights of Yellowstone National Park on Vimeo

Scenes along the California & Oregon Pacific Coast on Vimeo

A Spring Day in Yosemite National Park on Vimeo

[Jem Moore]

Wow! just beautiful, Doug, I felt like I was actually there, even felt the spray from the waterfalls...

[Mike Quinones]

Hi Doug.
Love the video beautiful shots. Love to make the trip very soon. Just a question for you.
Did you have to pay to video tape with your camera on those locations or did they go unnoticed?

[Bruce Watson]

Excellent. Beats the hell out of my neighbor's slide shows when I was a kid! ;-)

Seriously, something to aspire to. I'd like to be able to do as well some day.

[Doug Jensen]

Jem, MIke, Bruce, thank you for the comments.

Originally Posted by Mike Quinones

Just a question for you. Did you have to pay to video tape with your camera on those locations or did they go unnoticed?

If it's just you and a tripod, you don't need any permits or special permission to shoot in the parks. You are no different than anyone else with a camera. I had contact with several rangers during my trip and never once was I questioned or given any trouble, In fact, the rangers are very friendly and helpful. In a different life I'd have liked to have been a ranger.

[Bill Ward]

How'd the wife do with the "Honey, we have to get up at 4:30 to get the sunrise timelapse" part of the trip?

Bummer the NW weather has been so cloudy and grey the last few weeks.

[Luben Izov]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

Jem, MIke, Bruce, thank you for the comments.


If it's just you and a tripod,.....

Wonderful images... an excellent use of camera options and great still cinematography Doug!!
A question for you please. Did you use any filters and if you did what were they? Also how many different PP you use on all that posted material. Maybe was all exposure and angles the way the light comes or settings, but, please let me know. I enjoy that very much. I felt like I was there....
Luben

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Bill Ward

How'd the wife do with the "Honey, we have to get up at 4:30 to get the sunrise timelapse" part of the trip?.

She works in the business too, so she know's the routine.
Besides that, I never shot any sunrises. You really think I'm going to be out there at 4:30!!! Are you nuts? :-)
I don't know the scientific reason, but sunrises never look as good as sunsets. Anytime I need a sunrise, I shoot a sunset and fake it.

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Luben Izov

Wonderful images... an excellent use of camera options and great still cinematography Doug!!
A question for you please. Did you use any filters and if you did what were they? Also how many different PP you use on all that posted material. Maybe was all exposure and angles the way the light comes or settings, but, please let me know. I enjoy that very much. I felt like I was there....
Luben

I normally shoot outdoors with a polarizer filter and a .6 ND 1/2 grad filter in my matte box. It doesn't matter which camera I'm using, what the light is like, or what I'm shooting, those are the filters that are mounted on my camera all the time. I think Paul Cronin called it the "Doug Jensen Look" when I loaned him a matte box and filters on a shoot a few weeks ago. He's right. In fact, my F800 camera case is big enough I can put the rig away without dissambling anything.

In the Yellowstone and Pacific Coast videos I posted above, those two filters are used on every shot. However, only a polarizer is used on the Yosemite footage -- and I can certainly tell the grad filter was missing whenever I look at the video. Unfortunately I had to be very mobile with my EX1 at Yosemite and so I didn't carry the matt box with me. I had a screw-in polarizer I used, but had no way of using a grad filter without the matte box. Later on the trip I found a way to get the matte box into my EX1 backpack so I can take it with me, but then it was too late do anything about Yosemite. It is what it is.

On the EX1 camera I only used one PP setting. This is the exact same PP setting I describe in my EX1 training DVD and my Field Guide book. I have not changed any of those settings in almost three years.


On the F800 I switched back and forth between two different scene files. One is called VORTEX-1 and the other is called VORTEX-LCON (for low contrast). I only touched up a few shots in post. I like the way the video looks, but other people might feel they are too dark and contrasty. I would understand that criticism, but I like it, and the video is for me.

[Charles Newcomb]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

Jem, MIke, Bruce, thank you for the comments.


If it's just you and a tripod, you don't need any permits or special permission to shoot in the parks. You are no different than anyone else with a camera. .

From the National Park Service's Yellowstone Website:

"Commercial videographers, cinematographers or sound recording crews of up to two people with only minimal equipment (i.e. a camera and a tripod) working in areas open to the public are required to obtain a commercial filming permit (with $200.00 application fee) and are subject to appropriate permit terms and conditions and cost recovery charges but are not subject to location fees."

It's my understanding ENG is exempt, but I can't find anything to substantiate that.

Just yesterday, I had a NPS ranger tell me I couldn't shoot in the National Forest w/o a permit when I was covering a wildfire (the area had not yet been "locked down"). So I pointed the camera right at him and asked him to repeat what he just told me. He walked away, mumbling.

Our state parks people in Colorado are really anal about filming on their turf. Their motto is: If it's on a tripod, you need a permit. So anytime I'm shooting in one I just wear my CNN hat and tell them I'm getting file footage... which isn't much of a stretch because I've yet to use anything I've ever shot in a park for anything but spot news or news features.

Another thing that drives me nuts is we have all these great Forest Service campgrounds in my neck of the woods, but in order to use them you have to pay a fee to a private company for their "services," which is usually some old Nazi from Texas who spends his summer being the gate troll from his 5th-wheeler.

I shot this

Red Fox Kits In Colorado on Vimeo

from my back porch and from my property, but the foxes are on NFS land just outside my property boundary. So I suppose if they really wanted to get pricky about it they could zing me.

I hate the government.

[Luben Izov]

Thank you Doug! Very nice picture indeed with just a polarizer... Thank you for replying.
Luben

[Bill Ward]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

She works in the business too, so she know's the routine.
Besides that, I never shot any sunrises. You really think I'm going to be out there at 4:30!!! Are you nuts? :-)
I don't know the scientific reason, but sunrises never look as good as sunsets. Anytime I need a sunrise, I shoot a sunset and fake it.

I work with a guy who, almost without fail, shoots every sunrise...whether it is appropos to the story or not. One producer who worked with him a bunch finally started saying: "I'll be in the hotel lobby eating breakfast. Knock yourself out and come get me when you're done."

Sunsets are much more civilized...unless it's Alaska in late June.

Pseudo-scientific reason: the day's heat and winds kick up a lot of atmospheric schmutz, cutting down on the bluer part of the spectrum. Generally, that activity dies down overnight...and there usually seems to be less clouds, as well, which detracts from the visual opportunities.

Still....great looking video. I like the contrast.

[Doug Jensen]

Hi Charles,

Nice video of the foxes. Must be real handy to have that right in your own backyard!

Originally Posted by Charles Newcomb

From the National Park Service's Yellowstone Website:
"Commercial videographers, cinematographers or sound recording crews of up to two people with only minimal equipment (i.e. a camera and a tripod) working in areas open to the public are required to obtain a commercial filming permit (with $200.00 application fee) and are subject to appropriate permit terms and conditions and cost recovery charges but are not subject to location fees."

Yellowstone can put whatever they want on their website, but that doesn't make it the law or make it enforcable. If they can a fool a few folks into forking over $200, that's great, I hope it goes into park maintenance. But they can't discriminate against "commercial" operators while amatuer operator can be standing right next to the professional and shooting with the same (or better) equipment. At any given time there are probably a hundred tripods (stills & video) being used in the park, and they can't very well check out every person. In fact, they can't discriminate like that, and it's not up to the ranger to decide what is "commercial" and was is not. I've seen official information somplace online about this very issue but I don't have time to search for it. The bottom line is, if the public can do it, you can do it no matter what your reason is for being there. And if you sitll have doubts, just say it's for home movies.

I'd literally make them arrest me before I'd stop shooting, and I'm confident I'd win a nice tidy judement.

Fortunately, non of this matters, because as I said, the rangers out in the park pretty much don't care about the "rules" on the website either.

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Bill Ward

Pseudo-scientific reason: the day's heat and winds kick up a lot of atmospheric schmutz, cutting down on the bluer part of the spectrum. Generally, that activity dies down overnight...and there usually seems to be less clouds, as well, which detracts from the visual opportunities.

That explanation makes perfect sense. Thanks!

[Jay West]

Regarding the restrictions: I live near Yellowstone and we have a National Forest between our town and the Park. Folks at our local Forest Service Ranger Station told me the fee is not for being a professional but, rather, when shooting for commercial purposes. There is no Forest Service fee for newsgathering nor for shooting for personal use. Park personnel have told me basically the same things apply in Yellowstone. Nobody has ever hassled me when I've had a tripod with me. But then, I've never taken anything larger than an my XH-A1 up there, either.

NPS put out an explanatory press release for Yellowstone last January that said:

"If an individual, business, organization, or institution, is paid, reimbursed, or provided any measure of financial or in-kind support for any costs associated with an audio, film, or video production, a permit is required prior to working in Yellowstone National Park. This applies not only to those shooting feature films, but those who capture audio or footage for documentaries, commercials, product demonstrations, web sites, or training films."

"Permits are not required for individuals taking personal vacation still images or videos, and are not usually required for those involved in news coverage of Yellowstone National Park. "

"While amateur and professional still photographers taking landscape photos are not required to obtain a film permit, those using models, props, special lighting, or specialized equipment, must apply for and obtain a film permit prior to working in the park."


Yellowstone National Park - Commercial Film Crews Required To Obtain Permits To Work In Yellowstone (U.S. National Park Service)


The regulations/policy rules are at: www.nps.gov/yell/parkmgmt/filmpermit.htm