UWOL 23 - A Natures Force by Gordon Hoffman

[Gordon Hoffman]

Well I just couldn't seem to come up with good story for this round. I new what I wanted to try for right off the bat but that's about as good as it got. Anyway shot on a Panasonic GH1/2 and some GoPros. I just got my flat lens GoPro case late June so I was excited to try it out. A lot of the audio was straight from the cameras built in mikes so not the best. Used a Zooom H4N for some but it was acting up so didn't get all the audio I wanted. With the wind in this country you don't get a lot of days that you can get good audio.
Anyway thanks for watching.

Gordon

[Ruth Happel]

Gordon, I have always had a soft spot for beavers so this is a great film giving them credit for all they do in forming new habitats. Your footage was amazing. The new GoPro case must have paid off because the footage of them both above and below water really helped make you feel as if you were right there in the water with them. Your narration really helped move the story along, and I really enjoyed the film.

[Bill Thesken]

I'll second that, the footage is amazing. That's incredible how you got those crisp shots
of the beaver right by the camera. It didn't even look at it, just kept along on it's business.

[Simon Wood]

I thought you had a great story here Gordon. And great weather by the looks of it!

Beavers have always fascinated me, though I have never seen one.

You had some great shots here. I can spot GoPro footage from a mile of these days, and it never ceases to amaze me how people are using these revolutionary little cameras in new and exciting ways. Mine travels with me everywhere these days.

Do you just leave the cameras running and come back a couple of hours later (or do you watch the cameras through binoculars from a safe distance so you know when you have caught something)?

I like your framing at .50 secs; thats my kind of shot! I also enjoyed your soundscapes.

A great underwater / overland nature film.

[Steve Siegel]

I really did like this, Gordon. It's a force of nature that we don't often think about, but that has a huge effect on the land. Your narrative was clear and right to the point. Filming beavers under water has to be challenging. Keep it up.

[Trond Saetre]

Gordon, this was nice!

I like how you are able to get so close to the beaver. Did you mount the GoPro camera close by and then came back later?

[Gordon Hoffman]

Thanks all for watching.

Hi Ruth - It is amazing what beavers can do. I lucked out and found some that were fairly tolerant of my present and were active early in the evenings. That was the first time I've ever put a camera under water, felt a little wierd.

Hi Bill - They are creatures of habit so fairly predictable. I'm probrably lucky they didn't put the GoPro into their dam.

Hi Simon - I'm really enjoying the GoPros and now that I got the flat lens housing things should get really interesting if I can pull off what I hope to. I just set the GoPros up and let them run but I was shooting with the GH1/2 from a tripod at the same time from a different angle. I hope to try out the WiFi backpack sometime once I can afford it for some of this type of shooting to see how it works. The way it works now I look through a lot of footage with not to much in it at times.

Hi Steve - This under water stuff is new to me so I hope to try a few things out. My first attempt had some nice shots but I had a lot that didn't really work out.

Hi Trond - I set the GoPros up but with this setup I was still nearby shooting with my other camera. They will run for a little over two hours normally.

Again thanks everybody for commenting.

Gordon

[Per Johan Naesje]

Hi Gordon, I´m sorry for a little late comment, but I must have overlooked your entry comment thread!

Anyway, your film was amazing to watch. I had real close contact with beavers some years ago, and your film brought back memories from that trip!

The use of GoPro enhance the film very much. To get real close up shot of beaver is not easy, without doing a remote setup.
Use of the wifi will ease this use, and Gopro has promised to introduce a mobile app for monitor and control the device remotely. I think they talking about end of July for the download to be ready, which will be a free downlodad too. Looking forward to this!

I loved the start of your entry, with the waterfall in the beautiful scenery.

The piece was nicely edited toghether and your narrating is relaxed and easy to follow.

Keep it up, looking forward to your next entry, Gordon!

[Mike Sims]

Hi Gordon. You have some fabulous wildlife shots here including interesting behaviour. I think you should try crushing the blacks a bit (turn the input black level in the color corrector of whichever editor you are using up to say 6) and then increase saturation about 2 or 3 percent. I think it will make some of those clips really pop. Have you ever considered using one of your GoPro cameras to shoot infrared? (It’s an easy modification.) With your set ups I think you can get some great night shots.

[Gordon Hoffman]

No problem Per Johan, I was a little slow getting my feedback thread up. Yes, for the way I've been using the GoPros I think the WiFi backpack would be handy. Appreciate the comments. Thanks.

Gordon

[Gordon Hoffman]

Hi Mike. I tend to let things go when I should put a little more effort into tweaking some clips. No I've never thought about using a GoPro for infrared. I've got a Trailmaster video controller that I use with a Sony camcorder in nightshot mode for night time stuff. I hope someday to find out if it will work with the newer cameras to get away from tape. Thanks for the comments.

Gordon

[Owen Dawe]

Hi Gordon,

Sorry for late response. I'm away from home this week. Yes I too enjoyed your contribution. Water and the creatures that live in it are amazing. We don't have beavers here so it was a real education to see them at work. I always thought of them as living in the wilderness, but can see they could be a problem holding back streams in a farming situation.

Well shot and the naration was just great.

[Gordon Hoffman]

Hi Owen
No worries. Beavers here can be found in most areas there is water and something for them to eat including towns and cities. Unfortunetly when they start cutting down big trees in areas where people value thier trees the people get a little upset. Thanks for the comments.

Gordon