Tales of wonders and woes - UWOL33

[Trond Saetre]

As always, what would uwol challenge be without a place to talk about the experiences we encounter during the making of the uwol entries.

What goes well, not so well, the bad and everything in between.
Don't be afraid to share...

Remember the important Rule 11 - Have fun!

[Kevin Railsback]

I think I have my idea!

Doesn't have anything to do with light and in fact I could probably film some of it at night!

Need to make some calls to see if it's possible. Will be different than probably anything else I've done.
Need to shelve this for a day or two and think of a Plan B just in case.

[Geir Inge]

I wish you good luck Kevin, my curiosity is tingling already.
I also have a plan in the works.
The plan involves a lot of traveling in the district, so I hope time permits.
Good luck to you all.

[Steve Siegel]

This is a good theme, Trond. I will be experimenting with the audio on this one, and also trying to play the music myself. Will be interesting.

[Kevin Railsback]

So what disaster will befall me this challenge?

Came up with my idea, almost finished with the script and am working on the title.
Even put in a few shots I'd like to get. All before even listening to any music for this challenge.

I only have two days off this month so those are my only opportunities to film anything with morning light.
Wanna bet they will be cloudy, gloomy?:)

Thankfully we're setting the clocks ahead Sunday so that will give me an extra hour of daylight after work!

[Marj Atkins]

I think I have my story - will depend on what I find as to what evolves but at least I have a plan.

If you guys don't already have it, I can highly recommend the Photopills cell phone app to help with this topic. I have used it for quite a while now and I have found it fantastic for working out the times etc. of the golden hour (and lots more) in order to plan ahead of time where best to shoot from at a location. It is easy to use and their tutorials are very simple to follow.

Of course the weather and the camera settings are another thing altogether to try and get that perfect shot! Maybe some of you have some general camera settings tips you don't mind sharing.

This theme reminds me of the Night theme back in 2007. No specific subject but shooting the chosen subject in a different light and time of day.

[Trond Saetre]

I normally keep my camera settings pretty neutral to capture things as close as possible to how my eyes see it.
But sometimes I adjust the white balance to a slightly warmer setting, or bump up the saturation or contrast a little. Color editing is mostly done in post, so I can have the "original neutral" raw video and the edited if I regret the edits or change my mind.

[Marj Atkins]

Thanks Trond. White balance is probably the most important consideration - trying to push the warm colours. I know one can set the camera WB on 'shade' or 'cloudy' but can one use a slightly blue board instead of a white board to achieve the same thing manually?

[Trond Saetre]

Yes, or as I sometimes have had good success with: Use clouds as white card.
But yes, a slightly blueish card should help you get a warmer image.

[Kevin Railsback]

I shoot the same camera settings for everything. Haven't changed them in years. They seem to work for me.

I just pump up the chroma a bit, drop the master ped down about 15 or 20 points and shoot on the 5600k preset.

Everything I've shot on UWOL has been with those settings.

Maybe I'll do a custom white balance every now and then but the preset works fine for me on my camera.

[Mick Jenner]

Marj, this link will tell you more about warm cards WarmCards - White Balance Reference System Mick

[Marj Atkins]

Thanks Mick. Like Kevin I have my favourite settings but to achieve the warm look of golden light these warm/blue cards or similar would be most useful.

Thanks for all the settings tips so far.

I'm getting up at 04h00 (groan) on Saturday morning to get to my location before the sun does - UWOL certainly challenges us.

[Marj Atkins]

Originally Posted by Kevin Railsback

I shoot the same camera settings for everything. Haven't changed them in years. They seem to work for me.

I just pump up the chroma a bit, drop the master ped down about 15 or 20 points and shoot on the 5600k preset.

Everything I've shot on UWOL has been with those settings.

Maybe I'll do a custom white balance every now and then but the preset works fine for me on my camera.

That's amazing. I will never forget your award-winning 'River' film - its is a stunning example of the golden hour from beginning to end!

[Kevin Railsback]

Marj,

It's funny in that I carry a set of Warm Cards with me in my camera bag but I almost never use them.

If the sun is below the horizon and I'm getting a lot of blue cast in the image with the 5600k preset I'll break out a white card or maybe a 1/2 or 1 Warm Card but only if I don't want the blueish cast.

During the winter, it really helps sell the cold so I tend to just leave the preset on and let it go blue.

Iowa has so much corn fog in the summer. Yep, corn fog is an actual thing. The cord grows so fast and expires so much water that it actually creates a fog layer and adds to the humidity in the air.

But anyway, the corn fog and haze make for great golden hour light because of the sunlight being scattered through all the particulates. So the light naturally tends to be more towards the red end of the spectrum which is why I can get away with the 5600k preset here.

[Vishal Jadhav]

After thinking of this topic a lot i am getting more and more confused as to what should be the outcome.

I can think of beautiful shots that are clicked in the golden hours and i can probably make them given the time, however i am currently struggling with a story line, just not able to think of a rythm to this stint.

Music is far off as till the time i don't have the story and shots i will not be getting into music as i did last time.

As here in India we have time where the winters are ending and summers will begin the golden light is there ( leave aside the rains that ruined the starting day)

Guess i need to go for a long walk to think of what i want to put together.

cheers
vishal