The Changing of America UWOL#43 Bob Safay

[Bob Safay]

I recently took a 10 day road trip that covered 11 States. I set out with one idea in mind and by day 5 completely changed the scope of my idea. America, like other countries is constantly changing. So, this is my entry for "Wild". Comments would be appreciated. Thank you. Bob

Changing of America on Vimeo

[Trond Saetre]

Hi Bob,

Yet another great film from you! The wild is transforming into man made everywhere. You captured that well, and backed it up with a strong story.

Money shot: 0:56, the close up of the insect landing. Amazing! I have never managed to get such crisp footage of insects. Well done!
And the colors of the final clip: Amazing sunset!

I noticed some footage was a little bit shaky. Handheld? In Adobe Premiere (and possibly similar in the other editing Softwares too), there is a function called Warp Stabilizer. Works great, but sacrifices a little image resolution.

Well done!

[LeRoy Gunderson]

Very nice. I wish my alligator shots were as good as yours. That's one big gator!

[Bob Safay]

Trond, thank you. I took several shots of that dragonfly until I got the one I wanted. I did noticed the shaky footage. unfortunately there were times on my trip where all I could do was pull over to the side of the road and film.

LeRoy, that one was in the Okefenokee. They really grow big down there.

Bob

[Rob Cantwell]

That was really good, enjoyed it.
Loved the alligator shot - scary!!
and the dragon fly - excellent
Ditto on the hand-held shots, panning handheld is so hard to do eh? Maybe a monopod might improve things a bit

well done

[Andrew Hood]

Hi Bob,
I thought you used the theme really well, and crafted a nice narrative with this film. There was a real diversity of wildlife in there, and some contrasting landscapes to highlight the points being made.

I can relate to just trying to get the shot at times. Sometimes I miss the opportunity for things because I can't get the right gear out quickly enough. Happened during this round too, by the time I had the tripod ready one of the lyrebirds had scurried out of sight.

[Bryce Comer]

More, more!!
That was lovely Bob. What a great story to capture what is wild, AND what happened to the wild!
I would love to see you try a stabilizer plugin on some of your shots. I love the movement, but also think that a little stabilization would keep that movement, but get rid of some of the distraction with the small jerky movements you get when hand holding the shots.
The fade on the music where you transition between the wild, & the change to the wild could have been a little longer. I would also try it without the shot of the prairie dog since it seemed to be of a far lesser image quality to the following shot. Maybe just make the following shot a couple of seconds longer.
Thanks again for a lovely film.

[LeRoy Gunderson]

Congratulations! Very nice.