Friday, April 27, 2007

Less Than Perfection



I've spent a fair number of hours since returning from my trip to Florida this past winter editing the video footage I took both with a regular video camera as well as my Viosport lens. The short segment shown above in the YouTube video, taken with the latter lens, is on Salt Creek in the Chassahowitzka area north of Tampa. To be honest, I am not very happy with the results. The pictures seem washed-out, over- and under-exposed, and not well focused. I have a few ideas why the results are not very satisfactory, but not enough to make me happy. This is such a new and complex world, I've much to learn!

Of course, the compression factors required for posting to YouTube result in less than perfect videos even for the pros. My pre-upload images are much clearer and of higher quality, still I have a long way to go.

Perhaps that's okay. I can see many days ahead perfecting my budding skills as a kayaking videographer. And the good news is that summer is just beginning, so I've got lots of time to learn!

3 comments:

clairesgarden said...

it looks a bit like the camera couldn't decide between the shade under the trees and the sunny sky. too much sun!!

Silbs said...

Claire is correct, and a split neutral density filter isn't practical. Might try a polarizer filter. It will pump up the clouds (darken the blue sky) and take out most of the subtle glare (which is what I think is washing things out a bit). I enjoyed the film.

Michael said...

Thanks! This is exactly the kind of advice I'm looking to have in order to improve the quality of the images.