List, I have been working on trying to get good video of rollers breaking together and still being able to see the quality. As many of you already know, EASER SAID THEN DONE.
Ray, the problem is the low quality for online publishing. If viewed on a 40 inch LCD TV at full screen you would see it is much different and much better, or at least to the quality capability of your VCs sensor and software. The problem too is that most of the time we view the birds from underneath. This is bad for videoing. If you want to capture better footage or footage you will be more happy with, you need to film them from the side angles, not from underneath. Footage from underneath doesn't present the same depth perception as being there in person.
Coupla nice breaks in there. Those Johnny birds much be rockin' and rollin' over there for you.
Ray, when you point any camera at the sky, and if you're using its auto-exposure, as most people will do, the camera will close its iris to cope with the above-average light conditions (this is more the case with an overcast sky than a blue one). In order to present the sky naturally (the sky being the larger part of the overall picture) the result is that smaller objects appear pretty much in silhouette. This is because a camera, unlike the human eye, can't cope with a particularly wide exposure range. So, when some parts of the overall picture are properly exposed, others will be over or under exposed.
A stills photographer will usually use flash and/or filters to balance the extremes of light. Video, where a camera is just pointed and recorded, just can't cope with light extremes. Something has to give. The best balance of light would be rollers flying in a blue sky with the sun shining nicely on the rollers - so, the sun would be roughly over the videographer's shoulder. In a perfect world, the video would be taken side onto the birds, but this is rarely practical - after all, they're up in the air, whilst most of us will be shooting from ground level.
But, to balls everything up, you're working with a moving target. The light might be falling nicely on the birds one moment, but as they circle, you're then shooting them into the sun, so they'll appear in silhouette, as little black dots.
There is no easy answer and I've given up trying to video whole kits, as the results are always poor. You need to get in closer and video fewer birds, but not so close that when they roll, they drop out of the picture and the camera, duly zoomed in, is shaking. Even when videoed from underneath, the birds often bank as they turn, thus turning their bodies into the sun, which makes for a generally attractive picture - but it's not the action we really want to see.
The hardest part of all is following a rolling bird - or a small group. The distance between camera and rollers will change all the time, so constant focus can be a problem. When the individual roll begins - or a break - it's easy to miss the action.
In short, lots of footage is part of the answer - much of it will ultimately be culled!
Jerry, Yes that was two kits. Steve, How did you post the video on the forum ? I have tried a couple times with no success. Shaun, Thanks for the advice. I will try to put your ideas into practice. PS. you should see my cull pile of film Shaun .. lol.
