Hayden Run Falls

[cameron12x]

Hayden Run Falls sits less than two miles from downtown Dublin, Ohio. (It's less than one mile from my home). I couldn't resist taking my Canon 7D vDSLR and a couple of lenses out at lunch yesterday to capture some footage of this beautiful little gem:

http://www.vimeo.com/7408582

The actual video footage starts at the 0:31 mark, and I intermixed it with stills taken at the same time.

The park had been closed for several weeks and the wooden walkway at the bottom of the small gorge where it sits had been completely rebuilt. The only problem was that now there were no exits to allow hiking in the gorge. You are limited to the enclosed walkway and nothing beyond this. This severely limited the amount and type of footage I was able to shoot, both still photos and video.

There was fairly recent rainfall so the falls did not disappoint. Ample water flow was available to capture and there was even colors left in some leaves. What an incredible place...

I learn more about video every time out with the 7D. I didn't think that I'd need a loupe to focus via Liveview through the camera LCD during the day, but I was wrong. It's definitely tricky (even in good light), and nowhere near as easy as using the viewfinder for still photos. I suppose that I'm going to have to pony up for the Zacuto Z-finder sooner rather than later. If I'm going to produce good stuff, I need the right tools.

 

[cameron12x]

I have been reviewing this video more closely. At approximately the 0:56 mark the camera appears to change aperture due to an apparent change in lighting conditions. At that part of the clip parts of the image start to show more DOF, indicating that a smaller aperture was being selected by the camera (the sun must have come out a bit from behind some clouds). I was shooting in shutter priority mode.

The net of this is that it appears that I've changed the focusing, which might be disconcerting to the viewer in certain circumstances.

Question: Is it better to shoot in full manual mode (shutter speed and aperture manually selected) rather than taking a chance that the camera will pick a new aperture on the fly?

I suppose that this effect is minimized with wider angle shots. In this particular instance, the exif metadata shows that I was shooting at about 110mm (EFL=176mm), so any changes in aperture with a relatively narrow DOF to begin with would be accentuated. The downside to shooting fully manual is that you can't react easily or quickly to the sun coming out during the clip.

Any thoughts on technique here?

 

[mjmcneese]

I used to go to Hayden Run quite a bit a few years ago...back when it was more of a secret!

You're on the right track with DoF...keep reading in these forums and also in the Cinematography forum.

 

[cameron12x]

I used to go to Hayden Run quite a bit a few years ago...back when it was more of a secret!

You're on the right track with DoF...keep reading in these forums and also in the Cinematography forum.

Hayden Run Falls is a beautiful little gem, isn't it? I promise not to tell anyone else! ;^)

Thanks for the quick feedback. So, you would shoot completely manual in this instance? Or do you shoot in shutter priority mode most of the time. I suppose like everything else, "it depends." For short clips, it would probably matter less, as there isn't as likely a chance that the lighting would change.

In this example I was shooting 720p at 60fps, and slowed some of the waterfall clips in post to 30fps for the desired effect. (I like the falling yellow leaf slowed to that speed).

 

[mjmcneese]

I have little experience shooting video on a DSLR...and I'm sure a lot of how-you-work depends on what you are comfortable with.

For Hayden Run stock footage, I would take the widest lens possible and don't worry about DoF, just get nice low-angle wide shots (it'll make the falls look big). I would also take a long lens and do some telephotos of the water hitting rocks, etc. And I'd take someone with me...a model to get some shots of them frolicking around!

Biggest suggestion is to try to tell a story with your shots...much like you did with the shot of the leaf...you personified an inanimate object with your framing. You can do this with ANYTHING!!! Don't shoot a shot of a rock...get a shot of a rock "living" in it's spot. Hard to explain...but just put a little thought into it and you'll see what I mean.

 

[cameron12x]

Thanks for the feedback Mike... much appreciated.

This was basically my 2nd time (EVER) shooting video and editing. And of course I had owned the 7D only for a few weeks. As such, I really didn't have much of a premise going into this shoot; it was more about learning the capabilities of the camera and then on to the basics of video editing. I have much to learn!