Stabilizing sailing videos

M

Mike Lakefield

Member
Hello!

I've been filming sailing videos for only one year now. The biggest problem from the beginning was stabilization of the footage right when the sailing is happening. All sideboats from which I have been filming have been fast enough but compared to sail boats their ride is very bumpy; like stomache and liver were changing places from time to time. I have found few things to help taking some decent footage:

- wide angle lense (obvisously... :))
- with safety ropes to do some stabilization using my own weight
- lenses IS is helping a bit
- shooting with 29,97 and assuming that as a 23,976 (not to stablize but to give more seconds to play with, cool manoveurs are also played back with a nice smoother pace)

but...

Do you know how to shoot that kind video professionally? What would be the most rational solution to stabilize sideboats rough bumbs, waving all around and such?

Thanks for your thoughts!

-Mike
 
A small stabiliser could certainly be helpful - something along the lines of the Glidecam HD1000 is still compact enough to be used in tricky spots like on a boat.

Also make sure you are standing up to film and never sitting down. That way your body acts like a shock absorber and takes a lot of the bumps out.

One thing I find very helpful is to concentrate on the background rather than the foreground. Bring up the guidlines on your LCD (can't remember if the DSLR's even have them?) and then focus either the bottom or top 1/3rd horizontal line on the horizon and focus on keeping it there. This method works even better if you have objects in the background that can later be used for Stabilisation in post, such as a bouy or other small boat.

Speaking of stabilisation, you could consider shooting with a faster shutterspeed which will make for better results if you need to steady things up in post. Not only will this give you a sharper image to work the tracking on, but once you apply the stabilisation it will prevent the effect you can sometimes get where the image is not shaking anymore, but it appears to shift in and out of focus because the motion blur is still there.
 
Thanks Deltoidjohn!

Those tips will certainly be very useful and taken in action! Up here northern Europe far away from everything it is hard to rent anything that professional (well maybe cars, heh). So we have to either build it self or buy it.

But I feel strongly that the next level is now reachable. ;-)

Thanks again!

-Mike
 
Thanks Deltoidjohn!

Those tips will certainly be very useful and taken in action! Up here northern Europe far away from everything it is hard to rent anything that professional (well maybe cars, heh). So we have to either build it self or buy it.

But I feel strongly that the next level is now reachable. ;-)

Thanks again!

-Mike
 
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