video was a bit underexposed so i tried my hand ad improving it in post

Yes a little under exposed but it created a real sunset feel.  Also, the white feather POP in this exposure.

Thanks

Well, count me in as really liking the video and subject matter.  Understated...just like we watch nature in person. Thanks for posting.

By the way, if you want to do some REAL color grading and are willing to learn something you will always value, download Davinci Resolve 12. It is 100% FREE with no gimmicks, and it is truly World-Class software worth around 1000 to 1200 dollars...in my honest opinion, there simply is no better for less than many thousands$$$.  That said, the three-way color corrector in Premiere Elements 13 is perfectly good, too.   The learning curve is a bit long and uphill, but you will obtain a valuable skill to keep. Why am I volunteering this info? Two reasons: Some of your color is perfect while other parts of the same frame can use help - "Color grading" can accomplish this. The second reason is that I like to share news of a Bargain - especially FREE stuff.

And YES! It is incredible that the egret could not care less about the flying blender a few feet away! I can't see them in the picture, but he must have a big set of gonads.

AerialLens Posted at 2015-10-16 10:31
Well, count me in as really liking the video and subject matter.  Understated...just like we watch n ...

I will also recommend Resolve, it is simply the best color corrector available, this was once a million dollar product, now it is free thanks to Blackmagic Design. And Resolve is also on its way to becoming a first class editor as well.

Wow, that is a incredible that you were able to just hover so close and not spook the bird.  With that musical accompaniment I half expected to see a canoe cruise by with a banjo picker in the front.  Nice video.

Even it's just one frame, i love it! Send it to Discovery Channel

AerialLens Posted at 2015-10-16 07:31
Well, count me in as really liking the video and subject matter.  Understated...just like we watch n ...

im learning how to use color finesse 3 in adobe after effects. maybe with more leaning i could do better, but i think this was the best i could do after bumping up the exposure a bit while still preserving the white of the bird. in the end i should have just flew without the ND4 filter, but the uv cover was all the way back in the truck

up to my antics again this morning

That bird was really funny.

Just looking... "what the heck is that looking at me?".

But the bird kept business as usual. Very nice.

Regarding the under situation, take a look a Frederic's channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyykNKmD1F8gmzxkTJEka5g

It helped me a ton to get started in the right track.

Cheers.

Aloha AerialLens,

     Mahalo for the suggestion about Davinci Resolve 12!  I flew right after a good rain to video the waterfalls on the pali (cliffs) near my house.  Unfortunately, I was so intent on flying and worried about more rain that I failed to auto-adjust the exposure and everything was dark when I reviewed my videos.  After downloading the Davinci Resolve 12 program, it took me a while to understand the workflow but when I finally did the program worked great - way better than my standard program that I spent three hours on trying to brighten up the  videos.  There were some jitter shots, like when I lengthened the yaw control stick to make it more steady, that I cut out and then I had to match the two end clips.  (Of course the easier route is to adjust the color on the whole video and then cut out the clip, but this was a training operation.)  It turned out to be easy to match the two end clips with Davinci Resolve 12.  If I had music to add, I would post it.  But more training still to come.  Mahalo again!

Aloha and Drone On!

Good job. That egret certainly has concentration!

Aloha kairkyo,

     Very interesting video you recorded.  You may have a symbiosis there.  It looks to me that the egret takes advantage of your wind waves to hide in plain sight from the fish.  The at the end - as AerialLens noted - the flying blender got a little close and the predator began to fear that it was about to be the prey.  You should be able to repeat this on calm days enough that the egret habituates to your presence.  On windy days the egret would not need your wind waves.  I wonder how far you can take this?

Aloha and Drone On!

The only things that would have helped your video would be either a graduated neutral density filter or a polarizer. The graduated ND filter would get you 2-3 stops between the brightest and darkest areas. The polarizer would have knocked out the bright reflections which fool the metering in camera to under exposing.

I'm experimenting with a servo on my larger UAV's gimbal to be able to adjust a circular polarizer.

As for software, I use Premier and After Effects. Not cheap and has a large learning curve.

Aloha AerialLens,

     Finally, I figured out how to get video up on to YouTube.  This is a short of the dark video before Davinci Resolve 12;



This is what I was able to do with Davinci Resolve 12;



Mahalo again AerialLens!  The program itself was easy to use and helpful besides the superior color solutions.

Aloha and Drone On!