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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Feeling Alive - Shot on Monstro Monochrome

Rodrigo Violante

Rodrigo Violante

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1 month ago I had the opportunity to go film for the first time Humpback whales. It was one of the most beautiful experiences I had in my life so far.
I try to capture the beauty and what I felt with this video, I hope you enjoy it.

I also want to thank Baja my Love for organizing this trip, they went above and beyond helping me capture everything I needed!

Also special thanks to Jarred Land for supporting me with one of the most beautiful cameras I ever had in my hands, a RED Monstro Monochrome!

Cinematography: Rodrigo Violante
Sound Design by: Pablo Garay
Voice: Mike Regan



**** R3D Snapshots to play around *****

If anyone wants to play with some of the underwater footage with Color Grading will be fun what you guys come up with :)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/iur6mhn2ro5ct32/AACggzyQzzCZfsdRTGL56Ogra?dl=0

Also if you want a specific footage I can sure upload it to that folder.
 
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Wow man, that's terrific stuff. I wish I had a huge display to watch it on.

BTW I do have a technical note. The footage looks a bit flat - which is typical for digital monochrome. It really needs to be run through a tone filter to give it that b&w film look (except for the grain, which is not necessary).

Even if you just put a few frames through DxO Film Pack or something, it would be worth exploring. I haven't done this myself, BTW, as when I shoot b&w photos I shoot JPEGs, which seem to bake in a little bit of richness (unless it's my imagination). But, merely desaturating RAW files, or using straight monochrome RAW files, results in flat results.
 
It is very difficult to truly appreciate the beauty of these images, when they are so compressed and not being able to view them on a proper monitor. If you going to grade these beautiful images, then do it correctly and not half ass it with some plugins, sorry. The beauty of BW images is the grey tones and controlling those is the real secret of BW photography. This video could use a bit help with consistency, but the good news, there is nothing wrong with this video, that couldn't be helped with some judicious color grading...
 
jake blackstone said:
It is very difficult to truly appreciate the beauty of these images, when they are so compressed and not being able to view them on a proper monitor. If you going to grade these beautiful images, then do it correctly and not half ass it with some plugins, sorry. The beauty of BW images is the grey tones and controlling those is the real secret of BW photography. This video could use a bit help with consistency, but the good news, there is nothing wrong with this video, that couldn't be helped with some judicious color grading...
Click to expand...

The guy posts something he wanted to share and you lead off with "if you going to grade these beautiful images, then do it correctly and not half ass it..."???? how about if he wanted to do whatever... he does it? lol.... I swear what happened to community here? Long list of people I would never feel comfortable working with in any professional capacity... all with what looks like hidden agendas. Sure I'm not the only one with those feelings.
 
jake blackstone said:
It is very difficult to truly appreciate the beauty of these images, when they are so compressed and not being able to view them on a proper monitor. If you going to grade these beautiful images, then do it correctly and not half ass it with some plugins, sorry. The beauty of BW images is the grey tones and controlling those is the real secret of BW photography. This video could use a bit help with consistency, but the good news, there is nothing wrong with this video, that couldn't be helped with some judicious color grading...
Click to expand...

Well I guess Thanks for the feedback.

And Sorry I really have 0 experience grading B&W all online guides or people I have talk with usually grade it manipulating a color sensor, this is true Monochrome and there are also a lot of factores here when it comes to underwater, visibility is a big factor and trying to popup the subject was a challenge. But well, I hope you can guide me someday :)
 
Karim D. Ghantous said:
Wow man, that's terrific stuff. I wish I had a huge display to watch it on.

BTW I do have a technical note. The footage looks a bit flat - which is typical for digital monochrome. It really needs to be run through a tone filter to give it that b&w film look (except for the grain, which is not necessary).

Even if you just put a few frames through DxO Film Pack or something, it would be worth exploring. I haven't done this myself, BTW, as when I shoot b&w photos I shoot JPEGs, which seem to bake in a little bit of richness (unless it's my imagination). But, merely desaturating RAW files, or using straight monochrome RAW files, results in flat results.
Click to expand...

Usually does filters work when you come from Color and transform to BW, here is 100% Monochrome, but honestly if you have any guide I will gladly explore since Monochrome definitely is a challenge to grade.
 
For anyone who has actually been diving, it is very realistic in my humble opinion and exquisite. I love the sparkles of light when they come off the tail. I only wish that I could produce something half as good.
 
Samir Patel said:
The guy posts something he wanted to share and you lead off with "if you going to grade these beautiful images, then do it correctly and not half ass it..."???? how about if he wanted to do whatever... he does it? lol.... I swear what happened to community here? Long list of people I would never feel comfortable working with in any professional capacity... all with what looks like hidden agendas. Sure I'm not the only one with those feelings.
Click to expand...

It seems, these day people are just looking to be offended at the slightest...
You need to relax Samir.
I was objecting to the suggestion by Karim to use plugin "DxO Film Pack or something" instead of doing a proper grading on this beautiful imagery by Rodrigo.
Rodrigo and I are fine, don't worry...
 
Rodrigo Violante said:
Usually does filters work when you come from Color and transform to BW, here is 100% Monochrome, but honestly if you have any guide I will gladly explore since Monochrome definitely is a challenge to grade.
Click to expand...

Here's how Silver Efex looks like:

https://iftimestoodstill.net/2013/10/10/concentration/

This one was definitely taken with the Leica M Monochrom (CCD):

https://iftimestoodstill.net/2013/07/22/batman-batman/

I'm thinking of trying it myself... maybe. I shoot JPEG so I don't need it - however, I sometimes shoot RAW for insurance in case the JPEG is off, so maybe I should look into it.

https://nikcollection.dxo.com/silver-efex-pro/
 
This is beautiful work, Rodrigo! Everything works together to support the tone. My favorite shots are the overhead looking directly down at the waves breaking on shore and the tail breaking the surface of the ocean-- so beautiful the way the shimmering water rolls off the tail in slow motion!

My sense is that perhaps where Karim sees room for improvement is in the shots that are completely underwater, where a lot of the image is naturally in midtone grey. I think it looks good, but do feel that a little tweaking of the contrast curve might tease out some contrast within that midrange and give it some more sense of depth, increase the impression of sharpness. Your images from above the water already have more contrast, so it could also bring the underwater stuff a little closer in tonal range (though it makes sense that they would feel like separate visual worlds). Something to play with, if you like.
 
Les Hillis said:
Beautiful video Rodrigo, thanks for sharing.

I like the grade as it is, but went off in another direction with it anyway, just to see...

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img921/8058/zIbl7i.jpg
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/4506/dMknvV.jpg
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/3189/oRnWOc.jpg

Can't really see it properly in these compressed-for-web pictures, but there's a nice grain-like noise you can get with that sensor, in addition to the crazy smooth and clean look.
Click to expand...


Yeah maybe when it comes to BW I just love the clean ultra resolution that's why I went that route. When there is good visibility it actually can look awesome:

https://vimeo.com/359985273
 
I remember that shark video, that was nuts. Don't remember seeing the colour version though, that looks cool too - https://vimeo.com/359904786

I think with 'nature' video's, like all genre's, you'd have to have a good reason to risk alienating your audience with a look that doesn't fit their expectations. The clean, high detail look makes sense.

Trying to think now though, based on that grade I did, how to fit a humpback-whale sequence into a gritty b&w film-noir detective movie...:biggrin5:
 
Must have been a fantastic experience. I only seen humpbacks from the dive boat, never got to swim with them. And even that was something I will never forget.

B&W camera is such a cool option. I think this looks great. Personally I really wanted to shoot something with the monochrome. But I always chicken out and shot in color and then grade black and white as yes, then its far more easy to separate the image and alter contrast etc from using the color channels. Shoot monochrome is way more balls to the wall no doubt. Next time someone comes with a BW project I hope I have the guts needed.
 
Björn Benckert said:
Must have been a fantastic experience. I only seen humpbacks from the dive boat, never got to swim with them. And even that was something I will never forget.

B&W camera is such a cool option. I think this looks great. Personally I really wanted to shoot something with the monochrome. But I always chicken out and shot in color and then grade black and white as yes, then its far more easy to separate the image and alter contrast etc from using the color channels. Shoot monochrome is way more balls to the wall no doubt. Next time someone comes with a BW project I hope I have the guts needed.
Click to expand...

All I can say its totally worth it and beautiful. I just love it!
 
I had a go applying a Silver Efex filter to one of the frames. I chose Tri-X, a very small amount of grain (I turned the Hard setting up to maximum), and I also turned Structure all the way up to 100. I didn't change contrast or curves. I exported it to maximum quality JPEG at full size (7168 × 3024):



If anyone is curious, I will download one of the video files, extract a bunch of frames, process them in a batch, then recombine them. Well, eventually.

You'll note that I left some shadow detail (compare this frame to Rodrigo's final grade in the video, at 1:17. I don't guarantee that this will look better in motion, but I am so far satisfied with the Tri-X filter. Better than nothing IMHO.

Your best bet would be a film-out to 65mm 5222. If I were a crypto millionaire... ;-)
 
Rodrigo - Enjoyed this on the Book of Face, but just wanted to say here, lovely work.
 
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