Colorado River Sunrise

[IShouldBeWorking]

Hi all, I took the family down to Moab for fall break last week. A lot of the area there is BLM land and is good to fly on so I'm working through footage from 8 flights. The first little video I just finished up was of a sunrise along the red rock cliffs next to the Colorado River. The light was a bit low in some of the shots, but others I really loved how they turned out. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

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Shot on Mavic 2 Pro
4k Dlog10
1/60 Shutter
No filter, light was so low.
Couple of hyperlapse shots. Those are my favorite, actually.

 

[PAW]

Nice! Music works well with the subject

 

[Thomas B]

Beautiful vistas under a cloudless sky! Cool look at a life giving element of the southwest.

 

[IShouldBeWorking]

Thanks guys! Rewatching it this morning, I was a little disappointed. But there are a couple shots I love in it. And I’m excited to edit and post some of the other stuff I got from my trip. Hopefully, I get some time tonight.

 

[macfawlty]

Challenging lighting. Deep shadows, bright mids and sky. There's some very odd color grading at :52. What's the yellow?

You could probably recover more of the highlights and lift some of the shadows in Resolve.

Good use for the hyperlapse.

 

[IShouldBeWorking]

Yeah. I know exactly which shots you mean. I tried using a different LUT on those. Trying to bring down the over-exposed cliff tops. I think that’s where the yellow cast came from. I need to spend some more time with color grading tutorials to really get confident in saving footage like that.

I wasn’t prepared for such harsh lighting at golden hour in the desert. Usually I get more diffused light that’s easier to work with. ?

 

[macfawlty]

Yeah. I know exactly which shots you mean. I tried using a different LUT on those. Trying to bring down the over-exposed cliff tops. I think that’s where the yellow cast came from. I need to spend some more time with color grading tutorials to really get confident in saving footage like that.

I wasn’t prepared for such harsh lighting at golden hour in the desert. Usually I get more diffused light that’s easier to work with. ?

I almost never use LUTs. Certainly not for drone footage. You end up compounding effects to fix what the LUT messed up and end up with strange colors and artifacting. Better to start from scratch. There's not much to color grading drone footage from H.265. Most of the time, some contrast and a little saturation, perhaps bringing down the highlights. You're better off leaning toward an overexposed look on your tablet 'cause these cameras get real noisy when you attempt to lift the shadows, which looks even worse on a moving shot... noisy pixels dancing all over the place.

With those scenes and contrasty light, you need to be conscious of how you're framing your shots. Set your exposure and frame the shot for the proper exposure. If I've got a scene where the sky is really bright, I'll frame for 2/3-3/4 ground plane and less sky. Sometimes you just have to expect the shadows to be a silhouette, 'cause there's just not enough dynamic range with these cameras to get everything.

I think Resolve has the best controls for grading.

 

[IShouldBeWorking]

I almost never use LUTs. Certainly not for drone footage. You end up compounding effects to fix what the LUT messed up and end up with strange colors and artifacting. Better to start from scratch. There's not much to color grading drone footage from H.265. Most of the time, some contrast and a little saturation, perhaps bringing down the highlights. You're better off leaning toward an overexposed look on your tablet 'cause these cameras get real noisy when you attempt to lift the shadows, which looks even worse on a moving shot... noisy pixels dancing all over the place.

With those scenes and contrasty light, you need to be conscious of how you're framing your shots. Set your exposure and frame the shot for the proper exposure. If I've got a scene where the sky is really bright, I'll frame for 2/3-3/4 ground plane and less sky. Sometimes you just have to expect the shadows to be a silhouette, 'cause there's just not enough dynamic range with these cameras to get everything.

I think Resolve has the best controls for grading.

Thank you! I appreciate the tips! Any tutorials you’d recommend for a beginner color grading lesson? I can spend the cold dark winter practicing while I wait for better flying weather. ?

 

[macfawlty]

Thank you! I appreciate the tips! Any tutorials you’d recommend for a beginner color grading lesson? I can spend the cold dark winter practicing while I wait for better flying weather. ?

Im sure you can find some YouTubes for your video editor. I'm not gonna say there's no place for a LUT, but it's not gonna help with complicated color corrections.

I do a lot of color grading of log footage and other flat profiles from professional videocameras, DSLRs and Mirrorless. The most important thing is to get your composition and exposure right when you're filming, cause it can be very time consuming trying to make it look decent.

You have wonderful scenery there in Utah. I visited Arches and Canyonlands many years ago (in the film camera days). We kept stopping the car every 100 yards to take pics, which got ridiculous. I'd worry less about editing and color grading and more on flying and filming. You can always re-edit and re-grade. Be conscious of contrasty scenes and frame your scene appropriately. Why didn't you fly higher, above the shadows and go for a different view? You keep flying and filming those locales and you'll figure it out.

 

[Dale D]

Hi all, I took the family down to Moab for fall break last week. A lot of the area there is BLM land and is good to fly on so I'm working through footage from 8 flights. The first little video I just finished up was of a sunrise along the red rock cliffs next to the Colorado River. The light was a bit low in some of the shots, but others I really loved how they turned out. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

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Shot on Mavic 2 Pro
4k Dlog10
1/60 Shutter
No filter, light was so low.
Couple of hyperlapse shots. Those are my favorite, actually.

Beautiful footage. Makes me want to run out there and find that place to fly!

 

[IShouldBeWorking]

Im sure you can find some YouTubes for your video editor. I'm not gonna say there's no place for a LUT, but it's not gonna help with complicated color corrections.

I do a lot of color grading of log footage and other flat profiles from professional videocameras, DSLRs and Mirrorless. The most important thing is to get your composition and exposure right when you're filming, cause it can be very time consuming trying to make it look decent.

You have wonderful scenery there in Utah. I visited Arches and Canyonlands many years ago (in the film camera days). We kept stopping the car every 100 yards to take pics, which got ridiculous. I'd worry less about editing and color grading and more on flying and filming. You can always re-edit and re-grade. Be conscious of contrasty scenes and frame your scene appropriately. Why didn't you fly higher, above the shadows and go for a different view? You keep flying and filming those locales and you'll figure it out.

More great tips. I appreciate it. I kind of get the concept you’re describing. It’s similar to working with the highlights and shadows in my stills using Lightroom. But for whatever reason I find that Color tab in DaVinci so much more intimidating. ? I’ll keep practicing.

Oh! And I would have flown up higher for some brighter shots but that was actually max altitude. I took off from the river bottom and those cliffs must be over 600 feet high. Pretty insane scenery! I hope to get back there again next year. I’ll practice up so I’m ready for better views.

 

[IShouldBeWorking]

Beautiful footage. Makes me want to run out there and find that place to fly!

Thanks Dale! Glad you liked it. If you get out to Moab, this is just west of town about 4 miles along the Colorado. So many great spots to check out. I was there for 4 days and I still wanted more time!

 

[Bobvt]

Thanks guys! Rewatching it this morning, I was a little disappointed. But there are a couple shots I love in it. And I’m excited to edit and post some of the other stuff I got from my trip. Hopefully, I get some time tonight.

Good to see water in the Colorado River.

 

[IShouldBeWorking]

Good to see water in the Colorado River.

Yes, it is! It’s been a pretty good water year in Utah although better in the north than the south. Hopefully, it sends some decent flow to folks downstream who haven’t been as lucky.

 

[Thomas B]

Yes, it is! It’s been a pretty good water year in Utah although better in the north than the south. Hopefully, it sends some decent flow to folks downstream who haven’t been as lucky.

Bet it’s still dry where it hit the gulf though

 

[Smokieflies]

Thanks for sharing. Did the best you could I think under the weather conditions you had. Really enjoyed it. Maybe go back sometime on a more overcast day and edit the two videos together?

 

[IShouldBeWorking]

Thanks for sharing. Did the best you could I think under the weather conditions you had. Really enjoyed it. Maybe go back sometime on a more overcast day and edit the two videos together?

Yeah. I’m totally going back there often. I did some shooting in Goblin Valley last year under partly cloudy conditions. The light was so much nicer. So hopefully, next trip I’ll get some of that.

 

[MTNHIGH]

Hi all, I took the family down to Moab for fall break last week. A lot of the area there is BLM land and is good to fly on so I'm working through footage from 8 flights. The first little video I just finished up was of a sunrise along the red rock cliffs next to the Colorado River. The light was a bit low in some of the shots, but others I really loved how they turned out. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

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Shot on Mavic 2 Pro
4k Dlog10
1/60 Shutter
No filter, light was so low.
Couple of hyperlapse shots. Those are my favorite, actually.

Fantastic video. Looking forward to flying south of the Dewey Bridge in the spring. I live in Grand junction Fly on the mesa. Intend to fly a lot in Utah in the spring Looking for some one to fly with And learn the editing also

 

[Dale D]

Hi all, I took the family down to Moab for fall break last week. A lot of the area there is BLM land and is good to fly on so I'm working through footage from 8 flights. The first little video I just finished up was of a sunrise along the red rock cliffs next to the Colorado River. The light was a bit low in some of the shots, but others I really loved how they turned out. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Shot on Mavic 2 Pro
4k Dlog10
1/60 Shutter
No filter, light was so low.
Couple of hyperlapse shots. Those are my favorite, actually.

I have already commented but I re-watched it again this morning. Just thinking about the really great opportunity to do TIMELAPSE sequence of the shadows of the sunrise as the light increases on the rocky cliffs.

You faced a lot fo challenges with the dynamic range of shadows and lights in those canyon views.