Cinematic Framing and Composition - 6 Techniques that will Improve your Wildlife Filming

[@ukwildlife]

Very useful stuff, bits I knew, bits I kind of knew and stuff I didnt :)

[@GeorgeSBlonsky]

Glad it was helpful! All the best to you. g

[@love4wildlife]

Very insightful as usual, George. I particularly like the discussion of leading lines. Nature can be tough to work with sometimes so having these techniques in you back pocket goes a long way.

[@GeorgeSBlonsky]

Thanks so much Henrik.. really appreciate you stopping by.!

[@Jackinthenature]

Many thanks for sharing this, it is very interesting and the images are stunning!

[@GeorgeSBlonsky]

Thank you Marco.. glad you found it interesting. All the best. g

[@jeffreyhofmeister3103]

As a new follower I have enjoyed watching your KZbin channel. My background is one of doing still photography for may years. I am just getting started with doing video filming. I was given a handycam recorder so that is my video working equipment. I want to see if I can create video's before I start investing a lot of dollars in that type of equipment.

[@GeorgeSBlonsky]

Hi Jeffrey and thank you for your comment..! I'm glad you are enjoying my videos.. hope you have lots of fun with the handycam... it's a good plan..!

[@GrampiansParadise]

Many thanks for the information on composition for wildlife film making. I've been photographing nature since I was 6 years old (I'm 54 now), but it is only the last 3 or so years that I've transitioned to filming with a big focus on the Australian wildlife the lives on our rewilded property. I've been amazed at how much more there is to learn. Even though I filming nearly ever day, there always seams to be so much more to learn. George, I've been watching your videos for a while now, and they have all been incredibly insightful and are inspiring me to refine my techniques. I'm very much looking forward to applying what I learning from you to raise the quality of story telling I'm able to achieve with my Wildlife Moments shorts.

[@GeorgeSBlonsky]

Thanks so much Aidan and your message makes all the effort I put in to making these videos worthwhile. May I also take the opportunity to thank you, your family and all like minded individuals around the world involved in re-wilding projects such as yours. You guys are inspirational to me and give me the hope that we will pass on something more than just a barren planet to our children. Very best wishes to you and yours. g

[@GrampiansParadise]

Thank you@@GeorgeSBlonsky for your reply. I really wasn't expecting to get one, and that what you said was so heart felt, it really moved me. Thank you for your recognition of what we (and others) have been doing with rewilding. I've been very fortunate to be in a position to undertake a largish and very successful wetlands creation project which has provided homes for maybe one million frogs, and many native Australian birds and animals. We get to live in the middle of this created ecosystem, and share the joys of our wildlife with our guest. Part of my inspiration to undertake the project was watching David Attenborough's Life on Earth series in the 1980's (the story is on our website). Part of my motivation to become really good at wildlife filming, sound recording and story telling, is to be able to share the story of our Grampians Paradise and Redman Bluff Wetlands, with the hope that it inspires other to undertake their own rewilding projects. We need as much rewilded land as is possible, to facilitate re-building up the planets bio-diversity so as to secure the future of our world.

[@stuartphotography1968]

Great advice for us up and coming film-makers, thank you for your time George always much appreciated 👍

[@GeorgeSBlonsky]

Thanks so much Stuart... glad you found it of some value. 🙏

[@Wildlifevideopicture]

Very good and informative video. Thank you for all information. Greetings

[@GeorgeSBlonsky]

You are most welcome Karl-David... thank you for taking the time to comment. all the best to you.. g

[@ivanhendricks1412]

Thanks once again George 👍🏼 Your examples of each technique are spot on. I guess these have now become second nature to you when filming. I wanted to get your thoughts on the Canon R3 for filming - currently my primary camera for photography, but now playing around with video.

[@GeorgeSBlonsky]

Hi Ivan and thank you again for your comments.. much appreciated..! Re the R3 for filming.. I haven't actually ever had the chance to use one so I don't know many details about it.. however, I do know it was primarily built for sports/action photographers (which probably includes wildlife as well).. I think I remember seeing a review by Gerald Undone who really liked it for video with great 4k abilities over-sampled from 6k without cropping and some great codecs as well... but that's the limit of my knowledge/memory... sorry I can't help you too much with that one but I'm sure it would be great. All the best to you.. g

[@ivanhendricks1412]

@@GeorgeSBlonsky Thank you

[@ivanhendricks1412]

@@GeorgeSBlonsky Just watched Gerald’s review of the R3 👍🏼

[@markwalker8374]

Ryan Mense did a long term review of using the R3 for wildlife filming kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHu5oWd_ncmAhtE

[@GeorgeSBlonsky]

Mark.. thank you for the link..! 🙏

[@seltzerr3115]

Another Awesome Video, How long have you been doing this George?

[@GeorgeSBlonsky]

Thanks again Connor. If I remember right I think I posted my first video in 2018 but I've only taken it more seriously for the last couple of years. Though posting regularly is difficult in this genre given the amount of time it takes to make each video and making ends meet in the real world has to take priority.

[@seltzerr3115]

@@GeorgeSBlonsky I completely understand! I am a full time college athlete trying to make it work as well! Your work shows your dedication to your craft!!

[@AmadoWildlifeVideos]

Some lovely shots there George, really liked the Bee Eater and the Grebes. At a tangent, what's your take on megapixels? 25 mp good enough or better to have 45 mp for cropping -- I seem to get a lot of small silhouettes that have to be discarded, not to mention Blurs in Flight. Or do more megapixels magnify mistakes?

[@GeorgeSBlonsky]

Hey Alan and thank you as always..!! I'm assuming you're talking about photography rather than video..? Megapixels are great ! Love 'em..! What I would say though is not to get hung up on them as too many people do.. I had a pic of mine used on a giant billboard at the Pyeongchang Games that I took with my 22.3megapixel Canon 5DIII and it looked amazing.! For what most people (pro's and am's alike) get their images used.. anything in the range you mention is more than fine. Not sure what you mean by small silhouettes but the blurred flight shots are more likely to be due to a not fast enough shutter speed.

[@AmadoWildlifeVideos]

@@GeorgeSBlonsky Yes, the shutter speed blurs I found were at 1/250 instead of 1/1250 -- user error, flailing eyesight. The small silhouettes being birds wings outstretched but simply too far away.

[@bobmacdonnell8548]

A bit of constructive advice for the video, it would be more effective to run the narration over actual filming examples. It's difficult to hold viewers attention for 20 minutes with only a few clips of actual filming. I clicked on the video because I'm preparing to film and photograph Osprey that will be returning to my area soon, only to find that the thumbnail image was not represented in the video. Thanks and good luck with the channel.

[@GeorgeSBlonsky]

Hi Bob and thank you for your comment. I can't re-edit the video now with more examples as I'd have to delete this one and upload an entirely new one but your point is noted. I can however change the thumbnail which I will do shortly so as not to mislead anyone else. Having said that, the compositional techniques I speak of are just as relevant for your forthcoming Osprey filming/photography even without having an actual Osprey example in the video so I hope you found there was some value in it for you. Good luck with the Ospreys and I wish you well. g