Syra Wolf Screenshots / Update (Patreon)

Thank you for bearing with me these past few months. It's been a challenging time in a lot of ways. However, I learned a lot of lessons from this past shoot, and I want to share how it's made me re-evaluate my approach. 

Depending on how long you've been following me for, you've probably heard me say something similar after every shoot...that I got a little bit too ambitious, and that I tried to do too much within the allotted time, etc. However, this was the first time since shooting with Cali Logan that I simply ran out of time during filming and had to nix a clip entirely (Syra has since kindly offered to do a modified shoot to finish the clip, and I might take her up on the offer).

But part of the reason why I try to use the time as efficiently as possible is for financial reasons of course, so that I can make back more than what the shoot ultimately cost, especially with piracy as the norm these days. However, I think I finally hit a breaking point with this shoot that forced me to re-evaluate some things. 

Although it's taken me years to finally admit this, I really should be using these shoots to nail down one really cool video, or two shorter videos (with a VR clip or two if there is time at the end). There are so many times during these shoots where I am not experimenting with camera movements or finding the best shot, but simply trying to get the video finished, and I think the videos ultimately suffer because of this. I know that I would always prefer having quality over quantity, so I think moving forward I am going to finally force myself to do less with these shoots, even if it means taking a financial hit. This way I can actually plan out and fully visualize the videos beforehand, making shot lists rather than just improvising.

With that being said, I think I got some decent videos coming up! Also, this was the first shoot I was able to use my new camera, my new GoPro and even try out the Laowa probe lens! The results were mixed. I am really happy with my new camera, although the battery life is terrible and it can be a bit heavy, I think the image quality is really good. The Laowa lens on the other hand...well, I think the idea that it will ever replace the GoPro as the POV lens is wishful thinking at the moment. It certainly has some cool uses, but if you're not focusing it on something super close, it doesn't do a great job of transmitting scale in the distance. Additionally, the newest GoPro that promises 4k 120fps was also rather disappointing. Even with a fair amount of additional lighting, anything in the nighttime seems doomed. Going to have to experiment more with the settings to get the best image possible, and then just hope for the best.

Anyways, here are some raw, unedited screens!

Attaching some Laowa examples so you can see when it works okay/when it doesn't

In my opinion, it's not super useful for most POV situations...however, where I think it can emphasize things are in close-ups to transmit scale, like below (context added first lol).

Here, for inside of the sock POV I think it will really help the moment hit for how small the viewer is supposed to feel (at least I hope lol).

Thank you for the support as always!