UWOL #8 Hidden Wonders - Marj Atkins

[Rob Evans]

Wonderful story - I've heard about coaxing lambs to feed, but never butterflies!!!! ;-)

[Steven Gotz]

Wow! Makes my little butterly video look like a grade school project. Very well done. I am afraid I don't have friends who have great lenses. And coaxing a butterly would never have ocurred to me. Nice job. A top contender.

[Marj Atkins]

Originally Posted by Rob Evans

Wonderful story - I've heard about coaxing lambs to feed, but never butterflies!!!! ;-)

You learn a lot of tricks along the way when you know people who run a butterfly garden and another who is a lepidopterist!
Another trick I learned is you can remove a pupa (carefully) and glue it onto another surface as they do at butterfly gardens. I used this to swop out the new and mature pupas on the wall to illustrate the development of the pupa.

[Adrinn Chellton]

Amazing work, I felt like I was watching the discovery channel while viewing, you have an excellent grasp on the whole production process, I'm more of an editor myself so these are tough for me.


Keep it up!

[Mike Beckett]

Marj,

When are you going to own up to ripping this off some Life on Earth/David Attenborough programme? Only kidding!

Seeing those little critters up close was truly fascinating, and I don't normally like bugs.

Your story has a really good flow, from laying eggs to the final metamorphosis. The amount of commentary and the detail given is just right in my opinion.

If only learning was always this fun. I just loved this!

[Meryem Ersoz]

out of the lurker's shadows and into the big leagues. I'm still stunned at how this shy, demure Saffy has taken our little contest by storm. And to think a free t-shirt was the big motivator....

I love shooting macro, because the process itself is inherently transformational -- it changes your perception of the familiar and the mundane forever. And I know how challenging it is, to frame shots and work with the shallow DOF of a macro lens. This is stunning. Great colors, great perspectives on the subject matter and fantastic composition, plus you nailed the theme.

I think I'd suggest backing off the VO slightly -- overall, I like the informational/nat history lesson, but I'd give the images a bit more room to run. Just scale it back a tad. It is a little bit challenging to concentrate on both simultaneously, since these are complex shots matched with a fairly technical narration.

I agree with Mat that the opening shot is a little incongruent with how it sets up my expectations measured against the actual content of the film...

[Catherine Russell]

Wow Marj:

From Macro shooting in the greatest sense to micro, all with the same splendor, depth, technical skill and presence.

You and Ruth inspire me.

Cat

[Marj Atkins]

Originally Posted by Meryem Ersoz

out of the lurker's shadows ..And to think a free t-shirt was the big motivator....
..

Yeh had to have it and still love it!

Thanks Meryem - appreciate your comments and especially the constructive help.
I must say I feel that it is more than the just the first clip that is a problem. I messed with a few of those clips at the last minute.
After I had found the first batch of eggs that hatched I found twelve more batches - some newly laid - when looking for leaves for the hatchlings to eat.
This indicated to me that the females were still laying eggs - just that I was never around to see it. I had really wanted to include this but it was only after I had completed my video that I spotted two females looking for a place to lay their eggs.
There was a brisk breeze blowing and these butterflies were being tossed to and fro on the branches, even though I tried to make a wind break, so the footage was not good.
I had a quandary - to include a bit of it for the sake of the story or leave it out to keep the flow of the video. The story won.
Lesson learned? Don’t fix something if it ain’t broke!


Thanks Cat, Mike and Andrinn for your comments too.

[Steve Siegel]

Congratulations from the Shark Tank. I set out to do a similar project, but couldn't get all the life stages together in the allotted 3 weeks, so I just let it go. Good thing, too, because you would have beaten the pants off me.
Your macro work is stupendous. I hope you don't mind if I steal a few of your ideas.

[Marj Atkins]

What are you doing in there Steve?! I was looking forward to seeing what you were going to do this time after your fantastic video of last time.

It’s not possible to get all the stages of a butterfly within 3 weeks unless you have a butterfly that is multi-generational and there are several stages going simultaneously like the Acraea Horta. Many butterflies only have one generation per year. Most pupas and caterpillars are near impossible to find outdoors because they are so well camouflaged unlike these ones that are safe from birds due to the cyanide in their systems.

Not sure what you have in mind but generally the butterfly gardens keep those butterflies that are multi-gen. and if you ask the staff, they are sure to help you find what you are looking for.

[Markus Nord]

WOW Marj… this is the winner… really nice… if it’s any thing to comment, it would be the establishing shots. I thing a wider shot of the garden with grass and more sky would fit better.
In some shots it’s a little bit of camera shake, but that’s not a problem.
Well done… I thing this one is yours.

[Mick Jenner]

Marj

Due to circumstances beyond my control (and annoyance)I am unable to enter this competion as I am not in a position to edit effectivly between February and November, but that does not mean I am not interested and eagerly await viewing each of the bi monthly challenge entries.

Yours, this month the most complete entry I have seen to date in this competion. Forget the comments about titles etc (its nice to see a break from tradition) what you have produced is first class and IMHO a winner!

Mick

[Marj Atkins]

Thanks Markus and Mick for your comments - very encouraging and helpful.

Originally Posted by Markus Nord

WOW .
In some shots it’s a little bit of camera shake, but that’s not a problem.

In this case Markus, it was not camera shake but the wind blowing the branches of the tree on which my subjects were active. This fact is not obvious when viewing the final result so close, but it is definitely something to watch out for when doing macro work. This is the reason I filmed as much indoors as I could.

[John Dennis Robertson]

Oh yes this one is a winner for sure.Not much more I can say that has not been mentioned by everyone else here.Congrats Marj.A most deserving winner this round

[Marj Atkins]

Thanks John - appreciate the encouraging comments - especially from another Saffy.