Diving with Gian Manta Ray - looking for constructive criticism

In April 2018, I was very fortunate to participate in the Ray of Hope Expedition to the Revillagigedos Islands, off the coast of Mexico. The expedition was organized by Dr. Andrea Marshall – a National Geographic Explorer and the ‘Queen of Mantas'.

Here is a link to my 4-min video-report about this trip: https://youtu.be/dJKKAWb0Efs

This is my first video after moving from iMovie to Final Cut Pro.

Camera: Sony A7Rii, Housing Ikelite, lens 28mm with fisheye.

I did not use lights, and did not use any filters.

I will appreciate your constructive criticism.

Thank you.

Some very nice shots. Well done!

This is perfectly watchable as-is, but I assume you took the shots pretty much as they came out of the camera? The shots look very blue, so I'd try to adjust the white balance a bit in post. Some blown out highlights on the white belly of the mantas, but I know their skin is very reflective and this happens easily. Again, I'd try to play a bit with the exposure in the midtones and highlights in FCPX.

Of course it always depends how much time you want spend getting a clip out, but if your looking for constructive comments, these two points may be worth playing with.

NB: I love how that morey eal spit out that sea urchin :-)

Bring the saturation of the blues down a bit and it will give it a more natural look. Nice video!

Some very nice shots. Well done!

 

This is perfectly watchable as-is, but I assume you took the shots pretty much as they came out of the camera? The shots look very blue, so I'd try to adjust the white balance a bit in post. Some blown out highlights on the white belly of the mantas, but I know their skin is very reflective and this happens easily. Again, I'd try to play a bit with the exposure in the midtones and highlights in FCPX.

 

Of course it always depends how much time you want spend getting a clip out, but if your looking for constructive comments, these two points may be worth playing with.

 

NB: I love how that morey eal spit out that sea urchin :-)

Many thanks, bubffm. I appreciate your comments. I will try to play with the footage as per your recommendations.

Bring the saturation of the blues down a bit and it will give it a more natural look. Nice video!

Hey Kire70. I appreciate your comment and advise. I will try adjusting the saturation. By the way, could you recommend any tutorials for underwater video editing?

Nice video! Lovely manta segments.

I've never seen a moray with a puffer fish in its jaws. That was an interesting segment.I guess the puffer's defense system worked like it was supposed to. (LOL)

-AZTinman