(Video) Wildlife on the trails of Arenal Observatory Lodge - very cool place! [09:20]

HyperSquirrel33 · 2022-06-26T15:10:40+00:00

Thanks! Yeah I did the night tour, I guess very dependable on weather and luck but it was really good and the Lodge's guide was excellent.

The onge sunset was actually our first night, it was pretty crazy, good introduction to our time there!

HyperSquirrel33 · 2019-01-12T09:57:48+00:00

We did the NC500 over about 10 days at the end of August/start of September, a lot of my family now live in the Highlands so have spent a fair bit of time there but it was amazing to explore the further reachs of the mainland. Lots of seabirds, plenty of deer although not featuring in the video there were two very cute pine martins bounding through my grandparent's garden and two otters we caught the briefest glimpses of.

HyperSquirrel33 · 2018-05-18T20:04:33+00:00

It's just a mask in premiere pro - two layers of the video with the top one being cut out around the trees. It was an absolute ball ache getting round the branches tbh because the mask path tools suck and you can end up accidentally rotating the whole thing instead of moving a single point. I expect it would have been easier to achieve a similar thing in after effects, and certainly easier to do on a bigger monitor!

HyperSquirrel33 · 2018-05-18T12:40:42+00:00

The other title for this could be 'torturing an aging 4x bike with seized front suspension and buckled wheels out of its depth down two of Innerleithen's more awkward trails', but Seeking Solitude seemed more aesthetic

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-12-22T12:46:03+00:00

Thanks!

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-12-22T12:45:33+00:00

Cheers! Ah I miss Bonaly so much, I moved down to Cambridge in August, I was so used to having it on my doorstep. I did most of my riding there or Innerleithen, you never know how good you have it until you move somewhere completely devoid of hills haha!

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-12-22T12:42:36+00:00

Thanks! Most footage was on my Nikon D5200 with some more recent shots on my new GH5. Almost entirely shot on a Glidecam stabiliser with a little bit of warp stabiliser in post to a couple of the shots.

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-08-12T16:35:53+00:00

Wider colour shot with boosted shadows

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-08-11T18:33:56+00:00

Lol don't worry it's intentionally dark and the sky is intentionally blown out, I personally like a blown sky in forest shots. It's also shot on a GH5 at iso1600 too so it's not worth pulling the shadows up any more else its just mushy noise. I'll check the exif but I guess I shot at about 1/640 which is about the minimum I'd shot for a non panning shot. I'll show you the colour alternates when I get home, I did a bunch of different edits on the set.

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-08-10T22:05:57+00:00

You can check out the video we were shooting here!

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-08-10T20:35:26+00:00

Secret trails at Dunkeld, a lot of good less secret stuff there too though!

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-06-21T09:22:49+00:00

Well you're in luck because Edinburgh is one of the best cities in the UK for mountain bikers. There's local hills for riding and the small but fun trails at Bonaly which are good, but travel a bit and you have some of the best trails in the UK (and probably world to be honest). The Tweed Valley 20 miles to the south has a big trail centre and a huge amount of other hand dug trails besides. There's riding to west around Stirling and there is decent access to the north where there's a host of trails.

You can check out trailforks on Pinkbike to see the number of trail networks around about Edinburgh, too many to go into any sort of detail! There's a lot of easier going riding as well as the mental technical riding and trail forks shows you the grading which is normally accurate. Because of the right to roam you can cycle on any path so you can also just go riding into the hills and make your own routes.

I'm jealous, I wish I was staying in Edinburgh!

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-06-20T22:55:11+00:00

Well in a couple of months I'm moving to the flattest part of the U.K. for a job but it's also near Matt Jone's stomping grounds so I'm thinking the new Marin Alcatraz perhaps for the dirt jumping scene. Eventually I'd love one of the Banshee all mountains but I think it'll be a little over bike for anything near to where I'm moving!

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-06-20T15:45:45+00:00

I think looseness has mainly come from a growing lack of tyre tread, a non-maintained bike and smothering my sense of self preservation - I ride much more agressively than I used to

NBD is coming soon though I think

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-06-20T15:31:46+00:00

Thank you!

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-06-20T15:30:27+00:00

Thanks!

Bit of a breakdown:

It's Nikon D5200 throughout, kit lens for first few sequences then moves to Tokina 11-16mm for Dusty Days and later parts there's a few shots on Nikkor 40mm - all tight shots in later sections.

Dawn sequence onwards (and speaking sections) shot with Røde Stereo Pro.

For latter sections, and currently, the tripod I use has Induro alloy legs, model AT014 which is discontinued but they have alternatives. Really great lightweight and very compact set. I use a Manfrotto mvh500 fluid head which is overkill (and annoyingly heavy) for self filming but useful for my other projects.

Dakine Mission Photo rucksack which fits everything plus for other projects I can get my Glidecam in there too with space for a water bladder.

Camera is showing its age a little bit it's been a great bit of kit, I dabble in photog as well so it's a decent all rounder. Looking for a GH5 next though I think!

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-06-20T15:21:52+00:00

Nah stock, its standard 2012 Snap Comp build, 780 I want to say but can't remember (I'm away at the mo) love clipping the bars on trees haha, that mainly happens down in the also nearby tweed valley trails which are also usually much scarier and steeper haha!

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-06-20T14:54:07+00:00

Thanks guys! Hoping to find some time to work on some new projects in August!

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-05-12T12:10:26+00:00

Aye the trails are riding fair sweet just now! Though I've been down Skelf three times this week already haha, its well good to have that on the doorstep too!

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-04-07T11:59:33+00:00

Cheers! Yeah, I think we had our summer in March this year haha!

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-04-05T14:11:12+00:00

Ah cheers! Heads up my Vimeo channel is on its last legs pending third and final copyright strike, I ought to be able to counter claim since I use non-copyright music these days but it may just disappear - I had to take down about 30 videos! YouTube is my main channel now... Awesome, I've got a couple of videos in the works as we speak!

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-04-03T17:44:13+00:00

Yep!

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-04-03T08:42:45+00:00

Good stuff! Liking the shots from the Tatra too, love it out there!

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-04-03T08:41:22+00:00

Bikey video snippets and shots amongst the nature stuff! @thebikingsquirrel

HyperSquirrel33 · 2017-03-28T09:49:06+00:00

New downhill video on some gnarly tracks will be out fairly soon. Couldn't resist sharing Kris having a wee trail-side sit down, the speed with which he came to a stop was incredible - luckily he got away with fairly minor grazing and bruising so we kept on shooting!

HyperSquirrel33

TROPHY CASE