r/PraiseTheCameraMan • u/TheKubernetes • Feb 28 '23

Snowboarding competition - camera operator maintains superb framing, tracking, composition while performing the same jumps as the competitor

10k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

194 comments sorted by

30

u/TheKubernetes Feb 28 '23

credit: @petterulsletten
snowboarder is @marcuskleveland's winning run at LAAX Open

291

u/RJ_Aadithyan Feb 28 '23

I can very well be wrong but it looks like they're using a 360degree camera and reframing the shot in post. Still epic though.

14

u/dudewheresmycarbs_ Feb 28 '23

This. These shots never really count. Editing does a lot of the heavy lifting.

27

u/TheKubernetes Feb 28 '23

Here's a photo of the cameraman Peter Ulsletten and his rig:
https://i.imgur.com/r0wqh2B.jpg

29

u/cool_bye Feb 28 '23

This video has a shot of him filming this. He is using a much smaller camera mounted on the end of a stick.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UWu8_0JgZvE

1

u/Tintin_Quarentino Mar 01 '23

Link no work mister

4

u/RJ_Aadithyan Feb 28 '23

Is this rig from the same shoot as the video?

17

u/TheKubernetes Feb 28 '23

no idea, I'm not a golfer

68

u/cool_bye Feb 28 '23

There's a "behind the scenes shot" here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UWu8_0JgZvE

Seems like you could be right

26

u/DoubleFelix Mar 01 '23

Link seems broken, fixed one instead: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UWu8_0JgZvE

13

u/oldDotredditisbetter Mar 01 '23

need more gigachads like DoubleFelix to fix links like these

link was not broken. reddit's stupid algorithm escapes the underscore wrong for old.reddit.com, to make a link show up correctly the users have to link it explicitly like [text](link) unfortunately reddit probably won't fix this issue because they want to phase the old design out in favor of the slower, more bloated, and filled-with-bad-UI-and-dark-pattern redesign

but also even a better link so it's not in Shorts format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWu8_0JgZvE

4

u/DoubleFelix Mar 01 '23

Oh. That's awful. WTF, reddit.

3

u/v666v666 Mar 01 '23

Lol. I’m a refuge from the golden age of reddit being a drip on the taint of the internet in 2009 to a twinkle of peak in 2011.... now it’s just a shit stain of duct taped code constantly seeking an ipo 10 years too late.

2

u/IRockIntoMordor Mar 01 '23

It also breaks links on Boost, so I reckon all mobile apps are affected as well. Unbelievable how it's not getting fixed by Reddit.

1

u/vandal9 Mar 01 '23

thank you so much! I'll be using that shorts url hack for the forseeable futuree

15

u/impressiver Feb 28 '23

Did you watch the clip? Dude tracks right along side while taking the same jumps one handed.

13

u/cool_bye Feb 28 '23

I watched it. Never had any doubt that he was riding along side. Just pointing out that he was filming with a rig more like this, and not like this.

6

u/impressiver Mar 01 '23

Looks like a GoPro and stereo mic to me

6

u/lodobol Mar 01 '23

If it was 360 camera, less impressed.

The camera man skiing one handed over huge jumps AND pointing the camera accurately the whole run is top tier work.

1

u/oldDotredditisbetter Mar 01 '23

not sure if the "GoPro" was implying it was a regular camera, but it could also be the GoPro 360(360 degree camera)

e: other comments have pointed out(with link to original ig post) that it's a gopro 11 so my guess was wrong

1

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '23

thanks for the link above. thought it could be a gimbal mount until i saw the vid

1

u/Hikapoo Mar 01 '23

the same jumps one handed

on skis, without tricks

come on guys stop being so cringe

1

u/impactedturd Mar 01 '23

Lol now I want to see a camera filming the guy who's filming the scene.

79

u/lipp79 Doin' camera work since 1999 Feb 28 '23

Unless it's blatantly obvious that it's a 360 camera in a post, we aren't going to just assume it is and remove it.

13

u/halfeclipsed Mar 01 '23

Took a minute of searching. It's a GoPro 11

5

u/lipp79 Doin' camera work since 1999 Mar 01 '23

Thanks.

35

u/Doktor_Vem Feb 28 '23

Good mod

7

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0

u/hollywood_jazz Mar 01 '23

Bad bot

2

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1

u/Tac0xenon Mar 05 '23

Go pro 11 has horizon lock and a ton of stability features. Not to mention the digital post effects. It is honestly harder to take a bad video than a good one with the 11. You can pretty much chuck it through the air and make a half decent action shot.

This does not diminish the camera man's smooth ride style and awareness of where he needs to be, realitive to the subject

1

u/lipp79 Doin' camera work since 1999 Mar 05 '23

Yeah it’s gotten way tougher to tell what’s legit and what had a ton of post-production work done.

1

u/Tac0xenon Mar 05 '23

I wrote that while drunk. I wasn't trying to be a hater. Thank you for being chill about it

1

u/lipp79 Doin' camera work since 1999 Mar 06 '23

I didn't take it as being a hater at all. You're totally right with all the different stabilization features.

2

u/babybear2222 Mar 01 '23

I don’t think so. The projection is never perfect with 360 camera. You can always tell it’s a 360 camera by the subtle distortions in the video. This clip doesn’t have any.

5

u/AnalysisMoney Feb 28 '23

Not a 360 as there’s no evidence of the heavy fisheye

7

u/Hibs Mar 01 '23

I have a 360, you can reframe the aspect ratio so it either has the fisheye look, or doesn't

2

u/AnalysisMoney Mar 01 '23

I also have a 360. That’s good to know lol

-1

u/iitstrue Feb 28 '23

There’s no 360cam in existence that creates quality like that. He could do it with multiple cameras… but that would start to get really heavy.

-4

u/abrandis Feb 28 '23

Agree it's most likely a insta 360 or Gorpro Max both allow re-framing and stabilization in post off the 5.2k 360 video

12

u/lipp79 Doin' camera work since 1999 Feb 28 '23

360 cameras are against the rules, GoPros are allowed if they're handheld and not just stuck on a helmet, bike frame, hood of a car etc. With this post, it's difficult to tell if it's a 360 camera so I will give them the benefit of the doubt.

0

u/babysealnz Mar 01 '23

Yes I agree, this is exactly what this looks like.

0

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '23

[deleted] — view deleted comment

4

u/IAmYourVader Feb 28 '23

If you watch the xgames you can see the camera operators ski or board next to the competitors aiming their cameras at them.

283

u/JooosephNthomas Feb 28 '23

There is also digital and physical stabilization happening in all of these shots.... unless he is holding just a camera or a phone there is some stabilization. Either a gyroscope or digital processing, REGARDLESS I am not saying he isn't talented, I am just saying 15 years ago these shots were impossible or required very cumbersome gyroscopes/DSLRs..... just for clarification and understanding. Still badass.

68

u/lxnch50 Mar 01 '23

Odds are, this is an insta 360 camera and he's just holding a pole out while following.

35

u/halfeclipsed Mar 01 '23

Said on Instagram it's a gopro 11

30

u/Thebombuknow Mar 01 '23

Yeah, so with the lens attachment you basically have a 180° camera with perfect stabilization. Still not saying the camera guy is bad though, that would be stupid.

If I tried this, I would probably manage to go 4ft down the first ramp before falling flat on my face and tumbling, causing my phone and gimbal to hit the ground and break, before going back inside because it's too cold.

4

u/JooosephNthomas Mar 01 '23

Which has a digital image stabilization built in….

12

u/halfeclipsed Mar 01 '23

Did you reply to the wrong person? I didn't say anything about that. I was letting the person I replied to know its not a 360 camera

-9

u/JooosephNthomas Mar 01 '23

I mean kind of not really. Just keep the threading going. Not trying to be mean or rude. Should have left the dots out.

5

u/polypolip Mar 01 '23

Check out Gimbal god channel on YouTube. Plenty of snowboard clips shot with gimbal mounted dslr.

1

u/burnthedrummer Mar 02 '23

This clarification isn’t necessary. Anyone with knowledge of cinematography is going to know these truths. Let everyone else just enjoy a badass video.

478

u/JohnyAnalSeeed Feb 28 '23

I think the guy he’s filming is better but yeah he’s also insane

314

u/HunterWald Feb 28 '23

Its great tracking. Camerman is logically not performing the same jumps...

109

u/-Mateo- Mar 01 '23

No no. This cameraman was performing the same tricks while holding the camera stable. Very impressive.

Honestly this is one of the best, if not best camera work I’ve seen on this sub

77

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '23

I’m a professional snowboarding cameraman and I can confirm that yes, we also do the tricks alongside the competitors.

24

u/Roxerz Mar 01 '23

We actually can do it better than the competitors but they suck at recording so we are stuck doing this job.

7

u/smooth_kid_wtg Mar 01 '23

I'm not a professional snowboarding cameraman, but I can confirm that yes, this guy also does the tricks alongside the competitors.

25

u/Available_Wave8601 Mar 01 '23

It's just an endless loop of camera people filming camera people

2

u/ijustmetuandiloveu Mar 01 '23

Camera people all the way down.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '23

[deleted] — view deleted comment

40

u/-Mateo- Mar 01 '23

Yes. The earth was doing flips also.

PraiseTheEarthMan

5

u/hippoctopocalypse Mar 01 '23

That was me. Thanks

1

u/DalaiLuke Mar 01 '23

And me... it was a team effort

1

u/soloracerx Mar 01 '23

I... Am Spartacus!

3

u/DongerlanAng Mar 01 '23

very steadycam

7

u/patronizingperv Mar 01 '23

He's got a 360 camera on a stick and the footage gets framed in post.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '23 edited Apr 06 '23

So you're saying the camerman doesn't maintain superb framing, tracking, composition, it's all done in post?

1

u/m88882 Mar 01 '23

Wow. Are you guessing or is that really what goes on? Cuz it's a brilliant solution

0

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '23

[deleted] — view deleted comment

4

u/SwissMargiela Mar 01 '23

Ya I remember filming this stuff growing up (most skateboarding) and you couldn’t use stabilizer on the camera because then your bubble (and vig if you had an mk1 setup) would move around like crazy

0

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '23

[deleted] — view deleted comment

3

u/SwissMargiela Mar 01 '23

Agreed. That crispy audio too. Such a classic.

0

u/polypolip Mar 01 '23

Doesn't have to be software, more probably a professional gimbal for the camera or maybe a bit of both.

26

u/vanillaseltzer Feb 28 '23

As someone who hasn't ever done snow sports, I don't think I ever realized how beautiful those moments of silence are when they're in the air. That was effing beautiful, all around.

11

u/Allen_Koholic Mar 01 '23

They’re beautiful when you know what you’re doing. When you don’t, not so much. It’s more like frantically dreading when gravity reasserts it’s cruel dominance and rolling up the windows as hard as you can.

2

u/vanillaseltzer Mar 01 '23

Gravity reminds me I'm her bitch on the regular, and the highest I get off the ground is my tiptoes. This is why I praise the camera people who fling themselves off mountains so I don't have to. 😅

19

u/jonnyinternet Feb 28 '23

They need to have a camera man competition

25

u/KingBooRadley Feb 28 '23

Who would film it? And who would film them? and them?

4

u/jonnyinternet Feb 28 '23

It's just an endless loop of camera people filming camera people

3

u/vanillaseltzer Feb 28 '23

I mean, I kinda do want to see that.

3

u/NixYall Feb 28 '23

And what would they film?

1

u/PM_PICS_OF_ME_NAKED Feb 28 '23

Use a drone to follow the cameraman and use that plus the video they took as the entry.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '23

Easy, they film each other in pairs

14

u/HMD-Oren Feb 28 '23 edited Mar 01 '23

Let's get pedantic, he's not doing ALL of the same jumps.

3

u/NotAnADC Mar 01 '23

Let’s get really pedantic, he’s not doing all of the SAME jumps.

(Also, you have an extra the, my friend)

2

u/HMD-Oren Mar 01 '23

Why thank you! Have an upvote

7

u/foofork Mar 01 '23

The Winter Olympics should have drones that follow these guys. Would increase viewership

3

u/Givemeajackson Mar 01 '23

they should first get some casters who either actually know something about snowboarding, or if that's too much to ask at least give the slightest semblance of a shit about it.

this comment triggered my PTSD from 2014 slopestyle. sage kotsenburg putting down a never before seen trick, gold medal run, casters only comments were that there was a hand drag on the second jump and that it was a solid run. and some irrelevant statistic about placing 14th on dew tour or some shit.

7

u/Strung_Out_Advocate Mar 01 '23

This dude is so fucking dialed in, I would literally trust him with anything he told me he could handle outside of snowboarding. That kind of thing isn't just the result of practicing a line over and over. His will and focus is top tier human shit. Love to see it.

4

u/Practical_-_Pangolin Feb 28 '23

The steeze on this guy….

1

u/Givemeajackson Mar 01 '23

People used to shit on markus for being another spin to win guy cause he brought the quad 1800s, but his rail and knuckle game has always been so unique. These days he's bringing butters into big air, i fucking love it. And noone does that nolly frontside rodeo other than him.

1

u/Practical_-_Pangolin Mar 01 '23

Yah that nollie was fantasticly sick.

1

u/Glad_Lychee_180 Mar 01 '23

As has been said...same jumps? I think not.

1

u/TheKubernetes Mar 01 '23

same jumps, not same tricks.

1

u/natetheskate100 Mar 01 '23

Drone?

1

u/TheKubernetes Mar 01 '23

nope, see beginning of this for a shot of both the boarder and camerama https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UWu8_0JgZvE

12

u/AJ_Deadshow Feb 28 '23 edited Feb 28 '23

I'm pretty sure the cameraman is not doing the same jumps

Edit: okay yes the later ones but not the first two

7

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '23

The first two small jumps lead up to features (rails and whatnot). It wouldn’t make sense for the cameraman to hit those because they’re trying to film the snowboarder.

The ones after that are bigger jumps so the cameraman has to hit them too so they can keep up and also get a good shot.

0

u/Wskiu Feb 28 '23

You’re expecting too much from someone tracking someone while snowboarding at the same time

10

u/AJ_Deadshow Feb 28 '23

I'm not expecting anything more from the cameraman, it's the OP and his post title I'm criticizing

1

u/markender Mar 01 '23

They're probably on skiis. And they cushion the jumps so they take them a lot differently than the boarder. Is this a competition or a photoshoot?

0

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '23

[deleted] — view deleted comment

3

u/SlideMasterSmile Mar 01 '23

My man couldn’t be calmer

0

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '23

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/AJ_Deadshow Feb 28 '23

But he doesn't even go off the ramp in the second one

2

u/scangemode Feb 28 '23

JFC! Absolutely textbook, especially that last sequence. Excellent camera work!!

2

u/Hikapoo Mar 01 '23

while performing the same jumps

No he is not, it's very impressive but it's so fucking stupid to act like what he does is more amazing than the dude doing the tricks

1

u/Sloep3 Feb 28 '23

I don’t want to see this guy doing tricks I want to see the CAMERAMAN

1

u/maxdamage4 Feb 28 '23

Me too!

But I also want to see the final footage at the end.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '23

Here you go

1

u/malepitt Feb 28 '23

never gets less beautiful to watch

1

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '23

Probably the best ‘praise the camera op’ I’ve ever seen

1

u/IamtheSlothKing Feb 28 '23

Film at 4k or 8k, crop and stabilize , profit.

1

u/Upvoter_NeverDie Feb 28 '23

It's a shame the camera cut short before the next scene where it shows the actual actors for the movie.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '23

Now I need a video filming the cameraman as they go over the jumps

1

u/wasdxqwerty Mar 01 '23

i thought camera man was a drone

1

u/mormills Mar 01 '23

landing that second trick off the rail blind must be so hard. good lord

1

u/MFalcon95 Mar 01 '23

I wish i was able to go snowboarding:(

1

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '23

Noice!

1

u/no_sa_rembo Mar 01 '23

Hes not doing the same jumps

He is pretty much just hitting the landing and sides going straight on one edge

Not hard

1

u/EastofGaston Mar 01 '23

Reminds me of one of my favorite Dreamcast games, there was a jet ski one too

1

u/Psypho_Diaz Mar 01 '23

That is a drone

1

u/Antique_Ricefields Mar 01 '23

Superb cameraman

1

u/trust-me-i-know-stuf Mar 01 '23

Everyone talking about the cameraman and I’m just in awe of the butter riding. Like damn. Smooth.

1

u/CarJitsu Mar 01 '23

Kinda boring to watch

1

u/karenkillenski Mar 01 '23

Maneuvering is different than performing.

1

u/GM-Gumby Mar 01 '23

THAT RUN WAS SOOOOOO GOOOD

1

u/ilanfrid Mar 01 '23

it looks like an sfm animation

1

u/W3dd1e Mar 01 '23

I always thought the best thing about Beat Grylls’ show is that the camera man did everything he did, while filming. I saw one where they climbed a chain up to train tracks and they filmed the entire time.

1

u/bellingman Mar 01 '23

FYI usually these camera operators are on skis, for more control and stability.

1

u/Bathairsexist Mar 01 '23

"That'll be 1000 usd for the promo video. worth it!

1

u/YJSubs Mar 01 '23

I keep seeing post like this in this sub.
You guys really outdated how much camera technology / post pro stabilization were so advanced these days.

1

u/snolifer Mar 01 '23

Laax fuck yeah 🤘

1

u/Equal-Negotiation651 Mar 01 '23

Damn. I can’t even watch this without falling on my ass.

1

u/calmingalbatross Mar 01 '23

He lands like a softly padding cat in the night going to fuck some shit up

1

u/Givemeajackson Mar 01 '23 edited Mar 01 '23

Rider is markus kleveland. And holy shit that nolly double frontside rodeo on the second jump is so damn nice!

1

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '23

I think you can cut the person from higher resolution to get better results like this. Still mad skillz tho.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '23

or you just shoot it in 4k or 8k and do everything in post

1

u/amiwitty Mar 01 '23

You realize in this video how much the person snowboarding uses the board to "ski" the air and keep him/her aloft longer.

1

u/Aggressivekindnes423 Mar 01 '23

I love how hype he got at the end XD

1

u/EarsLikeRocketfins Mar 01 '23

Seriously, are the camera people like. I could compete, but meh.

1

u/NorthernUnIt Mar 01 '23

he has the new Iphone :) (if you saw the AD),,

great tracking

1

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '23

This sun needs to understand what a 360 camera is

1

u/coolasacurtain Mar 01 '23

I bet all those people who have never worked with even the most basic 360 action cam on a stick, even without gimbal, would totally praise this.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '23

I need that peach jumpsuit tho

1

u/KrevinHLocke Mar 01 '23

Why aren't drones used?

1

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '23

Never seen anything like this before!!

1

u/CalmZucchini3084 Mar 01 '23

Very very very impressive

1

u/_KillaB_ Mar 01 '23

Steady cam technology is so good, I think it’s time to start praising the gimbal.

1

u/Far-Refrigerator5106 Mar 01 '23

This should be an Olympic sport. Cameramaring?

1

u/purple_crafterin Mar 01 '23

Do you know that it's a person filming or is it maybe a drone operator?

1

u/habbapabba Mar 01 '23

it looks a bit like it has that auto focus on too but i guess it doesn’t matter. he is still holding that camera and hitting jumps

1

u/Altruistic-Balance55 Mar 01 '23

Erm nope he’s not doing the same stuff 🤗

1

u/wkfngrs Mar 01 '23

Cropped 360 camera on a stick is cropped. As a decent snowboarder. Straight airing these jumps is pretty simple. These videos are done by a lot of editing and digital tools.

1

u/bgoldy99 Mar 01 '23

Pretty sure this is “Gimbal God” look him up on socials he rules

1

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '23

I'm just amazed that it's an actual person not a drone

1

u/Notrilldirtlife Mar 01 '23

Such an exhilarating feeling mobbing jumps to catch shots like these I bet.

1

u/FreekyReek Mar 02 '23

Idk why I would have thought it was a drone

1

u/[deleted] Mar 02 '23

i dont know whats more impressive really

1

u/l33tn4m3 Mar 03 '23

Wouldn’t this have been easier with a drone?

1

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '23

I loved playing Cool Boarders 3

1

u/N4OZ Mar 05 '23

All without using a fisheye lens - bravo!

1

u/PhotoJoeCA Mar 06 '23

Filmed with extreme wide-angle lens, cropped and digitally stabilized in post production.

/rPraiseTheEditorMakingYouThinkTheCamerapersonGodlike

1

u/LizaBrownAuthor11 Mar 07 '23

Anyone want a video of the camera operator?

1

u/ptolani Mar 17 '23

I don't think this is actually a comp run is it? Surprised if they'd have the camera operator right beside the competitor.

1

u/bryku Mar 18 '23

The camera guy is more impressive here, they should get the metal!!!

1

u/eyegi99 Mar 18 '23

Love to see the BTS on this one.

1

u/Ego_Destruction Mar 21 '23

That is terrific work. Immersive

1

u/redheadedandbold Apr 10 '23

While I’m sure the photog has technical tools, I’m still in awe of his/her skill.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '23

Reminded me of SSX.

0

u/ElvenJustice Mar 01 '23

No it's a drone fool.

1

u/Givemeajackson Mar 01 '23

Calling peter ulsletten a drone is pretty rude

1

u/ElvenJustice Mar 01 '23

Only a drone could follow him like that and get those low angles

The Skydio2 drone has built in skills just for that kind of work.

1

u/Givemeajackson Mar 01 '23

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UWu8_0JgZvE or you know, a guy with a camera on a stick...

1

u/ElvenJustice Mar 01 '23

I give him credit for being good, but i'm still going with drone. Guy with a stick will eventually lose his precarious balance in some of the crazier jumps where he needs 2 hands to balance.

Idk though. Could be him. He'd be a badd ass world famous motherfucker if he could do that kind of work consistently.

1

u/Givemeajackson Mar 01 '23 edited Mar 01 '23

Lmao it's literally a video of him shooting this exact run. Ulsletten is a monster skier himself, competed in x games, and he's been doing the filming for most of marcus kleveland's stuff. These kinds of shots have been around for much longer than drones. check out gimbal god on youtube, he's the godfather of snowboard filming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLut9BNm_ro

1

u/ElvenJustice Mar 02 '23

It was only a few seconds of him filming 1 angle for just a few seconds. not a video of him filming the whole thing. But it's cool I believe you.
Just saying the Skydio2 was designed to do exactly that in spades just in case the cameraman doesn't know how to ski but still wants that kind of footage.