Some behind the scenes images from a recent marketing video shoot

First time shooting with a Canon 5DMkII setup for video. I had a couple days to familiarize myself with the setup, tested the workflow, injected some errors to test its reliability, and decided to use it as our main camera on a recent shoot. We kept our normal video cameras as a backup, and watched everything meticulously during the entire shoot. Proper advance training and practice paid off, as the shoot went without a hitch.

While I do like the image produced by shooting video in a DSLR, there are areas that need workarounds, additional time added in post and the workflow in general, and some limitations that must be understood going in. I’ll be shooting more and more with DSLRs for video, but there are many projects the standard professional video camera will be a must have. With Canons introduction of the C3000, Panasonics AF100, and similar cameras, we end up with the best of both worlds in the very near future. I’ll definitely be testing this cameras before plunking down $30K on a traditional professional video camera.

Editorial shoot

Simple lighting for a relatively simple shot. One strobe behind the talent on the right and left, and balanced available light as the main light. Exposure was set for ambient lighting, and the rear side strobes were set to just add a bit of definition and depth.

Flying RC heli for New Balance commercial

Somewhat out of the norm for me, this project allowed me to mix my personal hobby with business. Normally I would be behind the video camera on similar shoots, but for this project I was in front of the camera. Well, sort of. I was contacted by Red Tree Productions, who were working with Arnold Worldwide for a television commercial for New Balance. Part of the commercial called for a radio controlled helicopter for various stunts. They ended up finding me through my RC club affiliation, and not through the typical channels I advertise in or use for networking.

Here is one part of the finished commercial.

After performing independent testing a few days ahead of time, just to be sure we could accomplish the stated goals, the helicopter needed to be prepared on the day of the shoot. This involved masking over the painted graphics, logos, etc, that were already present on the heli. Graphic artists tape was used in matching colors to hide the New York City Police decal, N number registration, and RC helicopter manufacturer logos.

A small High Def camera was then mounted under the fuselage such that it could capture video at multiple angles during the several flights we would make. After seeing the footage from the camera, we ended up purchasing one for our own projects. The camera, GoPro HD, shown below, is very small, enclosed in a waterproof case, can be virtually mounted anywhere, and delivered high quality HD footage. Once everything was checked out, angles selected, test footage was recorded, it was time to head out for actual shooting.

The shoot location was in a parking lot adjacent to the New Balance headquarters in downtown Lawrence, MA. As a shooting location goes, it was just another outdoor shoot location. Not the best, not the worst. As an RC flying area, thats another story. It was very challenging to say the least. If the location wasn’t challenging enough all by itself, a few other challenges were thrown in to keep me on my toes.

High winds. Down drafts and turbulence coming off the top of the building 6 or 7 stories up, and around the clock tower they wanted me to hover in front of. An electrical sub-station next door with possible electrical interference, which didn’t show up in the initial location scouting. Cold temps to keep my thumbs shaking and add further instability, and also challenge the batteries capacity. Ok, I thought, I can still handle this. I’ve flown in worse, just not in a small parking lot, in the city, surrounded by buildings, with a crew of people focused on my flying skills. I’ll need to really focus, but I can still handle it.

Oh yea, and one more challenge! I need to take off and land on a 2.5′ x 4′ table. Ouch. Ok, now that made it really hard.

In the shot above, you can see the size of the take off and landing area! It also shows the flying area we had available, including the flag pole right dab in the middle, building in the background, cars and tractor trailers in close proximity, a terrible approach and take off angle based on the angle required for the shot and the suns direction. With the wind, tight location, etc, an autorotation would be very difficult at best should I have an engine or mechanical issue.

While the crew in the background attend to the ‘cargo’, we are preparing the helicopter for a few more flights. All in all, we flew about 6 or 7 flights in order to get the shots we needed. For each shot, we needed to close the parking and building entrances from vehicle and foot traffic, and have all the crew behind a nearby chain link fence for safety.

From a piloting standpoint, it was challenging with the high winds, turbulence off the building and clock tower, and the small take off and landing area, if you want to call it that. I’m really glad I took the challenge, worked through the issues, and had successful and safe flights and overall shoot. Sometimes its really easy to look at a situation, and talk yourself out of it even before you take the time to see if it can’t be done successfully. I’m glad I didn’t, as this was a very fun and rewarding experience.

Once the commercial is released, I can reveal more details about the shoot, but for now I can only provide some behind the scenes images.

 

Here is a link to the final video, just posted a few weeks ago on YouTube.

Laser Technology Demonstration Video

We recently produced a shot video for a client to be used for their website, PowerPoint presentations, and general marketing and trade show communications. They wanted a short video that demonstrated their products technical features and showed the laser in action, and done in a minimalistic straight forward fashion. Done on a short budget with an even shorter schedule, we hit the clients goals head on.

Low light test images with the Olympus E-P1 micro 4/3 camera

Olympus E-P1, 14-42mm Zukio lens, 1/5th, f5.6, ISO 1600, IS1.

While taking my wife and daughter out to dinner before dropping my daughter off at college, I took some quick test exposures in low light conditions with the Olympus E-P1.

This image was shot hand held at 1/5th, 5.6, and ISO 1600, which shows the image stabilization works very well in this camera. Almost all the exposures I took this evening were in the 1/4 to 1/15th range due to the slow kit lens and night lighting, yet all were sharp. I attribute this to the stabilization system since I wasn’t doing anything special with regards to steadying the camera.

With the faster 1.7 and 2.8 lenses, I’ll gain another few stops and further enhance the usefulness of this camera in low light. Not bad for a very compact camera that sits between P&S and DSLR performance. There may be a lot to be desired in this format for a photographer that is looking for excellent image quality in a very small package.

Olympus-E-P1 w/ 14-42mm 3.5/5.6 Zukio Digital, with optional optical viewfinder.

The camera also has a nostalgic feel to it for those that have shot with rangefinder cameras. In fact with an adapter it will even take Leica M mount lenses to further enhance that feel. Adapters are also available for many other lens mounts, so there is a lot of room for creative play with the characteristics of these lenses. With a fast ‘pancake’ lens such as the Lumix 20mm f1.7, it is very compact, light, and easy to carry just about anywhere. An excellent package for low light social gatherings or night street shooting.

And best of all, it’s just plain fun to shoot with!

Simple talent on white background

It’s been a while since I’ve posted due to workload. But here are some quick behind the scenes images from one of this weeks shoots. Technically a fairly simple shoot, but important enough to get a half dozen to fly in from all around the country. The image was a simple talent shot on white with a few basic props, which will then be composited with a an appropriate background. We needed to match the lighting on set with that of the background, as well as the perspective, focal length, and location of props to fit into the background.

A very simple setup, talent against white background. Lighting was accomplished with two medium softboxes, 2:1 ratio, with a beauty dish carefully aimed to provide some added pop to the talent. Background was lit by two overlapping strobes with std reflectors.

Reviewing images on the monitors between takes. Images were captured via Capture One on a laptop and fed to a separate 22" monitor for client review.

Editorial environmental portrait

In the field, completely organized with Evernote

One key component in my organization mix are methods that allow me to easily take notes, record ideas, images, etc,.  Traditionally, I’d use a paper DayTimer to manage written notes and appointments, a camera to capture images of ideas, locations, props, and so on, an audio recorder that allows me to record notes and thoughts when writing to paper isn’t appropriate such as when driving or being otherwise tied up.  I don’t want to run to the office and boot up my laptop to make a simple note, nor to I want to carry around Daytimer, digital camera and audio recorder, and notepad. So its imperative that its small, light, available all the time, can hold a wide variety of information, and doesn’t tie me to one format or media.

When I had my Blackberry, I had some of this capability. It lacked others, but for the most important information I needed, it was always there on my side, or in my pocket. It worked, worked well, but just didn’t do everything I needed. For most of the data, I used SoHo notes on my laptop, desktop, and the data was available by web if needed.  It also sync’d the data between the computers in the background, and without any intervention. It was a good solution as long as I was in front of a computer. But once on the road, it was all useless to me.

The Blackberry gave me some portability for some documents and data, but it wasn’t effortless. I needed to manually keep things in sync, and take care of transferring new files in and out of the Blackberry. It worked, but took effort, and was basically limited in function and file formats. My SoHo Notes had about 1,300 notes and was about 600MB in size, and there was no way the Blackberry was equipped to handle that.

Enter the iPhone. It had the potential to resolve all this, and add much more functionality, but only if SoHo Notes had an iPhone application to keep the data in sync. But they didn’t at the time. I loved the way it worked on the Desktop/Laptops, but really wanted to take it all with me on the iPhone as well.

So I went looking for similar applications and found Evernote. It functions much like SoHo Notes, but it had a very nice iPhone related application. It also automatically sync’d the data between the desktop, laptop, iPhone over the cellular network silently and without my intervention. I updated a note, added a photo, audio recording, web link, etc, and it immediately updated and sync’d all the other sources. It also handled images, audio, text, rich text, html, PDF, and so on. Just want I have been looking for.

With this capability, I can use Evernote to capture a great location I stumble across, and it will be filed in my notes with the GPS coordinates. I can also add any other related notes if needed. If its a business, resort, or other location that would have a website address, the link can also be added for immediate access.

When I get to the office, its there on the Evernote desktop application. While on location or in a hotel, I can access it via the laptop. I can also access it via the web via any computer by knowing the username and password for my account.  When I don’t have wireless or am away from the Desktop/Laptop, I can still access it via the 3G or Edge celluar networks on my iPhone. So its literally with me all the time in a fast and conveniet way to access it.

Now that the availability is so high, and all the data is automatically synchronized,  it has become so useful to me in my business and personal life. What it does for me is allow me to throw random thoughts into notes within the application and disperses it to all the other platforms all in sync. So I always have a wealth of information available to me at all times, and that is extremely useful to me.

Evernote startup screen

The above is screen that displays right after startup. It allows me to quickly create a new text note, take a photo and create a note with it inside, create a note with an existing photo (usually stored in the camera roll), or record a new voice recording and create a note with it. An interesting function that it performs with images, is that it will perform an OCR scan of the image and extract any text it sees and make that searchable. In most instances, it can extract text from signs, paper receipts, notes, business cards, etc, and such that the images will be recalled in a search that contains the word or words.

Selecting the Notes icon on the bottom bar, brings me to all my existing notes. I can recall them for review or modify them as needed. The Favorites star allows me to tag some notes as special for easy recall. I use the favorites to quickly access notes I use on a regular basis. And the account icon is for account related settings and info.

The notes can be filed in folders and reviewed as a list as shown above, or in a landscape ‘cover flow’ mode such as used in the iPod application and shown below. It can be textual in nature, a preview image of the document, a thumbnail of the image contained in the note, as a list, or icons. There are lots of ways to display the data to cover most peoples preferences.

Each folder is shown as a title bar in the list view, or as a vertical bar in the cover flow mode. Searching is typical of other apps, and the notes also show up in the Sportlight search mode. Very easy to navigate around, or search for your notes.

Note view showing the actual contents of the note. They can be any combination of HTML documents, PDF’s, a photo, voice recording, etc. They can be read landscape or portrait, zoomed in, shared, e-mailed, used for cut and paste, and so on.

Very cool and useful app. But in practice, how do I use it? Easy answer, but hard to boil it down to size without a very long rambling post.

Here are some of the ways that I use it on a regular basis;

I use it often to visually record a location, as it attaches the GPS coordinates to the image so I have a push pin on a satellite image map for easy reference in the future. I can also quickly e-mail these images or videos to my clients while I am still at the location and get their immediate feedback. The images and notes also serve to build a location library for future use. I also use it for memory aids, such as when drawing a lighting diagram on a napkin in the hotel bar, when seeing a prop that may come in handy in the future, to record a lighting or stage setup for future reference, clipping inspiration and ideas from magazines, billboards, or retail displays, and so on.

There is a folder that contains all the equipment manuals in PDF form for reference while in the field. Another folder contains all my vendor and industry contact information, rental equipment pricing and policies, reference data such as color correction filters, Rosco filter reference, part numbers for most common equipment items and vendor information for replacement parts.

Another folder contains all my business documents, such as model releases, usage agreements, standard terms and conditions, etc. These allow me to attach them to an e-mail, print them directly to a WiFi printer, or just reference them in the field and to cut and paste into text messages or e-mails.

Then I also keep a lot of short term information that I want to capture and use later. Something as simple as seeing an item in a store that I want to investigate further, I can just snap a quick picture of the shelf price tag with the item in view and have everything I need to later search on best pricing, technical specifications of the item, or just as a reminder on where I saw it if I wanted to go back later. I capture it and forget about it until I need the info again. I think of it as a photographic memory, since that’s basically what it is!

The above only scratches the surface of how useful this application is to me. The fact that the data is available to me whether I’m out in the field on my iPhone, at my desktop, traveling with only my phone and iPad, or that I can access it from any computer connected to the network makes it useful. If it didn’t have that seamless connectivity, it wouldn’t even capture 5 minutes of my time.

I prefer SoHo Notes over Evernote for many reasons, but Evernote has pushed it off its perch because of the connectivity. While SoHo Notes now has better connectivity, I had several problems with the syncing process and finally gave it. Also, the syncing was not seamless and automatic in the background, but would require me perform the syncs on a regular basis, and requires me to sync with each computer individually. No thanks.

Now that I have an iPad in the mix, Evernote is even more useful. The iPad along with the various apps I use and Evernote, and I can really get away with leaving the laptop behind when I travel. The iPad is much better for inputting text via the virtual keyboard, or when using the small and portable wireless keyboard. I can travel very light and still have excellent functionally. With the amount of time I’m on the road and not in the office, the combination of the iPhone, iPad, and the apps used including Evernote, really allow me to run my business just about anywhere. Thats a freedom that really makes my job a lot easier.

There is a lot more to this than will fit in one post. I decided to concentrate on Evernote since it really is the pivotal piece that is central to how I work. I’ll try to cover the other apps and processes that are useful in the field and based around the Apple iPad and iPhone devices.

DS54320-23

I shot this editorial image about 5 years ago, but recently ran across it in the archives in search of another image. It was very simple to setup and shoot using 1 tungsten light and a reflector. I believe this was shot on my Nikon gear shortly before I made the switch to Canon.

Here are a couple variations of the same shoot. All were done with the same 1 light and reflector setup.

Boston Subway

While on my way in to see a client in Boston one day, I found the Alewife station rather empty of passengers. I took the time to take a few images on the way down the escalator to the subway platform. For shooting from the hip with no preparation, lighting, or time to stop, I think they turned out rather well considering.

Portrait

P&S and Location and scouting camera

I’ve been asked by a few photographers about what small light cameras I use for my own personal or location scouting work. Usually I bring a camera with me just about anywhere I go. Either a small Sony W50 P&S tucked in my jacket pocket, a larger Canon G7 in my bag, or one of my 1D series work cameras when I have room and don’t mind carrying the weight. I use them a lot of scouting locations, grab shots, or family photography.

That is how the article started when I drafted it a month ago. Well, between then and now, my house was burglarized and they made off with my Canon G7 and Sony W50. The positive outcome of this, is that I replaced it with a G10. A far better camera than the G7, and the G9 I was considering replacing it with. So in the end, I got a forced upgrade, and at the full cost rather than selling the G7 to offset the cost.

Anyway, now I use the G10 for all my personal shooting, and location scouting. Its a perfect camera for most times a point and shoot lacks the controls and features, and when a full sized SLR would be too bulky to carry around. The G10 fits in my bag that I carry with me all the time, right next to my PDA, iPod, and other must haves!

The G10 allows full manual mode, flash overrides and adjustments, and has a very nice lens attached to it. It really turns out some nice images for such as small package. I use it for my own personal photography, scouting shots, and family photography. Its very easy to use, quick to operate, and I can setup a couple custom modes to match the type of shooting I do. It shoots video, Jpeg, and Raw formats of various sizes, and puts out a 14.7mp RAW file. I would have prefered to see them stick with a smaller file size and instead work on decreasing noise at the higher ISO settings. I find anything over ISO200 marginal, and over ISO400 are nearly usless except for documentation purposes only.

The custom modes can remember a whole series of settings to be quickly loaded and set in the camera when selected. For example, I use Custom Mode 1 to set the camera to manual mode, ISO 400, flash compensation -1, macro mode off, flash on, and slow sync mode (second curtain). I use it mainly for shooting interiors, night portraits, etc. Custom mode 2 is set for normal daylight shooting and set to ISO100, flash on, flash compensation -2 for fill, manual focus and set to infinity (less shutter lag time), etc. This way I can quickly change between interiors/night and daylight photographer by turning the knob one notch. Very handy feature.

The G10 also has a hot shoe, so I can even use it with my pocket wizards and studio strobes. This means I can use a 580ex on the camera for longer reach and improved battery life, or use a pocket wizard with one or more 580ex strobes remotely for accent and supplemental lighting.

It has the look and handling of a classic rangefinder camera. Rather than always having to fish through menus to set ISO, mode, flash, etc, it has a dedicated knob on top of the camera to adjust the ISO setting. Another one decided to the shooting mode, including custom modes C1 and C2. There is also a very handy exposure compensation dial easily accessible on the top of the camera. On the back face of the camera, there are buttons for macro mode, flash on, off, or auto, drive mode, and manual focus. And finally, there is a function setup button with a menu that is fast to navigate which has all the most often used functions easily accessible such as color balance, flash compensation, color modes, neutral density filter, image quality, and so on. Finally, there is a custom menu screen that can be customized to show the top five features and settings as the first screen you see. This all makes for a very fast handing camera.

The lens quality is excellent, and produces a very sharp and contrasy image. There are some typical flaws as with all small P&S cameras, but the lens on the G10 is definitely in the top of the class. The large LCD delivers a nice image for review, however the high gloss makes it hard to see in daylight with reflections on the screen. Shielding it is easy, so its a minor inconvenience. When viewing the LCD indoors or in more subdued lighting, the image quality is excellent. There is also a viewfinder that can be used in those instances where you don’t want to use the LCD to compose the image. Its small, but adequate and very useful when needed.

Battery life is excellent, and I can count on it being ready to go even after sitting in my bag for a couple weeks. I do charge it when I know I will be using it for a lot of images, but for typical use of a few images a day, I can go a coule weeks without needing to charge it. I carry the small charger with me in my bag, and can charge it off the 120V inverter in my car if needed, or top it off while in the studio, at a friends, etc.

All in all, I really liked the G7, and the G10 brings it to a new level. The thief will need to bring his A game if he wants to take my G10! I’ve got the SIG P229 locked and loaded, and new batteries in the laser sight!

Rambling on current work and iPhones vs Blackberry’s.

Unfortunately for the blog, although fortunate for the wallet, I’ve been exceedingly busy the last few months. With the shift in the economy, I’ve seen the photography work drop off a bit, but for some unexplained reason, my billings for video has increased more than enough to cover the offset. I won’t complain since I prefer shooting video over stills, but a mix of the two is a perfect fit for me.

On the technology front, I’m still missing my Blackberry for all its convenient business features, but loving the iPhone for what I can do with it. If someone could smash the two together and end up with the best of both, it would be an awesome machine! We finally got cut and paste on the iPhone (should have been there from the beginning), so I can now respond on the iPhone via e-mail with more complex replies. With my Blackberry I keep numerous templates files to allow me to reply on pricing, terms, and common questions without having to re-type it each time. I could cut and paste from the templates and then edit as needed. This was fast, and enabled me to get right back to a client quickly as long as I had a minute or two and a cell signal.

With the iPhone, this wasn’t an option until cut as paste was added last month . There are so many nice features the blackberry had which suited business communications well that are lacking on the iPhone. But the iPhone does have a virtual Zippo lighter and a level   I can say though, my images are actually usable on the iPhone for showing potential clients on the fly. Bright, sharp, crisp, saturated with good contrast, and big enough to be useful.

My assistant mentioned a book he was ordering, How to Cheat in Photoshop by Steve Caplin, and thought I might also be interested in. I told him to go ahead and order one for me. Whats nice about it, is that there are lots of quick solutions to every day problems, as well as some more obscure tasks. There are several chapters on each topic, with several solutions summarized in a page or two. For example, in the Perspective chapter, he covers horizons, vanishing points, two and three point perspectives, creating perspective, fixing wide angle objects using perspective, and other topics presented on a two page spread. He assumes a basic working knowledge of Photoshop, since he will tell you to create a layer or quick mask, assuming you already know these tasks, and not explain each and every step along the way. For most photographers that work with Photoshop on a regular basis, they will have most of these skills in their tool box already.

I’m off on a couple trips, and will post when time permits.

Here is some recent work;

Available light portrait

Portrait taken under soft natural light from overcast skies. I used a reflector leaning on my legs at a 45 degree angle to bring in some light to soften the shadows. I wanted soft shadow tones for this image. I really like what I see in the eyes and expression, and how the hat and hair frame her face. I can also see various croppings working quite well.

Portable Flashes – mounting options

Using small portable flashes for accent lighting along with studio strobes is a technique I tend to use often in larger spaces such as interiors or factories. Also, when wanting to travel light, I will forego using the studio strobes on location, and opt for a much smaller light weight lighting kit,  ‘Strobist’ style.

One of the issues that crops up using the small portable flashes, is the lack of ‘grip’ equipment and light modifiers. A need to turn to the DIY method of solving problems and being a little creative.

The above image shows one way I mount a portable flash when I can’t use traditional methods. This is a Nikon SB24 mounted in a door frame using a putty knife. The handle of the putty knife was drilled out and a stud mounted.  From there, you can use the traditional methods to attach the flash.

The putty knife can be inserted in-between the door and jamb, under a set of books on a book case, held with a sandbag, clamped to a ladder step, in a rock crevice, etc. Lots of options just about everywhere.

The above image shows the complete setup less the pocket wizard. From the bottom up, putty knife, stud (not visible), elbow, stub with hot shoe mount, SB24. Typically, the hot shoe mount would be substituted with a paramount cords hot shoe cable and connected to a Pocket Wizard, then the strobe mounted on top of that.

The barn doors are being held on to the front via velcro, and can be mounted in any postion as needed. All in all, it provides for a very versitle lighting setup that can be mounted virtually anywhere, even to the point it can affixed with gaffers tape to any flat surface.