Hybrid Shooting for Newspaper Coverage

Video: Call Ripken's Hall of Fame Send-Off

2007-07-25T20:26:00.000-05:00

Having been asked by the bosses to return from vacation early to cover the pre-game ceremony of Cal Ripken who is the most recent inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame museum in Cooperstown, my brain cooked for some ideas to deliver a decent package.

Getting into town the night before, I attempted shooting some B-roll of Cal's poster as it hung from the east wall of the warehouse, facing the inner harbor. Dissatisfied with the results, I woke up early Tuesday, just before sunrise, taking the Sony camcorder and shooting some shots. By mid-afternoon, I sat in front of a workstation, searching for archive photos of Ripken during his career with the Baltimore Orioles, burning a CD of some images taken by a host of former and current staff photographers.

Rush hour traffic was harsh, since so many people decided to get to the ballpark early for the 6:30 ceremony and speech, and I began rendering the photos, sizing them for a horizontal widescreen production. The video, which is interlaced, had to be processed as well, taking a decent amount of time to not only upload the footage, but process the files through Mpeg Streamclip, which removes the video jaggies.

With the time reaching 6:30, I scrambled to the field to get into position, using a monopod as my camera support. The event started late, because Ripken had also gotten held up in traffic. Finally, the dignitaries, including Mayor Sheila Dixon, as well as Hall of Famers Brooks Robinson, Earl Weaver and Eddie Murray took their cues to appear, and finally Ripken was introduced.

Using the external shotgun microphone to record audio, I pointed it behind me to capture sound, since the speakers hung from the upper level seating areas, instead of a central speaker system in the outfield, like the old Memorial Stadium. Unfortunately, the moment Ripken was introduced, a shrieking scream of an adoring female directly behind me, overpowered the usual applause and cheer. She sounded more like the victim in an underground horror flick.

Ripken's speech lasted around 10 minutes or less, and we headed for the editing room in the lower press box. Processing the interlaced video seemed to take forever, and the game was already in the second inning before the new progressive videos were completed. Dropping the main speech into the sequence window, I added a little B-roll footage and then played and marked the clip for places to consider placing the file pictures. Starting with a picture by staffer Paul Hutchins from 1978, I tried placing images along the speech to help break up the monotony of a podium shot. By the time the editing was finished, I had used every file picture, and added a neat clip of the outside of the warehouse, with Cal's large photo being reflected in a mirror that traffic uses to watch for the light rail trains crossing the stadium drive. It was strategically placed at a point early on, when Cal talked about reflecting on his career.

At the very end, a shot taken as Cal's last game celebrated his accomplishments was used. The shot was a vertical image, and fireworks shot into the air beside a large U.S. flag. Dragging the image to the left portion of the screen, I added the photo credits of all the staff photographers whose pictures were used.

Returning to the office, I discovered that there had been an internal server problem, and that the video couldn't get uploaded, so I went back to a Macintosh G5 desktop and tweaked the video, splicing some of the cheering to remove that screeching and irritating cheer by that fan (she can be seen holding a sign, and watch how at least one irritated fan turned her way several times). I also made a slight change to let the photo credits fade and keep the still image up for about 3 seconds longer, before allowing it to fade as well. Finishing the video was done in plenty of time; the server hadn't even been fixed, so the video had to wait until Wednesday morning for posting.

Video: Polar Bear Popsicle

2007-07-09T15:44:00.000-05:00

Polar Bear Popsicle

This is a quick and painless video of Alaska, a polar bear at Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, taken with my newly-issued Sony DCR-SR300 camcorder, for a hot weather clip. The cameras will stay in our hand until another upgrade. This camera has those "jaggies," which is interlaced video. With the Macintosh, MPEGStreamclip wipes the jaggies out and makes it more manageable. I like to keep the camera set on manual mode with the light settings, and you can see that I haven't quite gotten the hang of it; some of the scenes are properly exposed while others are dark. It was my first workout with the camera.

I'm going to turn on the zebra bars (if it has that). "Zebra bars" are white and black diagonal stripes that show where the highlights are blown out in the shot. With the Panasonic HVX200, I can quickly gauge the proper exposure, but with any new gear, there's a period of time when the user has to learn the camera's method of recording, in order to get the proper exposure. Some might wonder why I don't use the auto setting; that's because I like having control over the exposure.

With bright subjects, the camera can open and close its aperture, causing the video to alternate between light and dark. I want the camera to remain constant. It's a decent camera in shady conditions, but in bright sunlight, it seems as though the Sony over-exposes. I like knocking the exposure down, just enough so that the footage looks pleasing and vibrant. While the SR300 has settings to adjust for color and saturation, I'd rather keep those normal.

As for the production, the video's need to be converted by MPEGStreamclip added some time. But from the conversion of all the files, to editing and packaging, it took about an hour.

The Videographer as Chef or Cook (With Video)

2007-07-05T14:16:00.000-05:00

I feel as though I'm a caring parent, giving life to this child - a video story - that I want to nurture, groom, and prepare for the big world. But at some point, the passion I pour into the project simply must be finished and set free, to let it stand on the perch to release it into the wilds of public view, and let that baby fly. Every once in a while, I latch onto editing a shoot, wanting everything to be perfect if it went much better than expected. The sound was captured well; the subjects expressed themselves; the moments captured on film sang; and everything mixed together like a recipe, filled with the perfect ingredients.

When that happens, your choice is whether to prepare the project as a cook, or a chef. The grocery store is your assignment location, so let's pretend that it's a target-rich environment: You feel as though you're shopping at the trendiest spot, with various qualities of cuts, produce and dairy products. You can grab the top-shelf items, or pick the basic stuff that's ten for a buck, depending on how you approach the subject. The interviews, B-roll and audio become your ingredients, and your recording equipment is the grocery cart. While not being too picky, get enough for your dish, and get some extra stuff so that you won't have to return; the store might be closed by that time!

Returning to the kitchen (your workstation), your tools for measuring the ingredients come from your own instincts. Do you want it to be short, or extended? Bland, or spicy? If you've done a thorough job, you'll have enough to create a few different styles of videos, but always remember that it's a blank canvas. Other than basic editing and continuity skills, your imagination dictates how the project will shape up. If your way of shooting and editing doesn't agree with someone else, keep in mind that not everyone enjoys lobster with drawn butter.

With that in mind, the video I've finally finished was created at Stemmer House, on Caves Road in Owings Mills, MD. The backbone of the clip is the amazing insight by gardener Barbara Holdridge, who has taken care of the grounds over the past 34 years. Experiencing her passion lit my fire, and I was determined to create the most compelling video that I could, as a tribute to her love of the soil. That, and a short ballad that she sang, patiently waiting for me to set up my gear. Ms. Holdridge talked thoroughly about her joy in getting her hands into the soil, so that if we ever would like to create a different type of video, it can be done with no sweat about lack of footage. Please enjoy it half as much as I did, photographing and editing the piece.

SONY DCR-SR300 Smooth Slow Motion

2007-07-04T21:18:00.000-05:00

Here are 3 clips taken with the SONY DCR-SR300 hard disk drive camcorder, using "smooth slow motion." The files, shot of bumblebees in flight and a hard rain, are recorded with audio, and other than rotating the one clip to vertical, all the videos have post-processing only to get them posted online.

The SR300 only records 3 seconds of footage on its disk; an audio track is also recorded and then the complete file gets placed on the camera's drive, using a buffer, so it won't be able to record for a few moments after each slow motion clip is recorded. The footage seemed a bit blurry, so I also added a comparison with the Smooth Slow Motion in the top portion and the SR300's regular footage in the lower portion.

YouTube Hits vs Local Video Clips; "The Phallic Tomato" (Video)

2007-07-04T15:45:00.000-05:00

I'm beginning to understand about what people mean, when they suggest that the audio is the most important part of a video. We're not talking about the 15-second gag on YouTube (even though good audio still helps), but the focus is on the 2- to 3- minute feature clip, which is a full-length movie these days, with regards to video production. I'm certain that the average homemade clip is around a minute or less, and so the longer videos have to have some kind of appeal that would make a stranger want to watch the whole thing, and then want more. That's because boredom is the curse of video. The longer a clip lasts, the less that people remain engaged.

How does one effectively trim a video clip to make it more appealing? If you have subject matter that yields interest, half your battle is won. Usually stupid human or pet tricks, as well as breaking news can do the trick. As I write this, most of the video I have to shoot deals with very specific subjects, like the video of the Stemmer House gardener, which I will upload soon. It's simply not something that will make the top ten break.com videos, yet looking at some of the recent top clips, I wonder what people find interesting, when hundreds of thousands (or even millions) will play a clip of yet another wannabe singer belting out an off-key tune. Perhaps its just that people identify with ordinary people more often?

For instance, the shortie I just posted. With all the editing and production of 3-minute videos, I had to post a really quick and "dirty" post of the phallic tomato, growing in my father's secret garden. "Look at what we have growing," I was told as I visited the homestead for the Fourth of July. What would you think it might look like, if Dad actually used Miracle Grow, the Viagra for plant food?

"Our Secret Garden" (Video, Still Images)

2007-06-24T11:02:00.000-05:00

Another project of monumental proportions (post-production time-wise), since I'm still learning how to create multimedia short subjects. Proper training would have been a good thing to help save time, instead of working through trial and error.

Somehow, the thought of capturing my father's floral garden dropped in my head, as my older brother and I helped Dad with work on our homestead. As we trimmed back the branches the orchard trees, I was attacked by a band of yellow jackets. Thinking about keeping my Lumix TZ1 close by, in case I was stung, thoughts wound up focusing on the flowers, which Dad grew to appreciate by grandfather's love of gardening.

Between chores, I paused to shoot some footage, trying to capture the butterflies that visited. Somewhere between chasing a butterfly with my camera rolling, and not wanting to help with discarding the large prickly holly branches, I started grabbing some images along with the video. I worked into the dark, using a digital Olympus DS-2 voice recorder and a Sennheiser K6 shotgun microphone, recording audio of the birds and insects around the home. Audio recording can be a struggle if one needs to capture sound near an interstate and along the flight path of an international airport.

Last night became this morning, with very little sleep as I worked using iMovie HD to help with the "Ken Burns Effect" of adding motion to still images, since I haven't yet mastered it in Final Cut Pro. Since the TZ1 can be set to capture images at the same resolution as high definition video, working with the footage in iMovie was a no-brainer. After finding some unobtrusive and excellent piano clips by Herbert Boland in the Freesound Project website, through creativecommons.org, the costruction of the short was finally complete.

"Stormy Flight" (Video, Timelapse)

2007-06-20T18:28:00.000-05:00

"Stormy Flight" (Timelapse And Video) - More amazing videos are a click away

I guess I never should have expected that I'd take any time off without shooting and editing some kind of footage. This one was borne out of pure boredom, along with a volunteered bump.

With a freeze of flights into the east coast, I didn't get on the return trip home until past sunset. That's when I decided to try shooting time lapse pictures of the jet's take-off. At first I felt a bit steamed since we got airborn several minutes past sunset. And I sat on the left side of the jet to try capturing some footage. A storm, which had caused delays in the northeast corridor, still had some energy, with flashes of lightning ripping through the cloud deck below the plane. I set the camera on long exposure of one second, holding the trigger so the camera could capture images as quickly as it could.

Adding a mix of video footage whenever I could, I sat on the shutter button as the plane landed. Just now, I finished adding audio from iMovie HD, the software I used for editing, and a tune was added from the Internet Archive, which had a nice track by Pablo Reche that fit well at the end. The clip became a very foreboding piece with the lightning all over the area, and some of the ambient sound effects helped add that ominous dimension.

This was all captured using the Panasonic Lumix TZ3 hybrid camera, shooting with continuous mode (takeoff, landing, taxi scenes) and video mode (some of the airplane wings in flight; it simply looks like straight-shot footage). All scene editing and sound processing was done in iMovie, except for a little post-process tweaking of the titles in Final Cut Pro (I could have kept the titles in iMovie, but liked Final Cut a little more).

Below is the upload in Brightcove.

"Welcome to Baltimore" Video - Music by Igneous Flame

2007-06-18T04:42:00.000-05:00

Welcome To Baltimore - The most popular videos are a click away

Take a setting in which you can't move, and try capturing it from as many different perspectives as you can. Given some time and a little creativity, you can start discovering some more creative ways to watch the world go by. I played with my own vision as I started recording the sights as the jet returned to BWI-Thurgood Marshall Airport from Manchester. Having grown tired of reading the in-flight magazine (which is usually the very same one that I had read on the way out), I started capturing some footage of the sun and clouds on an overcast day, while the plane began its descent.

Taking advantage of my Lumix TZ3 camera's 10X optical zoom lens, I tried finding some nice shots, and what I captured was because of the mood I was in at the time. By the time I got home, I wanted to piece it together. Some of the footage might be redundant, but I didn't want to trim too much. As I finished the clip, some music that I purchased, by Igneous Flame, kept going through my head. So I placed the track, "Lustral Sheen," from the album "SATU" into Final Cut, and the timing fit really well! The "darkly luminous" music couldn't have been more fitting. Igneous Flame (Pete Kelly) is right here, on MySpace as well. You should swing by and check the music out. If you like the track in the video, you must get the album.

Follow-up on Cheap Lens Filters

2007-06-15T04:09:00.000-05:00

After reading some comments about those looking at alternatives to the pricey filters, such as the circular polarizing filter I had just reviewed in a video, I decided to make a follow-up post about my own feelings on using inexpensive filters. I tend to disagree with such a broad statement, that one might consider cheap filters as "acceptable." I'd rather want "desirable" results instead, when it comes to image quality. If a manufacturer has made a nice filter and yet isn't consistent with a good majority of the samples, I wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole. Case in point, my OEC filter I got through eBay. I had read that there were plenty of good feedbacks, so since the thing cost $40, we tried it. But if you look at the results of the video review I just posted at http://www.metacafe.com/w/651400/ would you ~really~ trust putting such glass on top of a sharp lens and gamble with the possibility of distorting your image? I've heard arguments all over about cheap polarizers (other filters and lenses as well). People simply shouldn't gamble too much over what they put on a sharp lens.

The problem is that what lies on top is what will be the best you can get from an image. If the filter sucks, you could have the most quality glass on the planet, but your results will suck raw eggs. And once you shoot images using inferior equipment, you're ultimately capturing history that cannot be revisited, but for the images you've frozen in time. I was shocked to see the results that the video showed as I turned the polarizing filter. Watch how the filter I got distorts everything. We feel passionate about our images. Don't compromise too much by using bad filters on good gear.

Your Lens is Only as Good as Your Filter!

2007-06-14T00:48:00.000-05:00

Field Report:
OEC Circular Polarizing Filter

The OEC Circular Polarizing Filter, which can be purchased for between $20 and $40 (for a set, with a UV and ND filter). But are these inexpensive filters worth the price, are they cheap, or should you save your money? Let the video be a guide to whether you choose to purchase an OEC brand polarizing filter:

Motiono by daterace

I really don't have much more to write about it, except that the OEC polarizer in 82mm size isn't fit for being placed on any good lens. And it'll make an average or fair lens that much worse. Here's the second part of the video, below:

Motiono by daterace

The problem that I encountered was first recognized when I had to shoot a horrific fire, one of the deadliest in the history of Baltimore City. Trying to focus on the victims, I simply couldn't lock focus, even with the focus-assist box on the HVX200. It made things difficult to get a decently-sharp image from the high-resolution footage for print. At one instance, I noticed that the edges of some things in my viewfinder rotated as I tried using the CPL filter, and it turns out that the OEC filter was the sole source of the lack of sharpness in the footage. To have equipment issues that cause your image quality to suffer on something so historic is terrible; you can't take the footage and return the image quality when that happens.

Keep 'Em Charged!

2007-06-12T08:13:00.000-05:00

Monday mornings sometimes bring surprises at work. So was the case, when I arrived to learn that I had a job, one hour later. It was called "Build Playground Day," at Collington Square School in northeast Baltimore, in a neighborhood that's been forgotten and neglected. The Baltimore Ravens, along with Kaboom! and volunteers through the community and a host of organizations banded together, building a playground in one day.

Reaching for the Firestore FS-100 external recordable drive to mount to the HVX200 camcorder, I noticed that it faced the other way. Plugging the unit into the charger, I knew the battery hadn't been charged. With the prospect of having to shoot a great amount of footage over 5 hours of construction time, I decided to use the Lumix DMC-TZ1 and it's slightly bigger sibling, the Lumix DMC-TZ3 cameras as my visual arsenal.

Gaining access to the roof of the school, I clamped down a Nikon D2Xs camera outfitted with a Sigma 10-20mm zoom, to get as wide an aspect as possible. Calculating the frame rate of a movie against the time I had to shoot, I figured on setting the camera's interval timer to fire an image every 30 seconds, which yielded about 20 seconds of footage. At several stages, I clamped the small cameras onto different objects, gathering some interesting POV shots! You can't do that with an HVX200.

Starting the camera around 7:30 A.M., I returned to ground level, grabbing 5- to 10- video clips and switching on-the-fly to shoot still images for the web updates and for print publication. By 10 A.M., I started sending still images, then returned to the field to gather more footage. Gathering more still images for a picture package for the web by noon, I finished most of the ground-level recording just in time to return to the roof and take what was shot with the Nikon camera.

The nurse's office became a multimedia center, as I created a Quicktime movie, sent more images and the 20-second time lapse clip, and edited the main package for today's web update. Oh, working on the Macintosh platform is great in my eyes. While I write, Groove Salad cranks out tunes in my headset, while Magic iDVD creates a cool DVD disk of the whole project, for the school, complete with animated menus and a hip audio track.

Brightcove Posting, B-Roll Cameras

2007-06-10T13:02:00.000-05:00

This is a Brightcove Post

I've found a website that can better display the video that people share. I found www.brightcove.com, while searching for some video of a singer throwing a boy off a stage and loved the quality and options of being able to view the video in full screen. While you can see some pixelation, it isn't nearly as bad as the popular video sites such as Youtube and other video sites. So I'm returning to resize the prepared videos and upload them to Brightcove.

I've also purchased two Lumix cameras. The TZ1 and big sister, the TZ3, are great little cameras to shoot B-roll. I've used it to capture alternate angle shots of Cal Ripken and also placed them on the ground at a dangerous crosswalk in east Baltimore, giving me the luxury of focusing my attention on shooting with the HVX200. Both TZ cameras shoot in widescreen at 848 x480 pixels, which is the same format as high definition video. The TZ1 shoots at 5 megapixels, while the TZ3 captures at around 7 MP, and also has a larger LCD view screen.

The videos they shoot now can be seamlessly integrated with Final Cut Pro 6, which we're upgrading to, at work. There's a setting that allows the user to import footage from various cameras without that rendering red line, which kills any chance to output a finished product with efficiency. At least, that's what I'm told.

Finally, I Can Post Again!

2007-06-09T12:04:00.000-05:00

Blogger and I had some miscommunications, and they've finally been resolved. So I'll be back up and posting soon!

Nikon D2Xs, HVX200 iMovie Clip: Stars Over Chincoteague

2006-12-14T23:15:00.000-05:00

Post references:
Apple iMovie
Panasonic HVX200
Nikon D2Xs
Manfrotto Bogen Magic Arm
Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8
Refuge Inn of Chincoteague

Because the clips have been severely compressed from high definition, please try viewing in a darkened environment to watch the path of the stars. Thanks!

Stars Over Chincoteague (63 seconds, Google Videos)

I am soooo stoked.

I just "produced" my first project using a combination of time lapse, using (version 3) Apple's iMovie, with some shots I grabbed while on the eastern shore over the weekend on rocket launch that was scrubbed.

Driving down to Chincoteague Island Sunday, my mind swept through with thoughts of how to cover the Minotar rocket that was planned for a pre-dawn launch. Getting to Wallops, VA just as the Sun began setting, out came the HVX200 as I tried grabbing some footage since a rocket launch would only last a couple minutes at best.

Birds flew nearby and I quickly changed my shutter speed on the HVX200 to 1/30th, up one step from 1/15th second, as I had tried letting in more light. The flocks were making their way to bed down for the evening, and I grabbed a short clip of one of the final flocks that passed overhead.

A quick grab of the western horizon, and then a turn of the camera to the dishes within the fenced-in surroundings of Wallops to grab some time lapse footage, set at a frame per second to try gathering some orange-to-blue-to-black of the evening sky. Unfortunately, the camera dropped focus, and what was a nice crisp image of the dishes racked out of focus.

I moved the camera to the illuminated dishes pointing skyward, since they glowed with the sodium vapor lights below. Hoping to get a bite of food and a bit of rest, I packed up the gear, checked in to the Refuge Inn, (I give reference because of the excellent sky views and helpful staff) and became obsessed with finding a room with a view where I could clamp a Nikon D2Xs body and wide angle lens to grab a clear view of the northern sky since I wanted to try shooting some time lapse of the rotation of the ceiling of stars.

My first room was supposed to be 214, but I could hear several women laughing behind the closed door. Not eager to startle them, I returned to the front desk and exchanged the key for room 106, a beautiful room with a view of pine trees. The front desk clerks let me try room 205, but the canopy of an evergreen blocked the view from the room's patio deck. So I walked outside and checked the second floor rooms for their views and wrote the room numbers down. Settling for room 229, out came the gear and batteries, which I started charging. Remembering a recent time lapse experiment with a moonrise, I set my Nikon D2Xs body on a time lapse rate of 45 seconds, and made some test shots to find the correct exposure.

But I still wasn't happy with the view from my deck. While walking through the hotel to check for the locations of the emergency exits, I noticed a sign: "Observation deck. Quiet Zone," next to a door with no keyed doorknob. Opening it revealed a metal spiral starwell to the roof, which had a wooden deck with tables and chairs. Retrieving the camera and a Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 lens, I mounted it to the deck railing with a Manfrotto Bogen Magic Arm, positioning the camera to aim at about a 35 degree angle skyward, just steep enough to see the trees in the lower portion of the frame (for visual reference). Shooting test after test, the final exposure came to 30 seconds at f/4, with the lens zoomed out to 10mm length, and the ISO rating at "HIGH1," which is the same as ISO 1600. The image was shot in normal size and basic setting, which gave plenty of images for a 1-gigabyte card. The rate of time lapse resulted in one frame every 45 seconds, which seemed like a great rate of time lapse, since the stars and Moon creep so slowly across the night sky.

Starting the time lapse session, which would last all night, I piled some lounge chairs and a table behind the clamped camera (like that would stop anyone from stealing a camera) and ran out to grab some Chinese food up the street. Returning with Peking duck and pork egg fu yung (without the onions), I made regular checks of the gear to make certain it was still there, and everything worked.

Somewhere between midnight and 1AM, the camera stopped firing. Such a long process of image-gathering on a cold night can drain a battery, and the rechargeable was DOA. Grabbing another battery from the room, I changed lenses to a Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 and aimed the camera just above a rising Moon. Resuming the time lapse process, I retired to bed for about 1-1/2 hours and came back to the set-up, pausing the camera, replacing the battery with a fresh one, and resuming the shoot.

Awake after setting the alarms on the room clock and my cell phone, I packed my gear, got ready for the 5AM meeting at the NASA Visitors Center, and retrieved the camera, which still fired. Driving the 7 miles to the center, I was told the news: the launch had been scrubbed. Uggh. That meant that I could have slept even longer.

Well, the launch didn't fly, but the footage did. I didn't know what to do with the clips until I decided to try editing it together in iMovie. Dragging the files to each window for the upload, and then pulling each scene around gave me a good idea on how to put together this little clip. It doesn't last long, but I gained some knowledge as my ultimate goal is mastering Final Cut Pro. If Final Cut is anywhere near the structure of iMovie, I think I'm good-to-go.

I was a little miffed that iMovie is based on the boring NTSC television format, which is 4X3, or 640X480 pixels. It made me have to crop the footage from both the HVX200 (which shoots in 16X9 and the 35mm digital format, which is 3X2. While looking at the software, adding some fades and transitions, plus some drone-like background and a clip of birds gave it some added life. Try it without sound, and it gets old, quick. Add some audio tone with a suspenseful sound... does it make you want to experience more?

Stars Over Chincoteague (62 seconds, YouTube Videos)

The Stage is Set

2006-12-13T23:32:00.000-05:00

Post content:

Panasonic Lumix FZ30
Focus Enhancements FS-100
Panasonic AG-HVX200
Macintosh G5 Tower
Baltimore Sun
Olympus DS-2 Digital Recorder

It's time for me to get ready to rumble. With multimedia, that is. The new schedule's set, which means the first 3 days of the work week will be spent by starting at around 7AM, gathering footage and producing packages for our website. Thursday and Friday will be spent sleeping in (to start the afternoon shift) and work general assignments, since there is a shortage of late night shooters.

Weekend time will be spent recharging the batteries for the next week. Yesterday was rough. While trying to understand a Focus Enhancements Firestore FS-100 100-gigabyte DTE (direct-to-edit) recorder for our production camcorder HVX200, I had to roll out to Catonsville to document the scene with the still camera where a resident was killed and a state trooper was shot while serving papers early that morning. The father was upset as I entered his home, and the family shared their accounts of what happened.

Grabbing the Lumix FZ30 to capture some footage, he talked to other family at the top of the stairs, showing the large number of bullet holes that tore through the walls, describing the events that he witnessed. The still images were an afterthought as he expressed his account of watching how his son died, and told about his upcoming birthday near the end of December.

The time neared 6:30PM as we wrapped up, and a couple of calls later, someone was ready and waiting in the office to edit and post the captured footage. Attempting to transfer the files into our FTP site, the transfer rate for regular video clips was so slow (even for our high-speed network) that I simply sent the first half of footage into the multimedia folder and grabbed a CD and burned the other 5 files, running them out to the web point-person to edit and post.

The editors seemed rather pleased at the finished package when I reported to work this afternoon. Dudley, Chuck and I talked so I could understand the new schedule and what was expected of my efforts in 2007, and I retreated to one of our Macintosh G5 towers to try mounting that FS-100 onto the desktop so I could extract the 40 gigs of high definition footage I had been capturing over the past several days for a project several of us have been working on.

Listening in to a conversation between Chuck and Lloyd nearby, I heard about a convict who had been released from prison after spending over 30 years in jail for a crime he says he never committed. Lloyd had taken some great images as the family met the released man outside court, and my own creative juices flowed, expressing the regret that we didn't shoot any footage for the web. "That's just what I want you to do," Dudley said. "Look at the daily log for interesting jobs and shoot some packages."

Torn between word of a family party to celebrate the release north of town, and having to shoot the Maryland Terrapins' men's basketball game just a couple hours later in College Park, I called Steve to let him know that I'd try to document the party. Parking nearby, I grabbed the trusty Lumix as well as an Olympus DS-2 digital recorder and small shotgun microphone to back up the audio, since there would be a house filled with loud, happy guests.

Maryland Terrapins' Ekene Ibekwe rejects a shot attempted in Maryland's 101-50 trouncing.

The guest of honor sat at the center of the dining room table as friends, family, and defense attorneys broke bread together, celebrating the end of their terrible nightmare. Lloyd and I tripped over each other once or twice as we captured the event, happy that no one from the television stations were even there. Wrapping up with about 9 minutes of footage, I returned, burned a DVD with the audio and movie files for Steve to edit and post, and then hit the road where I sit in our cubby after Maryland's 101-50 beatdown of Missouri-Kansas City. I put the new Nikon cameras back to work, leaving the HVX back in the office and shooting a couple decent frames with the D2Xs in the first half.

The images from the Catonsville shooting are still at work on the desktop, so be my guest and hop over to the Baltimore Sun online. On this current page, there's multimedia taken with the Lumix of the father after the shooting and soon there will be footage of the wrongly-convicted man released, but get it while it's hot; the site is regularly updated.

Quick Review: Nikon D2Xs

2006-12-12T20:33:00.001-05:00

Independent Review References:
Nikon D2Xs
Panasonic AG-HVX200
Sigma 10-20mm f 4-5.6
Nikon D2Hs (preview)
Nikon D2H
Canon EOS 30D
Nikon D200

I'm sure you'll be inundated with the images taken during the daytime of all the fine low-ISO, high-color quality images of this camera. But I'm simply going to add just a little tweak, which is about low-light situations, and color-tweaking your camera.

Speed? What Speed?
The Nikon D2Xs can be your primary camera if you feel confident shooting at a reduced frame rate. With the setting in full frame mode, you aren't going to set any speed records in frame rates. After using the D2H for several years, I would have figured the D2Xs was going to be somewhere near the same frame rate of about 7 frames/second, what with better technology, stiff competition from other camera manufacturers and all. But this body isn't meant to fire off in rapid succession; that's what the D2Hs is for (I'll end up writing something about that one in a future post).

The D2Xs can bang out some pretty good files at a decent fps rate, with the high speed crop set to the ON position. Plus, you get the benefit of a tighter image size than with the crop removed. I was shooting with a 300mm 2.8 lens with the subject at the 50 yard line, and I felt like I was using a 400mm or perhaps longer lens while camped out at behind the end zone. The fps rate was much slower than the sports-minded D2H, but I quickly adjusted my shooting tactics. But you'll be shooting nothing but blue crab and turtle races if you want to keep up with your subject, sitting on the motor with the high speed crop off. I couldn't figure what was going wrong when my first job was shooting high school football. One minute, the running back is full frame; the next frame, it seems like he's knee up; the following image, and he's waist-up, coming at me full speed.

You should tweak your settings immediately. These Nikons are set to fire right out of the box, at point and shoot settings, so if you're clueless in Seattle, try just popping in a fresh battery, slipping on a Nikon AF lens, frame some subjects, and fire away. But you really want to set it yourself, right? The user settings seem much easier to manage than the Panasonic HVX200 camcorder, because of the thumb button settings, and a really cool cheat sheet with a "?" mark revealing whenever further explanation is stored within the menu. Panasonic (and any camera manufacturer that doesn't provide this vital feature in their high-end hardware) needs to rip a page out of this manual and follow suit, unless it's patented. If you don't understand the option in the menu that you sit on, and that question mark has popped up, just push and hold the corresponding button on the camera back and viola, an explanation about what the options mean.

Boring Color Tweaks

Rock taken at sRGB Version I.

Rock taken at sRGB Version II.

Rock taken at sRGB Version III.

Unpacking the new body from its box, the settings were pretty similar to the ones in the D2H. Setting the sensitivity down to ISO 100, I started shooting images of a boulder, in afternoon sunlight. But the images didn't have any pop in saturation. Keeping the settings on low contrast with the light setting on cloudy, a little experiment with the Adobe settings was done to grab similar images under different color profiles (yes, there's a "?" for that as well). For my tastes, I didn't care for the sRGB and kept the camera on Adobe, in color mode III. Do I understand the color profiles, other than what the camera tells me? Definitely, not. But I liked the saturation better with my current settings. Your tastes may differ.

Under the Stars

Stars at moonrise, untoned image, directly from camera, 30 seconds at ISO 1600 (or HIGH1).

Using my settings on high contrast (altho I usually stick with low contrast for wider tonal range), I banged off some test images of some stars that impressed me while camped out in Chincoteague, VA. Putting a Sigma 10-20mm f/ 4-5.6 (a terrific piece of glass!) on the body, I ramped up the setting to ISO HIGH1, which is 1600 equivalent. Why don't they just call it 1600? Adding to that midnight clear night, 30 seconds of exposure, and high speed crop off, to take full advantage of the 10mm size, which has a lens magnification already in place with Nikons. Adding NR (noise reduction) only adds more write time which is a feature I turned back off, since that would lead to battery drain.

Detail at 100%. The largest images are on my Flickr site.

Taking the camera to its limits (remember trying to shoot ANYTHING with a Nikon D1 series at night? If I have any images stored, I'll add them), I also pulled the file size back to small size and basic setting. And I was pretty darned impressed with what I saw, after being used to the loads of noise in previous Nikons (D2H, D2 and D1 series).

Taken in the high-noise days with a D1H at ISO 800 where Lori Piestewa grew up in Tuba City, 2003.

I really wonder if adding NR will help or hurt in the long run. There are post-processing programs of all types out there. Simply dive into your camera's settings and try each one. And do one thing before changing your settings: make an audio recording of what you've done. Whatever is necessary, make sure to add that audio clip. The EXIF data that is like a thumb print of a picture file didn't have the ISO setting that I had used for the sequence I shot with the Sigma.

Firmware Upgrades, Old and New
Nikon has already released the ver. 2.00 D2Hs firmware upgrade, which add some options. It also has a firmware upgrade for the D2X, and people are whispering that the firmware brings the D2X to closely resemble the D2Xs! But if you choose to upgrade, you're on your own. I won't take responsibility if you screw it up. From what Jeff shared, it's worth adding the new firmware upgrades, and they are simple enough for both the Macintosh (you can tether the camera or drag/drop the file into an SD card, as long as it's recognized by the camera). As for Windows/Microsoft? I can't share any observations, since I'm Macintosh.

Nikon's website was simple enough with the information. You'd better keep your doggone camera on during the process, or you might have something like a paperweight, if the process is interrupted. I already did my D2Hs body, and there were 2 files, firmware A and firmware B, which took a couple minutes. Being a fidgeter with a camera in my hands, I was tempted to play with the buttons, but realized the danger and set it down, picking up a remote instead. Matter of fact, I have to download the D2Xs firmware, which is only about 1 megabyte.

Initial Thoughts
With the greater ISO range, bigger file size, and less noise, I'd say that I'm pretty happy with the D2Xs. It's still one loud camera, which makes it impossible to be ignored in a quiet room, unless the subject's way in their own world. And forget about catching the gremlins or Santa Claus; either one will bolt when hearing the clunk of the shutter. As I learn the camera's assets and limitations, I'll keep posting here. If I can find a way to make it a stand-alone section, I'll do that. The fact that there's an option for some double exposures is nice as well. Bring the film camera functions back into the digital age. It's just not nearly as fun doing it in Photoshop than doing it in-camera. Keep your eyes peeled for the D2H (I just got one, and will review that soon, as well) and other consumer-grade cameras (I keep hearing lots about the Nikon D200 and the Canon EOS 30D) that write very nice files with manageable quality in extreme conditions.

Get yourself some larger cards. Unless you'll be shooting a single frame of a rocket launch, you'll see how quickly a now-old 512 MB card can fill up with the camera settings on high file size and quality, let alone trying to shoot in RAW or TIFF. Try that in a 256 or 512 MB card, and your once-formidable CF card becomes tinky winky. If your card size isn't ready for the camera, set it temporarily until you get at least a 1GB, and perhaps a 2GB or larger card. That way, you can take advantage of the best image quality, instead of scaling it back, which then starts defeating the point of getting such a camera, in the first place.

But again, see where this is heading? The CD burn for storing files is way obsolete. Remember, CD's have now been used since the early 1980's. Their capacity was fine for the early computers. Just as we've outlived them, we're outliving the usefulness of CD data storage. At this stage, you'll start filling up 4.4GB DVD data disks, if you're shooting high resolution NEF and TIFF files, or if you're shooting several jobs in one day. So a nearby option may still be to start considering a now-expensive high-capacity disk burner and disks (BlueRay, HD DVD), or at the very least, a double-layer DVD burner. The 9GB disks are still pretty expensive, and their use will be temporary, since high definition media will be available for the masses when people start capturing video on HDTV cameras.

Frustration.

2006-12-08T02:31:00.000-05:00

Isn't there a 1950's or '60s song titled, "Frustration"? If I had a voice, I'd be belting those tunes right now. That's been life behind the viewfinder of this camera.

No, I'm not about to give up. But I feel as though the world of change is coming pretty hard right now. Between learning (and remembering) all the settings of the HVX200 and trying to figure out how Final Cut Pro can be called "easy," I'm about to thrust my head through a brick wall. There they are, trying to show me how easy it is, and within 5 minutes, their words turn to mwah mwah mwah... reminding me of the teacher whose face you never see in the Charlie Brown TV specials (what was her name??)

It's frustrating. And it's also depressing. Shots that I've framed in the camera look good, but they just don't watch very well. You know, it's a bit like the viewfinder has the look of an Ansel Adams print. It's all right there. But when you look at what you've done, it looks so... amateur.

Dudley commented about my situation, today. "You're hitting a glass wall," he said. Right now, it's bullet-proof. Final Cut Pro looms ahead, as yet another thing I've got to master in short order, since I'll be shooting primarily video, some day. The HVX has 100 sub-menus, and I hate the way the camera doesn't keep its last-used settings. You turn it off, and you have to redo everything again. I've tried saving to an SD card, but I can't seem to figure the files' locations.

Somewhere online, I heard there was a website that has more information about the HVX menus, and I hope to some day create a section about that as well. Some parts of the menus are still out of my understanding, because work doesn't give enough time to let you learn new gear. It's just there and you've got to on-the-job it.

Another source of frustration is that so often, I've got to shoot stills of daily assignments. The HVX doesn't get used, which prevents me from getting a daily dose of training in the field. And with the daily jobs, I've been trying to shoot some movie footage. Yesterday, Bob revealed that he checked out some work I shot on a couple who help with a high school booster club.

"You didn't get enough to create a project," he said. That sounds like failure to me. I tried explaining that I had to shoot sports for deadline, and I didn't have time to work the boosters, which started 30 minutes before game time.

When things turn this way, my depression level balloons, and I feel as though it's gotten the size of a zeppelin. This is the first time in years that I've had self doubts. The frustration mounts. I'm not ready to hit the panic button, but I'm slowly running out of confidence.

Giving Them the Slip
Working on my small project didn't help my feelings that I've garnered some bad karma. In the field, capturing some footage of mass transit, I started wrapping up a shoot on North Av when a woman called to me across the tracks. "Sir, are you a Mass Transit employee?"

"No, I am not," I replied, and figured that was a good enough clue that perhaps I wasn't welcome there anymore. Knocking down the tripod, I packed the gear into my albino Honda and started to leave. Driving past the white SUV, there were MTA placards on the doors. And the woman, who was outside, ran back to get into the vehicle as I passed. "Do you want me to do a 'one-eighty'?" was the quote running through my silly head from Kevin Costner's "The Bodyguard," as I slowed to a stop at the traffic light, with the MTA employee right behind me. We turned right to head east and she followed my change to the left turn lane at Mt Royal Avenue, as I simply wanted to get out of there and hit the Jones Falls Expressway. With a traffic light making a long cycle, I sounded like a broken record: "Change, light. Change, light!"

West of the traffic light, rolling with lights and sirens, a police vehicle headed my way, blowing the light and breezing past me, turning left into the MTA stop. It was an MTA police! Just then, the light goes green, and I do a one-eighty, making a legal U-turn to take that highway ramp. The light turns from green to amber, and I've already made up my mind. Damn the red light cameras, full speed ahead! Fortunately, another SUV that had made a right on red at Mt Royal had gotten behind me, and created a classic basketball screen, stopping for the red light as my turtle bopped on the ramp. Of course, in my state of mind, rampant thoughts of fantastic possibilities ran through my head:

Is there an APB out for me?
Has Baltimore raised their terror level?
Will the MTA police come banging on my door as I sleep?
Have they sent my name to a federal watch list?
Will someone secure a warrant and use a ram to check my home while I'm away?

With all those wild scenarios floating through my head, I later returned (after downloading my clips), and saw an MTA employee sitting in his Explorer truck. Explaining what happened, I had hoped that he might call the police, to allay my fears. "I'm sorry, sir," he responded, "but we're forbidden to talk with the media."

Panasonic HVX200 Shoot: Invasion of the Jaggies!

2006-12-05T03:15:00.000-05:00

Steve is shredded by the camera through an effect called "jaggies."

I didn't even plan on writing about this, but video jaggies were on my mind.

I had made a cheat sheet to help me figure on-the-fly about avoiding "jaggies," which are the video artifacts you see during camera shake, or when there's a jolting of the camera during shooting. It's an ugly-looking phenomenon, and I was bitten during a shoot this past summer, during a barbecue contest.

Mmmmm. Barbecue. Oh - anyway, while powering up the HVX200, I had started shooting in a native format, which was set in the menu at 24PN, shot at 480, interlaced. The footage looked all right, but I didn't hear any sound while shooting Steve, who was part of the taking part in the 2006 Bel Air Barbecue challenge. So I switched to 30P at 480i, which finally gave me some audio.

I played back the new clip, and heard the audio, but noticed the picture looked...just a little ragged. Thinking it was perhaps the fault of the stock flip-open screen, I kept shooting, until I had 32 minutes of SDTV (standard definition) footage, so I retreated to my albino turtle to transfer the files onto my PowerBook, which can actually play the files at that size. But double-checking on the clips, I didn't like what I shot, one bit.

The jaggies had invaded my footage! Those interlaced erect tentacles that look like perfectly-parallel lightning bolts were embedded in every clip I had shot. Somewhere along the line, I needed to work something out. But I had little time, since a deadline loomed. Onward I pressed, shooting what I could as quickly as possible to finish out the next 32 minutes of clips.

Returning to my car, I figured that a nice crib sheet was in order. It could rest as desktop wallpaper for a while, until I could memorize what was needed. The image could then be stored in the wallpapers folder for future reference.

Finally setting the recording function to 30P at 720 progressive, I shot the rest in progressive high definition with sound, but could only capture 8 minutes of footage, since my 4GB P2 cards could only store 8 gigs total, since each minute of 720P footage needs 1 gigabyte of space. But the HD footage can be turned into "filmout," which translates into frame grabbing, in my case. (It really means processing the file into footage that will be exposed on culluloid film.)

Frustrated by not remembering the correct settings I wanted, I sat down after work and color-coded files to give myself a crib sheet so that I could look at a glance at my desktop if I ever needed to refresh my memory, or positively verify the right settings before a shoot. I just color-coded the files that gave good results in green, while the jagged edge videos were tagged red. The blue is just desktop color.

Well, that's all, all. I've gotta get home to crash and burn. Right now it's tough, because I'm waiting for the multicolored balls to stop rolling in Google, which tells me that they'ye gotten my footage. I'm also working on a project that needs completion perhaps by the end of the week. And I'll try to remember to write about some feedback that my boss, Bob recently shared.

It wasn't praise.

I leave you, hopefully, feeling a hunger pang, since I'm posting a detail shot and a clip it was lifted from, of commercially-grilled BBQ ribs (the one's the contestants serve the public). Enjoy! And return soon; I plan on posting some video of this shoot as well, to show the effects of jaggies, and how it looks when you've set the camera properly.

Down-rezzed clip from 720P HD of commercially-grilled ribs.

Still image lifted from the video clip above, which was shot in 720P high definition.

Upgrading Your Camera System? Plan Wisely!

2006-12-03T16:40:00.000-05:00

Further Website Reading:

CompactFlash (CF Card) official site
Secure Digital (SD Card) official site
Minolta SRT-101 film camera information
Pentax K1000 film camera information

Storage Issues
Writing our digital images to CD media for storage are increasingly not the best option, since we've upgraded our cameras from the Nikon D70/D100/ D2H bodies to the D200/D2Hs/D2Xs cameras. The new bodies write such large file sizes, that it's getting more difficult to burn anything but a DVD data disk to store the raw images these produce. And what do we do with raw HD movie clips, when they record at a gigabyte per minute? This demonstrates that higher-capacity storage gear (like DVD burners and HD/DVD, BluRay disks and servers) have to be added to archive the larger files you'll write. That's the big issue as cameras now are built to document scenes in higher and better definition. That's one of the many issues you have to consider even before purchasing these newer cameras, like an HD camcorder and still cameras, even the more affordable ones.

What Fits?
Before diving into the options for purchasing replacement gear, don't lose sight of your most important option: Purchase the gear that fits what you're shooting for. If you plan on capturing family pictures or video to share with family and friends, do you need something that can bang off 8 frames per second? The camera prices tend to ramp up depending on the build quality. Therefore, gauge your purchase point based on the amount of shooting you wish to do as well as the image quality. And that means that the most crucial investment in camera gear should be the lenses. One can capture a tack-sharp image with the digital and film cameras being produced, as long as first-rate glass stands between your subject and the captured image. Always bear in mind that all a truly great camera must do is remain consistent, and most camera systems do just that. Google such terms as digital lens quality, camera optics, and other words or phrases that relate to lens reviews, since many worthwhile articles and lens tests have already been archived after being published in magazines and websites. Visit photo-specific sites, making certain that you weigh your decision against others' recommendations, understanding that some sites may actually be driven by a camera manufacturer instead of by independent reviewers.

Camera Cards
Scanning quickly through the Canon line of cameras, for instance, entry-level digital SLR's can produce 12.8 megapixel jpegs, while big papa EOS-1Ds Mark II can shoot a 16.7 megapixel image at 4 fps. With the capability of capturing raw images as well, camera users will be filling their 1-gigabyte cards up really fast. So, CF cards (CompactFlash), SD cards (Secure Digital) and other recordable/rewritable camera media need larger capacity, or you'll be spending more time pausing during your photo shoot, just to download your filled memory cards. Try buying higher-capacity cards, and you'll see the seemingly endless names and sizes of cards being introduced. You may want to go to the official CompactFlash and Secure Digital sites to sort through the confusion. While searching Google online, you'll quite often see many camera cards being sold at more affordable prices. Are they reliable? Will they also write fast enough to keep up with the camera you're interested in, at its fastest shooting speed? Will these cards be compatible with your camera? Those are questions that the prospective buyer must answer, in order to make a sound and logical decision before making a commitment to buy. And there's new technology on the horizon as solid state media has to perform faster than all the cameras being released.

Forward Compatibility
Quite often, we make purchases before taking a look at the needed accessories under consideration. Just because you purchase the same camera system, a new body may not be forward-compatible with some camera accessories you have in your arsenal. Several years ago, for instance, the Nikon D1-model bodies were being sold at discount in order to make way for the D2 system. The new cameras were built with updated electronic flash integration, making the flash units on the D1 line obsolete with new models. There are so many bodies within the Canon and Nikon digital systems that it can make your head swim. Camera manufacturers from Agfa to Toshiba are releasing digital cameras of all types, with more features that will make buyers more confused than ever! The only way to keep your mind focused is to ask yourself what you really want your camera to do.

Don't get Frustrated
A new body or system takes unlearning the hardware and/or firmware from what you've gotten used to using. Cameras are like automobiles. While you've adjusted to its qualities and shortcomings, the realist inside knows that you're living on limited use with what you have, since each day begins to test your comfort level as you're outgrowing your gear. Each day you still have your old gear, it slowly depreciates in value. Some people like to update their equipment regularly, which yields more money from your old equipment. One brand of equipment has better resale value, while another depreciates more quickly. Don't ask me which, though, because my gear is issued by work!

Patience, Patience
A good number of people have said that purchasing any new camera system will cost twice the amount of the retail cost of the cameras alone, in order to completely upgrade gear. For instance, with the addition of the AG-HVX200 camcorder (which was purchased in June), there are still several critical pieces of equipment that still need to be purchased to be able to maintain a smooth workflow from shooting footage to archiving the files. Be honest with yourself, in order to make the jump a successful one. Rushing too quickly to upgrade can make your daily work quite frustrating. Perhaps you've noticed that I had no recommendations. That's because you must make your own decision, by asking and answering your questions and researching all the options you have.

A Sadder Note
There are currently, about 25 DSLR bodies available from the larger and more popular camera manufacturers, in my estimation, that are currently in production in the U.S. market. But there are less, now, than I had originally thought. Konica and Minolta, who had joined together a number of years ago, had ceased production of their camera business, since March 31, 2006 according to their website. They also plan to slowly phase out their color film and photographic paper products, completing complete termination by the end of March next year, 2007. There is no longer official support for their film cameras, but their digitals are being supported by Sony. Do some of you remember learning photography with the 35mm film work horses, the Minolta SRT-101 and the Pentax K1000? Many schools purchased those cameras since they were durable and affordable. All you needed was a roll of film and hands to adjust and fire the camera. No beeps, color displays, or worries about dead batteries (as long as you could estimate the exposure) or even a light to moderate rain. Those cameras were so sturdy, it seemed like they could be used to actually hammer nails.

You know, I'm going to hunt for both of those cameras on eBay.

Lumix FZ30 Shoot: Hybrid Movie Clip From Video, Still Files

2006-12-02T23:30:00.000-05:00

Software info:
iSquint
Apple Quicktime
iMovie
Hardware Review:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30
Also, check out my own review here.

It's about time to start the "trial and error" phase of joining still images, movie clips and audio!

Writing from Glen Burnie, I'm trying something else with the Lumix FZ30. I shot some low-resolution images and I'm currently pasting the images together and then splicing the movie files for a walk-around of my albino Honda sea turtle.

Getting bored with driving up and down Route 2, trying to find one of those fake trees for the holiday (NOT for me; for my best friend and my godchildren), I gave up on the effort and turned to learning the cut and paste process. Hopping out of the albino, I grabbed the Lumix and started shooting some stills in the "∞" (unlimited shooting) setting. Dropping the camera's resolution rate back to the smallest "EZ" setting and switching the jpeg size to the smallest available, I began by making a movie file in-camera.

Holding my position, I turned the camera to "shutter priority," which was set on 1/25th second, the closest shutter speed that matches the movie camera frame rate (1/24th second). Grabbing a bunch of images as I started moving my position, I walked to the side of the car, stooped shooting stills, and switched again to shoot a small movie clip. The process of shooting still images (at about 2 frames/second or so), switching to a movie clip, and back to stills continued for the walk-around, until I was behind my car, with a trickle of battery power to spare. Adding a short bit of footage to finish, I burrowed back in the Panera Bread, which has wi-fi for free, for a little web-surfing at cable speed.

Opening the finder and clicking on the still images, each image size was 2048 pixels wide, while my movie rate is 640 pixels wide! So, there will be several layers of post-production to make the still movies and movie clips all the same pixel size.

Being a still photographer for my whole adult life and still learning about things like iMovie and Quicktime Pro, here's the method I went through (and my processor is still cranking out down-conversion while I write):

Copy the files to the desktop.
Mark the movie clips to visually exclude them.
Create folders and drag all the sequenced still images into each one.
Using Quicktime Pro, make image sequences out of images in each folder.
Using iSquint, resize the movie file from current size (2048x1536) to 640x480, the same size of the movie clips.
Since the new files are .mp4 (for iPod video), open in Quicktime and save as .mov files.
Drop all the smaller clips in iMovie and place them in order.
Export all the sequences into one movie.

Desktop screenshot of the file size of a Quicktime movie, shot as a movie file with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30. Dimension size for the movie clip is NTSC standard, 640x480, and the clip length is only 19 seconds while the size of the clip is 22.7 MB.

The final file size was 78.2 megs and 2'00", so I optimized the file for posting online, by running it back through iSquint for Macintosh OS X. The desktop screenshot of the file size of a Quicktime movie, joined through the iSquint proggie, using still images and movie clips. Original file size, once at over 200 MB, is dropped to 14MB for 2 minutes of footage. I've been using it more and more as a movie clip resizing tool since I also have a video iPod, and the quality of the resized clips are decent enough, while the program is very stable:

Yup, that's a lot of steps, and I haven't even gotten to the audio portion yet! As I learn Final Cut and Macromedia Flash, PostProd is certain (hopefully) to be streamlined. The next thing to learn is adding audio to the still-image movie files. So far, I haven't gotten any royalty-free music, but I tried adding some of the iMovie sound effects (like the revving engine) and haven't figured that out. And I'm getting frustrated tonight, so I'm ready to shut this down. With more work in post, you can bet that audio like cool music will be added, as I begin mastering multimedia production.

HVX200 Footage: I'm Trying a Google Video Post

2006-12-02T04:16:00.000-05:00

I've been behind the 8-ball with work! On my way out, I noticed that the Google videos seem to look better than YouTube, so I'm trying a post to see what the Google upload looks like. I hope to write more in the next couple days!

HVX200 Video! Plus, There's Always Something I Forget...

2006-11-28T20:23:00.000-05:00

Stage fright.
You may get over it, but you never forget it.

I just finished with the guest speakers at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD, and I still get nervous when all eyes stare back at me! Terry Dalton, who has hosted the annual event in which professionals - mainly from different news-gathering entities - visit his class to share information about their field of work.

I had told Terry back in the summer that I had a surprising presentation and couldn't wait for November, yet I actually had nothing in hand to show. Usually, the talk would revisit the year's work. Last year, I shared my images from Hurricane Katrina and the Indonesian tsunami. This year, I felt my work was seriously lacking, since I've been swamped with learning the HVX200.

Being stoked about the shift towards multimedia journalism, called "the voice in the story," I gathered some finished work from some of the staff. Algerina's sound slides of the Basilica, Monica's work on Factor VII, David Hobby's images of a tree in the fall, and Chiaki's piece about the Pleasant family's double-whammy cancer fight were some pieces short and good enough to send a message. I saved Barb's project on Recher Rock for last, just to let the class watch a little about indie bands.

The message was the same that I learned months ago: don't just be a photographer. Or a camera operator. Or a reporter, or audio technician, gathering for radio. Do all of those things, and learn through practice. Being sure to make eye contact, I didn't let the students know that I'm actually introverted. Well, I did hint at that, when sharing the fact that I feel more comfortable behind the camera, silently documenting others.

Maryland Terrapins' DJ Strawberry hustles and dives after ball!!

Ending the chat with some HVX footage of a basketball and a cool clip I shot at a Maryland Terrapins game (which is WAY down-rezzed by the YouTube folks, but I hope you still can enjoy it), a couple of those listening seemed a bit in disbelief that people are actually doing well by creating multimedia projects and blogging online. One, who stayed after class, picked my brain about the concept.

Everyone in her class has taken photos. With the cameras of today, anyone can take a pretty darn good image, if they work on it. Regarding the hybrid cameras, just a couple of clicks on the dial, and your still digital can instantly begin capturing sound and video. So, if you have any kind of light budget (or know someone who wants to loan you the gear) you can put a hybrid camera in your hot mitts and start teaching yourself about how to document the world around you.

The important thing I failed to share was that a web visitors can be limitless. Instead of showing your product to your friends, you now have an audience that's worldwide (depending on internet access and whether any particular country will allow your work to be accessed). Newspapers have always trained their sights on local coverage. But the web allows for worldwide viewing of whatever might be published. So if a newspaper's subscription total was 250,000, locally, it would be seen by an estimated 500,000 people.

On the web, there are billions of people online, and the viewers are growing in numbers, so there will always be an audience, until or unless the web decides to stop or change. No one can even fathom that happening, so the only one stopping you, is you. The web has opened the whole world to those who can access it. And it lets you and I be our own journalists, columnists, publicists, critics, managing editors and publishers. That's why big media has stumbled. People now have the ability to cover each other. Instead of waiting for the local news at 6pm, or the next day's paper,you and I can simply post it online ourselves. CNN and Fox have been getting their news clips and information from daily blogs and YouTube posts. The infamous video of "Kramer" Richards losing control? It was captured by an audience member's cell phone.

Find your niche and work on it. Whether it's a sport (or love of one), a hobby, a particular rant you care to vent, or the latest bad driver that carelessly drove past you, remember the most important thing: many people are just like you, and feel the same way. And they're currently Googling phrases that you could have already been writing about.

Conor gazes into the night, his eyes trying to spot Santa and Mrs. Claus.

As for this blog entry, much of it was written in the parking lot of a Cactus Willie's during some down time between jobs. The rest was finished here, at a Panera Bread in north Baltimore, after I transmitted pictures of 4-year-old Conor, searching the skies for Santa at a tree lighting ceremony. So, keep your laptop with you, at all times; at some moment, you may suddenly get the urge to fire up your PowerBook and pound your keyboard during a brainstorm.

Don't give up on your passion if no one flocks to your site at first. If you want that, you have to expose your site and make it searchable and easily-accessed. That's one reason why I've switched from MySpace, since they require membership, just to view a person's page.

Review: Panasonic AG-HVX200

2006-11-25T15:44:00.000-05:00

Equipment and software reference for this post:

Panasonic AG-HVX200 HD Camcorder (review)
Red Camera 4x Digital Super 35mm Camcorder (info)
Panasonic AG-DVx100 Camcorder (review)
Hybrid, multiformat camera (list)
Canon EOS 1DS Mkii (review)
Nikon D2XS (improvements)
Final Cut Pro 5 (review)
Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD (info)

We just received a Panasonic AG-HVX200 DVCPro HD camcorder and I tell you, it's got more menus than a powerhouse Chinese restaurant. It's not for people who enjoy the pyro-friendly camera; there are menus with the depth of a 15-layer cake. The reason is because the camera can be configured into over 100 different ways of shooting!

The HVX200 gives the new user a challenge to sink or swim, because it thrusts you into deep water. If you've ever shot with the DVX100, you'll adapt to the HVX quite well, from other reviews I've read. Being a still shooter for a major city daily newspaper, we're moving towards high definition gear to shoot movie clips and pull frames for news print. With this in mind, the camera's color retention are quality. But I wish the configs were a bit simpler. It's taken months of time to learn this new format of news-gathering, but I see the potential with this gear.

One big drawback that I see is that the menu buttons are on top of the camera, beside and beneath the handle. Try shooting in the field and change your recording format, and it's an awkward feat to accomplish, since you're looking through the viewfinder (or watching the fold-out screen) as you scroll through the layers to figure which is the best recording format.

Would I consider giving this camera up? Hail, no. It's a powerful tool, and the result is what the image quality is about. The color shift with reds and greens and blues are minimal, unlike other samples from competing cameras that I have seen. This, coupled with the ability to drop files into a PowerBook with Final Cut Pro makes it a fast and efficient companion to get files changed to .mov format to drop them into ftp for web publication.

Delete unwanted files as you record. Drop the files onto a hard drive and wipe your P2 card to shoot some more. But you'd better have your software and hardware in order before you plunk down $6,000 retail,, just for the camera (and no mounted boom microphone - sold as an acc). A 4gb card sells $600, the optional 100gb Firestore costs $2,000 (which is about the same price as a couple 8gb P2 cards), Final Cut Pro 5 costs $1,000, and you aren't even talking about the need for a GOOD fluid head tripod ($500), wireless microphone system ($700), Blu-Ray or HD/DVD burner (for the multitude of gigs of recording files), extra batteries and perhaps a large external drive to store clips as you figure how to keep all the hundreds of gigs of files from overloading all your open drive space. The HVX eats drive space like a great white eats people. It doesn't think, it just does, and at up to a gigabyte per minute.

Even with working for a newspaper, we still have to adjust our budget royally to get what's needed for one HVX camera. Add filters and a 4x4 filter system and, yeesh. Or, kerching. It's bling bling for the developers, while you've just spent the same amount for your camera, just to get it up, and running.

**Rule of thumb, boys and girls: plan to spend double the camera's cost to outfit a system; aka, you'll have to fork out over $11,000 to effectively shoot in the field and edit in-house.**

For those in the pro field, it's probably worth it. For the casual user, or someone just getting into indie film making or trying to make money off the business, it might be worth it to wait. The HVX200 is a groundbreaking camera, like digital cameras revolutionized photography. Tapeless production will be adopted and will change the face of video production in the coming years. The price will drop as others compete for market share.

Hopping on the new gear bandwagon can kill your budget. Think about it: If you plunk the five grand for the camera alone, and it happens to be updated or significantly changed, you suddenly have a dinosaur on your hands. Some suggest that you should get the gear whenever you're ready, and I tend to actually subscribe to this. The big question you should ask yourself is, when do you truly feel you're fully in the market for such gear? Because there are already more significant gains being created and developed now, that are making this equipment primed for obsolescence. The Red Camera, for instance, can shoot digital Super 35mm movies, which add up to 12 megapixels per frame. Its projected cost is $17,500, while it claims to shoot in UHD (ultra high definition) that could be more than the best high definition sets can ever project. But the interesting thing is that such quality is perhaps, better than the Nikon D2HS and D2XS, including some of the Canon digital 35mm cameras.

Technological history very well should follow the same pattern: Technology results in price cuts as the first generation UHD cameras yield to next-generation camcorders, with subsequent models achieving better quality, more compact sizes, and deeper price cuts. So I plan to go on a limb and predict that the UHD camera will become widely available within the next 5-7 years. The price cuts will drop the retail cost to somewhere in the $7,000 window.

So, here's where the clash will come:

$7,300, the Canon EOS 1DS Mkii, with a 35mm full frame CMOS sensor, shooting 4 frames/second for up to 32 shots before it must pause to write.
$4,700, the Nikon D2XS, with a 12.4Mp, shooting 5 fps in full size mode, with a 60-frame buffer at cropped mode (8 fps, too).
Many entry-level cameras are gaining popularity as hybrid cameras, able to shoot stills or video, on the fly.
More and more people will want to see high quality video on their high definition monitors, which are also gaining popularity, just like video.
The HD and UHD camcorders, dropping in price, will gain critical options, like interchangeable lens systems.

We're on the edge of a big and sweeping change in the next generation of hybrid cameras, which currently boast decent still image quality with a wide zoom range (between 8x and 12x, average) while able to capture standard definition movie files with sound, at 640x480. As these hybrids get ramped up to their own next-generation quality, the widescreen format will be addressed in the video files, while the quality issue MUST be addressed in order for them to be considered as the NTSC television sets are phased out and HDTV is phased in. This means that the video quality must shoot in some kind of HDTV, either 1280x720, or 1920x1080.

The issue we faced was that it was time back in March, to choose a camcorder that shoots in high-def. At the time, the HVX200 was the choice, and we've ordered another one since. The time to choose is now, but it's wrong to speculate and wait, when you're ready to purchase. You have to go with a choice, because there will always be gear waiting in the wings, ready to replace the most brand-spanking new gear that just replaced the latest obsolete equipment.

In closing, here are some clickable thumbs, shot in different resolutions from NTSC standard (640x480) to HDTV (1920x1080).

Happy Thanksgiving, to You.

2006-11-23T03:35:00.000-05:00

Please enjoy yourselves today, as best as you can. We get so caught up in our own lives that sometimes, we neglect thinking of others who are struggling with their lives, in one form or fashion. Please think about helping someone in need. Reach out and share your thanks, to help someone else smile.

Lumix FZ30 Shoot: First Video Embed; Frame Stills & Still Photo

2006-11-22T22:14:00.000-05:00

These stills are frames from digital movie clips with the Panasonic FZ30. At the bottom is a comparison between the footage and an HQ still image, shot with the same camera.

Short Clip shot with the Lumix DMC-FZ30

As I wait for the accessories to start coming in for the HVX200, I'm training myself to learn how to creatively shoot digital film clips with the Lumix FZ30. It's actually a terrific starter camera for those considering video, considering it was around $500 new. It should be less, now that the FZ50 has been introduced. By allowing the user to switch between digital still and movie, an interesting process can be exploited.

Mac drives as the camera shoots from the dashboard.

I decided to record a subject who plans to design an ethanol plant, which forced me to work around a rather constricting location: his pickup truck. Mac drove his Dodge through the wind and rain of a strong nor'easter as we headed south towards Pocomoke City on the southeastern corner of Maryland. In that time, I shot about 25 minutes of footage while Mac shared the plans and vision of the plant.

The portability of the FZ30, working in the footwell.

But I also didn't want to conduct the interview outside for several reasons. First, it was a soaking, cold rain outside, and I had already begun feeling that tingly sensation in my throat, showing that I'm getting ill. I'm also using a camera with no external microphone, whose mic is built onto the upper left portion of the camera body, facing up.

A little hand detail captured while Mac speaks.

Remembering an important tip given by Brian Storm, I chose to let Mac speak about the ethanol process from inside the cabin of his truck, which is actually a truly great location to conduct an audio recording. The closed doors seal out much unwanted noise, and the interior creates a sound dampening room as the voice is absorbed, rather than reflected. The interior of such a tight space can be a challenge for someone who wants to express a creative side, but practicing the effort can yield better composition, creating visually appealing scenes by looking beyond the obvious.

A tight shot as Mac focuses on his destination.

The obvious scenes are capturing your subject from the position of the passenger. Shoot that way for more than a couple minutes, and the viewer will get pretty bored, because that turns the subject into nothing more than a talking head. They may as well stand behind a podium. Capturing such a perspective exclusively constricts your own vision, blinding you to other opportunities that can make the package fresh and appealing. Give your viewers angles that they haven't seen. Adding those unusual perspectives can heighten your audiences' interest, making them want to see what angle might fill the next scene.

Rain pelts the window while the FZ30 gathers audio.

What I love about a hybrid camera like the Lumix is that you can see composition by shooting digital stills. The FZ30 has the option to shoot still images in 3 formats: 4x3, 3x2, and 16x9. These are all formats currently in use in standard television, widescreen HDTV, commercial movie cinema, and 35mm film.

Mac, framed in his rear view, rides to destination.

Switch between the 3 still formats and see how your composition changes. It's a mind-altering experience, because you now have a scene-capturing camera that acts as 4 different cameras at the switch of a preference or a dial. You'll see how composition really matters, depending on the format. If you don't adjust between format sizes, you will wind up wasting vital space (I'll try to remember writing about cropping in a later blog).

A frame from the short, 7-second clip above.

By shooting footage, you may even be inspired to shooting some stills, switching your camera over to take some pictures, which happened to me, when we headed up to a farm that was purchased for the plant. I recorded him the first time we drove towards the farm, but wanted some still images, because the visual style I honed in on while shooting footage gave me some ideas to shoot the stills I needed.

Mac explains the proposed site, outside.

The majority of the footage was inside his truck, and Mac apologized for the bad weather, thinking it wouldn't make for a good camera day. But my opinion was that the situation presented itself well for a successful shoot, even though only a minute or so was spent physically on the property, outside his truck. After writing a caption for my Flickr page, I see now why the frame fits the subject.

Frame still from footage while driving to the site...

...yields this portrait, which makes people look more.

The image captures a different-style portrait of Mac, a traveling man who was given the assignment to find a viable site for an ethanol plant. Photographing him outside made him look more like the owner of the place. Seeing this image and analyzing it, Mac is separated from the site by glass, sitting where he's best known to be: always on the go. As his task winds down, he plans to tow the portable trailer that he's lived in, back to Richmond.

Late Evening, so Just a Note

2006-11-21T23:07:00.000-05:00

My day started at 11am in North Baltimore (covering "back-in angle parking"), and it's finally ended at 11:25pm here in Salisbury, after a detour up to Millington, MD (taking photos of a family whose son is fighting for the country in Iraq). So, the noodles are fried, and I'm packing it in for the evening. Make sure to have a small case stashed in the back of your car with a change of clothes and toiletries, just in case. I just learned that, myself, since these assignments were dropped on me this afternoon. Always keep yourself prepared for at least an extra day. Fortunately, the hotel has some bathroom items. My day starts early Wednesday by swinging down to Princess Anne to photograph a farmer.

Early Rise=No Photos; Lumix FZ30 Shoot: Murder Suspects

2006-11-20T17:33:00.000-05:00

I plan on posting the media clips from today's assignment; the clips right now are stuck in another location, so I'm attempting a direct link, which is a popup script. We'll see if the links to the clips (below) work, meanwhile. If they do, just follow them from here.

Police release details of arrest
Kyneita talks about what happened

My first day (I had hoped) of starting at 7AM in order to begin shooting some footage for the paper's website! The task: Meet with Paul, who works for the state, who cruises through the DC metro area (Maryland side), helping starnded motorists and accident scenes. It was a reshoot of an assignment that had to be postponed from the original shoot intended for last Friday. Calling him on my cell as asked, the call went directly to his voice mail.

Red flag number one.

Perhaps he's in the middle of helping with an emergency scene, I thought. Oh well. I left a message as I started driving south on I-95 to meet him just inside the Capital Beltway at 8am. Traffic crawled by the MD-216 exit near Laurel, but I was happy enough, gloating about the latest win for the home team in NFL football, being doubly happy that the team near Washington had lost again (sorry, 'Skins fans). Reaching the destination with a few minutes to spare, Paul's orange roadside assistance van was nowhere to be found among the parked cars and vans at the Park & Ride. A call to his cell went directly to his voicemail again. Leaving a message, I waited, finally feeling a little impatient after 30 minutes had elapsed with no return call. Since the shoot was for a daily story, I waited some more, firing up my PowerBook to copy some images from a recent shoot onto the desktop.

Finally, I'd had enough. At 9am, I called the picture desk and Jeff said to pull the plug. On the way back to Baltimore, I made a detour to Clarksville to grab a quick photo of a high school athlete of the week, then rolled straight to city police headquarters for some kind of presser. The time wound up being pretty tight as I parked the buggy on the sidewalk across from HQ behind some TV trucks. It was Lumix Day, I figured. Any press conference would be ideal to try shooting some video for the web. Since the accessories - especially the 100GB recording drive -- hadn't come in, I figured I'd use just the FZ30 to capture stills and video during the announcement.

Baltimore Police announce the arrests of 2 children,
charged as adults in the stabbing death of Nicole
"Nikki" Edmonds, 17.

Five minutes after arrival and the press conference began. The police made an announcement that two suspects - both children - were being detained, charged as adults for the murder of 17-year-old Nicole Edmonds, who had gotten stabbed to death after getting off at a light rail stop with her brother. The two were returning from Anne Arundel County, where they worked until midnight, and I understand that officials have accused at least 4 people of taking part in an ambush in order to take a cell phone. The FZ30 silently captured footage as they gave their accounts of how the boy and girl were found and arrested, and I switched over to the still mode to shoot some frames for print publication after feeling that enough footage had been recorded.

By 11:30am, a CD of the raw clips were taken to Steve, who started editing for a web post. Meanwhile Gus, who had been working on the story took me along as we tried to find the families of the ones accused of the crime. Striking out at our first location, we tried another 2 homes north of downtown. The door opened and then shut for several minutes as we waited outside as those within the home made up their minds. Eventually, we were allowed to come in.

The glum faces told the story as loved ones struggled to cope with the fresh news that someone they knew and loved had been named a murderer by the police. The family opened up slowly as we started to learn more as Kyneita began sharing more about her sister, 16-year-old Lataye.

The toughest part a journalist has is having to document the survivors dealing with the loss of an untimely death. But that's one of the aspects of being a journalist. And Kyneita refused to have her picture taken when I first asked.

Letting the interview continue, I listened to every word, because the job remains to exhaust every possibility to complete the story. Eventually, I asked again, expecting "no" for an answer. And that's when I had to tell her about what we had to go with if "no" was her final answer.

The only thing that anyone would know about her little sister is that Lataye was charged as an adult. The only thing people would see are images of a police mug shot. The only thing that people would hear would be what the police accused her of. Gus pulled out a photocopy of her mugshot, which was a hard dose of reality for them, as each family member wept when they saw an image of someone that they all loved, reduced to the label of an accused murderer.

Kyneita, 19, weighed her options and finally agreed to be photographed.

Kyneita, 19, pauses while talking about her younger
sister, Lataye, 16 following Lataye's arrest, charged
in connection with Nikki's murder.

Responsible journalism means trying to understand the whole story, and not just what any one party says. It was only a day since the boy and girl were charged, but some, like Lataye's family, wanted to let people know that it's not her nature to do the crime that she's been accused of. A big piece of the puzzle is missing, they said, saying that the adults said to have been part of the crime may very well be that big missing piece.

Taking her to a window near the kitchen, the FZ30 silently captured photos as Kyneita pondered about her little sister. Finally as we ended the interview outside, Kyneita shared some of her own thoughts in digital footage that she wanted to say to those who can't grasp why anyone had to be murdered at all.

Returning to the office, I burned another CD with the new footage to add to the short package and I edited the photos of Kyneita and the copies of her sister, who had posed while 12 years old, in images frozen in time as she had pictures taken of her in her cheerleading outfit, proud and outwardly happy and at peace for that moment in her life.

Lataye cheerleading at 12 years old.

As I was about to leave the office for the day, Chuck finally told me what had happened with Paul, the roadside assistance guy that never returned my calls. "It turns out that he was on vacation," Chuck said.

Review: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30

2006-11-19T10:57:00.000-05:00

Adding this camera for review is a no-brainer; I have used it to capture VGA movie clips as "B roll" for my Panasonic HVX200. It makes a great addition to those who want to shoot both large-file stills and video. In addition to my own thoughts about the cameras mentioned here, added are links to other reliable reviews (and a couple accessories) that helped me choose the cameras that I have in my shooting arsenal.

Independent Camera Reviews:
Lumix DMC-FZ50
Lumix DMC-FZ30
Lumix DMC-FZ20
Nikon D2H
AG-HVX200 Note: I've found lots of techie HVX reviews, & hope to write one that's informative and not over- technical.

Feel free to check them out as well. Make an informed decision before you purchase!

The Good:
Easy menus
Quick format changes
Ability to shoot still images or video
Silent while shooting
Zooming during video
12x zoom range
Built-in flash and hot shoe
VGA (standard TV size) and QVGA video
People ignore you when you shoot
Manual override or point/shoot
1/2000th sec-60 second shutter range

The Bad:
Digital noise over 100 ISO
no external mic option
delay doubles when shooting over 1 second exposures
(a 1-minute exposure can take 2 minutes)
A thing called "chromatic aberration" or "color fringing."
Lack of widescreen video option (the newly-released FZ50 has this)

I've had the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 for about a year, now, and have had some grand successes. I had upgraded to the FZ30 after working with the Lumix FZ20, a smaller camera that survived with me through Hurricane Katrina. For its shortcomings, which included the lack of an exterior zoom lens, I was glad to have had it.

One of the biggest boons of this low-profile camera is its method of being largely-ignored by the subjects that are covered. How often have I been shooting (or recording video), and yet the subject rarely recognizes that I'm capturing images or movie clips. I have yet to figure whether the FZ30 can have a tally light turned on (the small red lamp that blinks or glows when recording film clips), but I'd rather have it that way. How often do I pick up a camera like the Panasonic AG-HVX200, and people recognize... or want to be recognized.

One of the great things is how this little big camera can be configured. Multiple preferences within the camera can be easily accessed, and it's user-friendly with no heavy depth of sub-menus, like the Nikon D2H or HVX200. A pro shooter can turn the camera into a manually-adjustable unit, or change to a variety of shooting styles like Aperture/Shutter priority and Program modes. The other thing that's sweet is how those who have the mindset, "don't think; just shoot" can turn the dial to an easier mode. The methods, which are combined by picking your preference in the settings inside the LCD viewfinder, can allow you to choose a host of options, including "Snow," "Food," and "Baby," which I haven't bothered. For some truly mixed light, like tungsten, fluorescent and daylight, the "Food" option has somehow delivered the best white balance than many of the other categories, so I have that one as an option.

I try to shoot as often as I can at ISO 80, but it can be really hard to keep this as an option, especially when many of my shoots are available light. If I'm forced to, I crank up the ISO and try to mildly tone down the extreme digital noise in Noise Ninja." I only use this camera in low-light situations when the job requires a quiet camera, since the D2H body screams for attention, every time the shutter fires. The FZ30 actually saved several photo shoots, like a live performance by the Annapolis Symphony. A reassurance to the director by firing the camera to demonstrate its silence when shooting allowed a rare chance to capture images during a performance, which was capable of being used as lead art in a newspaper front.

This truly sings when trying to capture an event or moment when not wanting to be noticed. As recently as 2 weeks ago, as two people argued during absentee voting, I banged off 50 images during a heated exchange. Try doing that with a large camera that makes the click-whirr sound, and one or both parties would have demanded that the photography stop.

And this chromatic aberration can make for an added amount of post-color-adjustments. There is some blue fringing with highlights, like a person wearing white, or a light point. The camera's images drift toward a blue base, and I've been known to desaturate the blues. I have also seen some red artifacts as well, and it can be a pain in the film canister to deal with this. If the FZ30 didn't have so much going for it, I'd divorce myself of it. But for everything it lacks - poor audio in noisy situations (what camcorder doesn't have that issue), I wouldn't like to leave this little bronco home. I keep it with or near me and take it on any out-of-town excursions. At any point, I can turn from tourist to multimedia shooter, able to cover virtually anything for news publication or web. The option of switching between QVGA and VGA video shooting is great for when you want to quickly web-post. QVGA (320x240 pixels) is half the size of VGA (the NTSC television standard, which is 640x480). So, get a few 1-GB or 2 gigabyte SD cards, and you're almost good-to-go. Purchase a few batteries (CGA-S006 and DMW-BMA7 work, and I've made several solid buys at Power101.com) and you can shoot until your cards fill up. But watch shooting in VGA. It can fill your 1GB card if you shoot it for 6 minutes straight. At the full 30 frames/second and audio, video always eats up card space. Many choose to shoot in half VGA, since a lot of people simply post to web, and that option offers around 12 minutes of continual video shooting.

You can turn the dial to "playback," which lets you edit your clips. You can delete one file, a host, or all of them at once. Scroll through images one-by-one, or look at them by thumbnails. This is why I call it a bronco; it's small but packs a wallop of a kick in features, way too many to add here. One added thing I got for the FZ30 is the Raynox HD-6600PRO-55mm wide angle adapter. You can purchase a ton of lenses for the FZ30 at Raynox. The 6600 I have doesn't provide "zoom-through," so you can only zoom about 3X before the image starts losing clarity. Other lenses allow full zoom-through. Again, make sure about what you want. And with any lens add-on, you can also add on a loss of clarity, but I enjoy the ultra-wide 23mm equivalent that the adapter provides.

If you've read THIS FAR, you're either having a boring day, or you've actually gotten something from my thoughts.

Adding some images of what the FZ30 has provided (these thumbs are clickable to see the larger size:

ISO 80, with wide angle adapter. Notice top left corner blur.

ISO 80, with Raynox wide angle adapter.

ISO 80, no lens adapter.

ISO 80, no adapter.

ISO 80, no adapter.

ISO 80, shot through a plane window

And if this works, I'll add some square thumbs that you can check out.

Transferring the MySpace Blogs!

2006-11-18T15:40:00.000-05:00

I've been posting alot in MySpace, but my efforts have been made in a site largely used for dating popularity. Fortunately, however, I've been regularly keeping up with the postings. I plan on transferring my posts here in order to maintain a blog that documents the effort to change my job from photojournalist to visual journalist. Heck, I don't even know what to call the job title. Some call it "platypus," but I hate that term.

I'm not even doing such a thing, juggling different cameras and equipment. The gear is already available, and I have them. Funny thing, they're both made by Panasonic.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30:
A small camera that can zoom a 35mmm equivalent of 35-430mm and also shoot video. I can change the still image format from 3x2 (standard 35mm film size, aka 24x36mm) 4x3 (NTSC television shape) and 16x9 (widescreen HDTV format). This is my go-anywhere camera. I use it whenever I go on vacation (packing my passport and PowerBook as well) and can shoot for publication by being ready for travel virtually anywhere in the world, if ever needed.

Panasonic AG-HVX200:
An HDTV digital film production camera that shoots 1080i (1920x1080, interlaced). I've been known to shoot news, features and sports with this camera, which records up to 60fps (slow motion) while also recording stereo audio. Frame grabs can be taken from footage I capture and edited and toned in an image editor such as Photoshop or Aperture.

I've just figured how to transfer my posts here, while being able to preserve the dates, so I'm in business. I hope this weekend that I can deliver the process and begin posting here.

Lumix DMC-FZ30: Short on Words; Long on Eye Candy

2006-11-16T22:59:00.000-05:00

I'm posting today from a tough location to transmit from, the Skyland Lodge off the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park. It's so tough to keep in touch with the outside world, that a message was left on top of the television set in the room: "This is the only channel this TV gets this Building has no cable or satellite. "Rabbit Ears ONLY"

I managed to have posted some images in my Flickr page, which you're welcome to look at. These were all taken with the Panasonic DMC-FZ30.
Here are some clickable thumbs!

A real simple view from our room as the rough storm passed by.

The sign at Skyland, the highest point on Skyline Drive, near mile post 42.

Long Range Binoculars at Skyland Lodge.

A Natural smile, seen in a tree stump.

A fawn, caught by the camera and some friendly afternoon sunlight.

Okay, I misspelled lichen. So I may have to butcher the page to clean it.

A view of the Massanutten Mountains nearby.

Another deer, checking out who's behind her.

Where I'm staying. The afternoon Sun cooperated well today!

The rest were shot from a pasenger jet on the way in to Baltimore:

Clouds just above, and well below.

Look at the large size to see the detail behind the clouds.

A quick grab as a break in the clouds revealed container cranes in SE Baltimore.

The setting sun creates a myriad of colors in the late afternoon.

On the flight path in to BWI Airport, this view was captured, possibly looking down on the Pasadena area in Anne Arundel County.

Dad and I may return a little early, since he discovered that his home is still without power following the powerful storm that swept through the region.

Nikon D2H/DMC-FZ30: 2006 Contest Season!!

2006-11-10T19:08:00.000-05:00

Here we go again, another season of contest entries. The early one that Duds is lighting a fire under my feet on is the Atlanta photojournalism contest. Here it is, 4am, and I'm having yet another problem with the time, after Photo Mechanic inadvertantly copied someone elses caption information onto my photos. You know, I'm just gonna end it all.

No more editing. The CD is burning, and if there's a mistake, they can sue me! No, I have to get some sleep since I have to get ready for a trip to see my Moms Saturday. I'm excited because I can try to sell some raffles for a plasma television to benefit a friend whose sister contracted stomach cancer. I seem to know so many more people in the Arkansas area than here. I also have a paperwork problem I have to deal with at the MVA. Seems like they lost my tags that I returned.

Anyway, here's a brief thingy...

A picture on her cell phone is the only thing to remember 2-year-old Tyrese, who perished in an early spring fire in east Baltimore.

Shaken but not stirred, the driver holds his head down after escaping injury following a powerful collision that overturned an SUV.

Feroze Iqbal Porter, 6 of Lithonian holds to his mother Theresa Porter, watching as the hearse is prepared with the casket bearing Coretta Scott King.

Trying to keep the mood light while trailing in exit polls, U.S. Senate candidate Kweisi Mfume (D-Md) rushes off the stage after making a brief appearance at his election party.

Yesivette Declet, 5 gets angry as she waits for her mother Yesenia Marrero to take a 1-hour police recruiting test for the Baltimore Police, who are recruiting for bilingual officers in Puerto Rico.

Getting a taste of cabin fever, Lattice Carroll, 10 of Woodlawn has fun on the swing after compelling her grandfather, James Faulks to play as the sun sets.

Forgotten Baltimore' series: A young child peers from below the screen of his door in an East Baltimore neighborhood, ignored and avoided. (This picture story will be added here in about 2 weeks!)

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis hammers Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Michael Pittman, who drops the pass.

Baseball fans watch off the left field line as Minnesota Twins left fielder Rondell White leaps to catch a foul ball.

Other contestants watch Miss Iowa, Soben R. Huon, gets videotaped as she dances to the music during a party for the Miss USA contestants.

There you go... I have some more images, all shot on the Nikon D2H system. But I simply have to get outta here and snooze. I'm working too hard. I had a dream that I was given exclusive access to photograph former President Bill Clinton, but he was curled up in a ball in bed, angry with me and refusing to talk more than a few utterances. I woke up as I tried to apologize. I think I covered enough campaigning for this season, and I'm glad it's over with no lingering results!

HVX200 Sports: College Basketball

2006-11-09T00:47:00.000-05:00

Look Out!!

Terrapins fans watch Maryland Terrapins guard DJ Strawberry head for a crash landing as he hustles to retrieve the ball that he slapped from the possession of Vermont Catamounts guard Jason Green in the first half of the College Hoops Classic men's college basketball in College Park Wed., Nov. 8, 2006.

I guess this is my first "official game," shooting with this HVX200. And please, read below, for a statement that I may post in my main page.

A day after staying at work late, and I was still a little groggy because of lack of sleep. Honestly, I feel the effects of some clinical depression, which makes it somewhat tough to keep up the enthusiasm. But Chuck made me feel so good when he told me that I'd be covering a Maryland Terrapins men's basketball game in College Park. It was a preseason against the Vermont Catamounts (I always think about amber maple syrup when I think about Vermont) which was supposed to benefit "Coaches vs Cancer." After shooting my first job (a quick portrait of a high school football player), I drove through the mist and afternoon rush hour traffic from Lake Clifton-Eastern to the basketball arena, with a Nikon 300mm lens in tow, intending to shoot some stills.

But something in my mind made me switch to the HVX200, while I gathered my gear from the back of the car. A shooter from the Washington Post walked with me, asking about the elections and how things are at work. Still carrying my 2 still cameras as backup, I parked my gear in the photo room, set up my laptop, and went to the court to take some test shots of a consolation game going on.

The lights are a little dark for shooting high speed shutter, so I wound up cranking the gain all the way to -12db. "Gain" is a term that makes a camera more sensitive to lower light situations. It forces the scene to brighten inside the camera, but the drawback is that the image quality degrades. But I had tried some gain-up before, and figured that I would give it a whirl, which allowed me to crank up the shutter speed to 1/500th second - fast enough to stop moving action without much motion blur. An Associated Press shooter scoffed as he saw the digital camcorder in my hand. A freelance photographer sitting beside me shook his head. "You'll never get me to shoot with one of those," he glared. "I'd retire before using that."

I had once thought the same. I never knew that the profession would go so digital. I didn't think it would happen so many years before I considered even imagining this time. Back in the mid-1990's, we had a staff shooter named Perry who was issued a Canon XL-1 digital camcorder. Our boss Jim gave him the task of shooting video for the web, a task that newspapers hardly gave a thought. But suddenly, after a short period, the effort was scrubbed. Just to think what inroads might have been made, had we continued.... Perry was so far ahead of the curve, but the curve is now here. And I'm catching grief or stares from the still shooters as well as the TV videographers. How ironic that I'm in the middle, and what I'm doing is merging the two mediums together. I just sat quietly, adjusting my butt to the hard floor, while the game continued, trying to shoot while manually focusing the lens, anticipating plays on the court.

The far basket? The HVX showed it was 121 feet to the net. Midcourt, about 60 feet. The near hoop, 19.1 feet, all shown in the lower right corner of my digital viewfinder. Missing the first basket since I was shooting horizontally, I began flipping the camera to a vertical position. Soon, I was getting into a groove, shooting the Terps attempting a defensive trap at the far basket, capturing the hustle after trying to steal the ball at mid-court, and leaping to slam dunk on the near side.

It's quite a change after learning to anticipate and squeeze the trigger of a still camera. And the process of extracting a movie file, dragging the file for a moment in Quicktime, copying the frame (Apple C) and pasting the image (Apple V) in Photoshop adds several more steps than simply dropping images from a digital card and editing them. Adding to the ingredients would be saving the first images as raw files, then using Photo Mechanic to add captions on them, then opening the files again in Photoshop to prepare them for transmission. Yesiree, it makes for more work. Will that change? Perhaps if someone comes up with some kind of program to automatically work out the steps. Or maybe create a "droplet," which can be programmed to automatically do certain steps for the user.

But the automatic steps can happen only within Photoshop, and can't be flopped over to, say, Quicktime. If I had to work on a short deadline, I doubt if I'd be ready to do all the steps, unless I know every file's contents in order to zero in on a moment.

As I wound up my shoot in the first half, I stopped at the other end of the court to shoot a little of coach Gary Williams. At first, I had thought about shooting some still frames with the Nikon but abandoned the idea, since such a decision would be the same as not trusting your effort. A rather bull-headed way of looking at it, but hey: The game action was captured all right on the HVX200, do you think?

Do I seem like some kind of plant to sell people into purchasing this camera? Perhaps some might wonder, but I'm simply writing about what I'm shooting with. The equipment has been issued through where I work, and nothing is donated. None of the gear has been sold to us at some kind of discount that I know of, unless it's volume discount. And I'm not being paid to write anything here.

Panasonic AG-HVX200 Shoot: "You've Got a Choice"

2006-11-07T17:55:00.000-05:00

It wasn't the time that I started but the time I finally dropped off to sleep.

The sand man finally got the eyes shut around 4am, and just as my batteries started recharging... *BZZZ!* *BZZZ!* *BZZZ!* Six o'clock. Time to get up, get washed and out the door to shoot some footage of voting in Baltimore City.

My albino turtle was glazed with dew that looked like the mist that still covered my eyes while starting the car to head for several polling places to capture Marylanders getting out the vote. Three different election wards yielded 12 gigs worth of about 75 minutes of NTSC size footage. Fighting my own instincts to shoot more, I returned to get started with editing the raw shoot for an election day package for the web.

John was ready for me as Final Cut Pro converted the MXF files that the Panasonic HVX200 camera wrote, into the ".mov" movie format. They were dropped into a huge 200 gig server, and John extracted them to begin laying out possible packages, trying to get the product onto the web by the mid-afternoon.

By the time it was finished, we had a 3-minute package that Steve was ready to upload, as he expected a large rush to view web footage. Walking back to the editing room, Steve unknowingly gave some desperately- needed feedback. During a web meeting, a number of editors commented about how the vision I have shot looked more creative than the video shot by television camera operators. And as Steve reviewed the edited footage, he noted several more shots that we placed in the package. "See, that's what I'm saying," Steve mentioned as it rolled. Another clip showed, prompting him to talk about it again.

Photographers have a more creative vision with camera angles. Honestly, picking up a video camera compels me to consider shooting the pan shots, or the zoom- ins or zoom-outs. It can be easy to step into the mold of treating a video camera like... a video camera. Video cameras can be shot without feeling, thought, or passion for the frame. It's important for the user to turn that camera into a digital film camera, and treat it with respect. It's still a piece of gear with a viewfinder, focus and exposure controls, and a way to capture what the user shoots.

Quite often, the shooter can be told to cover a podium function or other type of press conference. But remember: Anything that draws a crowd draws individuals within that crowd. And each person has a unique mind, which lets them do what they feel. But the camera user has that same special gift. We can do what we expect others want, or we can simply draw from what we know or have learned. Like one 73-year-old voter said, while waiting in his wheelchair to vote: "You've got a choice." The future is an open ticket. We're simply stamping where we go every moment.

If we screw up, learn from it. Messing up becomes a failure only when we fail to grow. I can only tell you that I'll look back on this video, shaking my head at how terrible it looks. But I've learned from the experience, and I'm growing in the process. Meanwhile, it's done, and even has a nice "thank you" smile.

Nikon D2H Shoot: Living Together, Separately

2006-10-30T05:31:00.000-05:00

Chris (wearing glasses) said he couldn't speak English. Several coaches acknowledged his initial trepidation to talk with others as the pre-teen Korean boy took part in the BeMore basketball exercise at Park School.

The coordinators reached out to a number of churches and organizations to gather multi-ethnic representation together, compelling the adolescents to interact with each other. Asian-, African-, and Latin- heritage children formed a number of groups, like the Green Machine and Blue Lightning, playing a sport that finally brought them together, for a common goal.

They may have thought that the goal was scoring the most baskets. The true goal was bridging the separation of class and culture and belief.

Interestingly, the nation is a melting pot of diversity and customs. Yet many are taught to avoid anyone different than themselves. People are like fluid, able to travel and reshape. Yet one person acts like oil, avoiding another like they're water. The two will coexist if need be, but will never mingle.

Recall where people sit when there is open seating in a cafeteria, if you beg to disagree.

The only thing that children need is a fun game, and they tend to be in on the fun, allowing their hearts to soar with joy, no matter who plays with them. This was the case in the gymnasium, where total strangers were dropped onto a wooden floor, and unknowingly told to make fun out of playing with someone they never considered playing with before.

The first game had each team stand in line, facing a backboard. The first in line shot the ball until they scored a point. All they had to do was recover the ball and take it to the rear of their line and hand the ball to each person in front of them, so the next on in front could shoot. Christian handed the ball to Muslim. White handed the ball to Black. Boy handed the ball to girl. All the while, the smiles grew on all the faces.

Gathering the names of each of the Blue Lightning team, I gathered each name, until I asked Chris if I could take his picture. "No, no!" he resisted, extending his hand towards the lens while turning away, as if he were trying to avoid an auto accident. I became fond of his shyness, quietly rooting for him, every time he shot the basketball.

The next round of shooting was over, and the children gathered in a mass as they walked to the door of the main gym floor, waiting for the other group to finish their exercise. While I held my Nikon with the wide lens, Chris became curious about the camera, inching beside me and leaning in to take a peek into the front of the lens. *click-click-click* I fired off a couple of frames, startling the bespectacled child, startling him.

A smile crept on my face as I continued staring ahead, to signal that we could play a game. Chris grinned, knowing he was caught on camera, bouncing back a couple steps. I moved my hand to the trigger on the base and slowly turned the camera back towards him and Chris ducked. After a couple moments, I aimed and fired another few frames. At first, he seemed angry, but we both laughed, and I patted him on the shoulder as a gesture to say that he's cool, without saying a word.

I recalled befriending a classmate named Daniel, while riding to middle school on the bus. Being the last rider on the route, he found a seat hard to get with those who felt he wasn't cool enough to sit with them each morning. Noticing his plight, I started sitting on the aisle, refusing to let others sit with me until Daniel boarded, when I would move over to offer him a seat. We rarely spoke, but I didn't feel a need to press him to fight his shyness.

Who knows if the effort by BeMore will grow on any of the children, or even their parents. Watching them sit in the stands, it was difficult to see whether any of them reached out to each other. Wouldn't it be nice if one child's mind was enlightened to such vastly amazing ethnicities and cultures?

HVX200 Accessories Ordered; Plus, Be an Editor for 2 Minutes (Lumix FZ30, Nikon D2H)

2006-10-28T16:09:00.000-05:00

And I want more.

Okay, what if I'm a gadget freak? I want the new gear to shoot better, and I love working with it when it works. The equipment's on order, and I'm waiting to add them to the HVX200. As I use them, I plan on posting some reviews here, in future entries.

Meanwhile, after working on the Senate forum earlier in the week, I realized that tripodding isn't the way to shoot for me. Sure, I'll get a set of sticks, but they won't be top-of-line. My decision turned 180 degrees after not being mobile enough to shoot the candidates at the podium. I felt more like a local television camera operator, than a visualist.

I felt impeded.
Contained.
Stationary.
Stagnant.

Chatting with Andre sealed my decision, backing away from the threat to ask Duds for a $2,000 tripod (you NEED a well-built true fluid head tripod, I warned him, or it's junk). Dre opened a short piece he shot of farmers and boasted that much of what he shot was hand-held. The drawback with doing this at all with the HVX200 is how shaky the shot looks if you shoot it without any added equipment.

Seems kind-of weird, doesn't it? More equipment would make a camera more stable? Well, it depends. And I'm learning this as I continue working with the gear.

The HVX has the typical hand strap on the right side of the camera, where you slide your palm in to hand-hold the unit from the side and base:

Doing this with a palmcorder isn't a big deal for about 10 minutes. Add more time of use. Or another 5 pounds. You'll get the shakes with the HVX. Weighing over 6 pounds, try balancing that weight steadily at he base of your open hand while holding it close to your face. The weight will not only be top-heavy in your hand, but will also want to flop to the left side, pulling the strap against the outside of your hand.

Cavision has been developing gear that I only discovered a few days ago. Unfortunately, I had already asked for some other gear, which has been ordered, but it didn't cost way too much. The company has been adding some needed accessories for not only the HVX but other indie camcorders as well. The gear I hope I can get would make the camera look a little bulky:

Add all that weight, plus a wireless mic system and external drive, and you may have a much better balance at work. The completed harness should make the unit balanced, as the shoulder supports some of the weight while holding the handgrips stabilize the camera. In all, the gear may cost another $1,000 or somewhat more. But I'll remind Duds that it's 50 percent of what I first told him that he might need!

You're the Editor; Which Image Would You Publish?

......................

Before heading to the inner harbor, I had to swing by the site where the BGE work crew dug beneath the city street to repair a natural gas leak in their line, which caused an explosion in the manholes in the area. Boy, imagine working on the sewer line when THAT happened!

I shot images with both the wide and telephoto perspectives. Hop into my Flickr images and respond, or feel free to jot down comments here or in Flickr. Tell me what you like or don't like about each image. Critique me.

Nikon D2H Shoot: Who Feeds Pigeons? Here's One Sweet Person.

2006-10-27T01:34:00.000-05:00

Preface:

I had originally planned to cover a dance troupe that planned on performing at the amphitheater at Harborplace early in the afternoon. With the show cancelled due to the threat of inclement weather, I spotted Doris scattering bread crumbs for the birds. Glad to have herself in pictures, she shared some of her story. The pictures aren't at all award-winners. But a snippet of someone's life can make for an engaging little piece.

Doris visits Harborplace every day, she says, to enjoy the people and sights of downtown Baltimore.

There are too many bad things going on where she lives, and Doris yearns for an emotional oasis; a place where she can sit back, relax, and simply let her mind drift towards good moments and memories of her past 53 years.

"I like the water and the flowers and trees and the grounds are very pretty, and the grass is gorgeous. I can go shopping, I can go eat, you know. Meet people, talk to people; people that got respect for you. I like that."

For 30 minutes out of her afternoon, Doris enjoys life among her friends and family. Her friends are the strangers that walk by, or pause to take her picture. The tourists capture photos of her while feeding the dozens of pigeons and seagulls who keep her company. Doris calls them her children.

Her generosity even rubbed off on Kenneth of northwestern Baltimore, who sat ten feet from Doris at the amphitheater, after shopping in Fells Point. Running out of bread, Kenneth dug into his stash of handmade fudge that he had just purchased in the Light Street Pavilion.

"It costs too much money to give to the birds!" Doris calls out.

"It's all right," Kenneth responded, plucking small pieces off a slice chocolate fudge, flicking them down to the brick sidewalk. "I just realized I had some chocolate," Kenneth explains. "I didn't want all that they gave me - two of them free - so I kept two of them and just gave the other ones to the pigeons." The birds never perch on Kenneth's hands, yet they fight to rest on Doris's lap or hands. "They're like my children, my own children."

Her thoughts then turned to memories from her past.

Doris recalled meeting London, a World War II veteran, after running into him by chance at a shopping center in New York City. They married in 1976 and lived together until his death in 1984. Doris lost her residence and moved in with her sister in Arlington, Virginia, in 1994.

Eventually, Doris moved to Baltimore, but has no place to call her home. "I just live with some friends, until I can do better," she says, while brushing the last of a small stash of dried crumbs from the remains of a cupcake. "Every time I come out here, these birds will always come around me, and I always give them some bread, every day." With a heartfelt laugh, Doris's face beams with pride. "They notice me every day. Every day."

HVX200 Low-Rezzes Senate Candidates

2006-10-26T03:13:00.000-05:00

(The above shots were all captured with the Panasonic HVX200, set to low resolution.)

"You can remember the dumbest things from your childhood, but you can never recall what you did yesterday."

I sit in the photo department while Gene works on photos of John (TV's "Gomez Addams") Aston, who now works as a film instructor at Johns Hopkins University. Gene starts singing the lyrics to the "Addams Family," and it starts getting in my head:

"They're creepy and they're kooky;
"Mysterious and spooky.
"They're alltogether ooky;
the Addams Family."

Gene couldn't help but sing the song, and it starts to get to me.

"You're putting that song in my head!" I yell from the back room. ""It's been in mine all afternoon!" Gene yells from a workstation as he tones the pictures he shot.

I just got finished with burning 5 DVD's after shooting more footage of the US Senate candidates at the harbor Marriott, earlier in the day. This time we had the trifecta: Michael Steele (R), Ben Cardin (D), and Kevin Zeese of the Libertarian Party attended the forum. Fortunately for me (and the gear I had), the candidates all agreed to allow each one the floor so he could answer a series of questions posed by a moderator. As the media signed in, the volunteer at the door commented about how many people from our work were there. Little did she know that Andre would arrive soon after to shoot stills, while John came to capture audio.

Each candidate had around 15 minutes to answer the questions, plus 3 minutes for a closing statement.

My HVX200, when shooting NTSC standard def video, can shoot 16 minutes per 4gb card. I only have 2 cards. So I decided to try "hot-swapping," where I would grab each full card from the back of the camera and download the data onto my PowerBook. The speed of the video card was fine for standard 480p, but all I wanted to do was transfer the MXF files to clear the disk.

First was Michael Steele, who gave his answers and closing statement. As Steele began, Andre started banging off frames with his camera, just to the left of me. Wishing I had an on-camera wireless system like the guy to my right, I could only glare towards Andre (my first time being upset about a still photographer's camera noise) while hoping that John was getting some audio that we could use, since I knew mine would be too spoiled for use. As the first card filled, I watched as the green light blinked and time dropped to about 16 minutes remaining, which is the halfway point, and when the cards would swap over, since the first card would have filled with data. When the light changes to green, you can remove it, but not during recording, when it blinks amber.

After the first P2 card filled, I removed it and inserted it in the PCMCIA card on the side of the Powerbook. It was filled with 3.54gb of the camera's native "MXF" files (which can be converted to movie files through Final Cut Pro). Transferring the data takes around 10 minutes, so I was really cutting everything pretty close. I grabbed my Lumix DMC-FZ30 to get ready just in case I ran out of space on the HVX, so I started shooting some "B-roll" with the camcorder feature. But Steele finished with several minutes to spare, and the forum called for a short break, so I transferred the data from the second P2 card and returned them to the HVX200 and reformatted each card, just in time for Kevin Zeese to take center stage.

I started getting into a rhythm of streamlining by wiping the P2 card on the laptop as the HVX recorded nearby. I started moving throughout the audience, getting more B-roll and angles as Zeese finished and Cardin began, just in time for another full P2 transfer and drink of water. But as Cardin was in the heart of his responses, my PowerBook warned that the disk drive was almost full! And I had to return the P2 card to capture his closing remarks. As the card's files transferred, there were less than 60 megabytes of free space left on my laptop -- talk about squeezing the files in!

But then, the other foot began to step on mine: As Cardin answered the final question, I showed only 3 minutes remaining on the first card in the HVX. Quickly, I opened the second camera card and unlocked the text file so I could drag it into the trash and delete the files, giving me a free card again. Just in time, I returned the free card into the port of the camera, which began recording as Cardin gave his summary. As he shook hands and left the podium, I had about 4 minutes remaining, so I went outside and captured some "establishing shots" of the harbor, the skyline, and the hotel where the forum was held and headed back to the office.

Back at the photo department, my disk burning is finished. Gathering all the filing papers and DVD's together, I smile, realizing that I'm a few hours ahead of schedule, while Gene laments about the impending rainout of the Cardinals/Tigers World Series game. Calling his wife, he suggests they make print-outs of the fun jingles to some of the old television shows, like "The Jeffersons" and "Car 59," for a future road trip they're planning. Gene tries remembering the lyrics to "Gilligan's Island" and finds it tough to recall the words to "Mister Ed."

Googling "Mister Ed" and "lyrics," he gleams with excitement, and I suddenly break out with the tune, through my own childhood memory:

"A horse is a horse, of course, of course;
"And no one can talk to a horse, of course.
"That is of course unless the horse is the famous Mister Ed!"

Now, what was it that I was upset about, yesterday?

Nikon D2H Shoot: "Early to Bed"? I Didn't Think So...

2006-10-24T19:25:00.000-05:00

I'm exhausted.

I couldn't sleep until 4am, but had to get up at 6am to capture more candidate video as Martin O'Malley pressed the flesh while greeting rushing commuters inside the New Carrollton metro station. Driving there in traffic (how can ANYONE be up before daybreak??), I made it there just in time. But the place brought back some bitter memories of the first time that someone had broken into my car after I had taken some gear out of the trunk years ago. I had taken the metro to cover a march on the district and figured that parking there would be safe.

Little did I know that someone watched me pulling some gear out of the back and hit my car when I left. I didn't even know until a day later, when I tried opening the trunk to pull out my 400mm f/ 3.5 Nikkor, that my lock had been forced open by a large screwdriver. The trunk was barren. My 400mm, my 300mm f/ 2.8... gone. Fortunately, my father's homeowner's insurance covered a good chunk of the loss. But it didn't cover my sense of vulnerability and feeling of being emotionally molested.

I recalled that thought, but the open lot had been replaced by a tall parking structure. I grabbed my camcorder and went to the entrance where Mayor O'Malley stood. Gone like a bad smell in the wind were my visions of capturing O'Malley with the warm morning sunlight in his face as he smiled, shaking hands of supporters heading for the subway.

No, that's too easy.

Instead, I couldn't find him. Only his supporters stood with the green, black and white signs outside, in the cold breeze. The candidate was in the tunnel, but I couldn't even pick him out. Another volunteer pointed to him as O'Malley stood in the darkness, just in front of an overhead light, shaking hands in the darkness.

This HVX200 is great. The widest open aperture to pick up light is f/ 1.4. You can drop the shutter down to 1/24th second and get some footage that resembles film. But even this gear couldn't set a white balance in the light that was in the tunnel, because it was too dark!

Dudley had asked me to shoot some audio of all the candidates, so I figured I'd do that, and perhaps we could find a place somewhere else. About 3 minutes into my shoot, and !B-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-! SSSSSSSSSSS! Yup, guess.

A work crew had just started using a jackhammer, breaking up part of the walkway beneath the tunnel! I gave up and headed home, hoping to catch an hour of sleep before rushing back up to northern Baltimore to shoot some video of Ben Cardin, who, along with O'Malley, were gathering endorsements at an AFSCME retirees' luncheon. On the way up the BW Parkway, I saw a bicyclist riding across a pedestrian bridge. Ooh! I though, but I didn't have enough time to stop. So I debated going back and finally took an exit a couple miles up the road, swung back south, and returned. Pulling well off the shoulder, I grabbed my D2H and waited. Another car pulled in front (I feel really uneasy when someone does that, these days) and started backing up. "Do you need any help?" the man asked. Come to think of it, I didn't check his license plate (but I was getting ready to photograph it), so I thanked him for the offer and saw a guy walking to school over the bridge.

Anyway, I'm only going to share this little entry as I bail out of here and make myself invisible. It's almost 6pm, and I'm bushwhacked. Twelve hours of work after 2 hours of sleep equals exhaustion.

But at least I fed the beast with a weather picture.

Feel free to thumb through my Flickr pictures and share any thoughts about what I've been shooting. I know it isn't all that exciting, and I haven't really been able to breathe some of my personal vision into my daily work. Ususally, I have a little time between shoots where I might find a creative moment. I hope I can do this more often.

Meanwhile, I'd better skedaddle... I heard that the editors are looking for a warm body to drive up York Road to re-shoot a picture of a building front, after someone on staff failed to drop the picture into the system, and didn't burn a disk with the pictures they shot.

Shhh! I'm gettin' outta here!

HVX200 Gear Update; D2H Shoot: Crumbling Apartments

2006-10-23T21:38:00.000-05:00

Suddenly, everything shifts, like a stack of wood on the back of a speeding truck.

In reverse.

I was told to abandon getting the Nikon D200's, by Dudley. Get the D2Hs and the D2Xs (nevermind about the pain I started feeling in my back yesterday!) I had made a plan to stay away from the more expensive cameras in order to completely outfit the HVX200. I don't need 8 frames/second. Or the audio recording function (it IS a GREAT feature). Or the alleged more sturdy build others claim that the "pro" bodies have. Or the larger body size. Or the -- well, you get the picture.

I planned on shooting with the D200 and attached body grip to shoot anything from the homeless to the Ravens. Some are worried that the D200 doesn't carry the FPS speed (5/sec) as the D2Hs (8 fps), but I used to shoot with a durable Nikon FM. And a Nikon EM. And, in the "early days," a Sears 500MX with a 42mm screw-mount, plus a Soligor 90-230mm 2-touch manual-focus zoom lens (hey, folks, it was all I could afford at the time)! Ah, back in the day....

While the price of the D200 was reasonable, getting two instead of the D2Hs/D2Xs combination would have led to alot of professional pocket change, and enough to equip this HVX200 with:

An Azden 200ULT wireless mic system ($750);
Redrock Micro M2 system for Nikon "primes" (using a lens adapter with ground glass that allows the mounting of any lens for different perspectives, $1030);
Audio-Technica stereo shotgun mic ($599);
Varizoom PZFI controller and Spiderbrace shoulder harness ($365);

PLUS...

A MacBook Pro, for editing high def video ($2,000);
Firestore FS-100, 100gb recording drive ($1,800);

and other things like a fluid head tripod. I hadn't even though about a light, actually.

Add that together and you aren't talking about a small expense. I had hoped that the savings from the smaller Nikon cameras would help, but they want the bigger still digital bodies.

I think of it like it's my own money, and I don't mind "cutting corners" with proven gear. So I spent the day writing up the whole list (it feels like Christmas!) and gave it to Dave, who queried about some of the gear, like the 35mm lens adapter. My reasoning? Buying a 2X converter and a wide angle converter would cost about the same amount of money, but wouldn't give the most versatile results.

Woops. I just remembered that I hadn't requested an external 7" HD monitor. Oh, well...

I understand that the ordering will commence soon, but I'll see how long it will take for any of this gear to arrive. I do know that the wireless system and drive recorder may be top priority. Wow. I just realized that by the time all this is put together, I'd be carrying perhaps a 14-pound camera....
I'll live through the pain.

A Little Spot News

Just when I finished the print-outs, Chuck asked me to run to Pikesville and cover the evac of an apartment building. Most (but not all) of the people were gone, and workers got busy unloading several flatbed trucks with supplies to shore up part of the building. It seems that some of the metal support columns had corroded, and one may have buckled beneath the weight of the building, which stood above a drive-through.

One woman retrieving her belongings seemed more upset about waiting, she said, for several years for a green card when she moved locally from Iran. Her body language seemed just a little different than those of locals, I felt, as she gestured skyward while asking someone how long it would take to stabilize the structure. Capturing that moment made me feel that I had an image that said everything about the event, beyond any of the physical damage that could be seen and I returned to tone and submit the image.

A Loooong Week.

2006-10-20T21:57:00.000-05:00

Ugh. This one's gonna be pretty short. I started early, I worked late, and I still have yet to drop the video from today's campaigning into the hopper. Total drive: about 150 miles, and I didn't get past Silver Spring. After shooting the luncheon there, I drove back to Baltimore, dropped the video into the external drive, then rolled out to cover the 4pm varsity soccer game at Archbishop Spalding.

But there were some shorties playing on the field at 3:30. "Where's the varsity game?"

"They won't start until 5:30."

Calling Chuck, the admission came that there were 2 requests dropped into the system. One job went to a freelance shooter. The other had my name on it.

And I laughed my head off. "At least you're taking it well," Chuck said, telling me to return to the office. Hanging up the phone, I said to myself, "That's because I don't want to shoot the game!" Traffic started getting rough, but I made it to Lombard Street when the phone rang.
"Can you shoot the game, after all?"
What happened?
"The freelancer has another shoot and can't make it to the game."
But I'm hungry, and I haven't eaten. And I'm starting to boil.
"We need it shot. It's the number one seed against the number 3 seed."

Needless to say, I dropped two images from the soccer game in, and now I've gotta feed myself. And take some time away for a little while.

Perhaps I'll drop some more words in here on Monday. And I hope I can have some shots from more exciting adventures! lol

Nikon D2H Shoot: Preserving Sukkot (and the lighting scene, too)

2006-10-19T00:45:00.000-05:00

As dusk fell, I made my way to Columbia to catch up with Rabbi Susan, who invited us to document the holiday of Sukkot. Feel free to check into Sukkot and what this Jewish holiday represents.

Never hearing of the celebration myself, I thought the dinner would take place in the kitchen, with the smells of cooked food filling the home. But I was invited to the rear of the home, where a hut stood on the deck! Ooh, wee, I do love surprises, and one that strips the traditional approach from my mind is even better. Not only did this present a fresh type of photography, it also opened a challenge, which is lighting.

Walking inside the hut, I looked around to see where the source of light came from. A single lamp with a metal shade provided the main illumination, as it was hung from the bamboo ceiling, focusing light on the center of the table. The family and guests ate dinner, as light bounced back towards their faces.

The night was cool as dinner continued, and Yonatan kept jumping up for his family and guests, bringing them things to keep their comfort enjoyable. At one time, he asked his grandmother what kind of hot tea she wanted, which made an interesting frame.

One can shoot inside or outside, but one objective was capturing the relationship between inside and outside. A wide angle 10-20mm zoom (made my Sigma, a lens and camera manufacturer I do swear by, and it's currently highlighted on the splash page) revealed the inside of the hut while keeping the exterior in view, showing the sliding glass door of the home. Inverting the camera did the trick again while Rabbi Susan brought out the soup as the light essentially mimicked the style of light inside.

But don't stop there. Step back from where the subject is, to see whether you can capture an image that gives an even clearer view of the relationship of the subject to his / her / its environment, and you may be able to find a cool shot.

Sigma has some interesting lenses available, and they tend to be very well-crafted. I'm not certain of every one; they have some pretty wide-ranging zooms hat I can't imagine could have been attempted as far as design is concerned. But that 10-20mm definitely did the trick for me, this time.

Nikon D2H Shoot: Photographing the Cheetah Girls

2006-10-18T11:26:00.000-05:00

I have no kids, so I had no idea who the Cheetah Girls were. So the day started with my indoctrination into the battle for the parking spot. I thought I had it down pat: Park my car at the DAR building, off the main street, and wait until "rush hour" traffic ended at around 6:30pm so I could park on the street. But the soccer mom convoy beat me, pulling up to the line of metered spots in the right lane, 15 minutes before. All along the sidewalk, bands of children emptied from SUV's and minivans, dressed to the gills in cheetah outfits and pink, ready to watch the Cheetah Girls concert at Constitution Hall.

Outsmarted in my quest to get a spot, I circled the block like a vulture, trying to swoop in for an open spot. But they always pop up two cars ahead of you; by the time you get there, the car right in front claims the spot. Fortunately, I found one on D Street, and I guess people had thought that all the spots were reserved for the crew.

After making my way inside, all I saw were girls. Where were the boys, I thought? Perhaps they liked boy bands better, but I couldn't imagine that. Maybe the boys simply don't have a fixation about singers and groups? Talking with a security member, I waited for the opening act to play out, so I could take my position at the stage. The overhead lights went black and the stage lights were kicked up to white hot, and a high-pitched shrill of adoring fans filled the seating bowl.

"Hmm," I said. Gone are the days of a family outing to the circus or zoo; kids now might be bored to watch some clown with a polka dot tie, bike horn, and floppy shoes. Elephants are out; Cheetah Girls are in. It's all about the style and status.

I planned to shoot with my flash pointed down again in order to take photos of fans waiting for the group to make their entrance. With such a deep ceiling, there was no other option besides using direct flash (blech) and floor bounce. So I aimed it down towards my lap (I wore black pants) and used the TTL meter on my Nikon D2H.

Seven-year-old Nora, who lives in Virgina, struck up a conversation with me as I scanned the crowd for a good subject: "I'm so excited!" she said, her wide eyes staring at me with an innocent smile. So I moved back a little and started shooting photos as the crowd waited. A projection monitor threw video from the back of the hall, and I saw that there could be a nice moment to capture. After a short while, the overhead lights dimmed and the anticipation grew, as I fired off frames in the darkness. Compensating for the lack of light, I dropped down my shutter speed a little. But I didn't want to open the shutter too long, for fear of over-exposing the glow sticks.

My attention turned to the Cheetah Girls, since photographers are now generally granted only 2 songs to shoot before being kicked out. One person in the crowd, whom I needed to shoot, sat in the center of the section, making it impossible to get any clear images of her. So I turned my attention on the group, already finishing its first song.

Cranking out more images as they performed, I had to stop shooting as the second song was done. And I was happy with the results:

All the images taken were shot at ISO 500, using the Nikon D2H and the 17-35mm Nikkor lens at 17mm. The contrast setting is usually set on low, while the sharpness is set on high. I also usually set the camera to "CLOUDY."

The first image (at top of the blog post) was shot at 1/13th second at f 2.8. Notice how all the ambient light is all over the place? It looked nice, and I was going to use one of these images, but...

...suddenly, the lights went dark! I couldn't see anything, but I simply used the thumb dial and cranked open the shutter a few clicks. But my finger also hit the f-stop dial. This image was shot at 1/4 second at f/ 3.5. See how turning out the light switch made the glow sticks look like fireflies?

OMG, when I saw what happened, I just started banging frames off in the darkness, hoping to get a good frame. It's cool how the light from the stick hit the face of Nora's mom. And the late-comers walking through the far entrance added to the energy.

I just kind-of shoot things and watch for something better to happen. If you shoot something and you're happy with your first shots, just hold your camera ready (keeping your left hand below the body and lens while holding your right hand on the grip and with your finger on the trigger) and watch for something else to take place. Usually, things unfold even better than your first images, because people tend to go back to being spontaneous. They wind up ignoring the camera, especially if you simply tell then to ignore you.

As for the HVX-200, we got the same CitiDisk HD drive returned to us. I had plugged it into the Firewire port and turned the drive and camera on, but the same problem happened: the drive started blinking between red and green while the camera couldn't recognize it. So over I went to Dudley's office, explaining that we had a problem.

Calling Chris at Shining Technology, Duds put the phone on speaker, and I tried explaining what was happening. Chris then says that a future update needs to be developed to allow the drive to write in the MXF format. And that was the whole problem! The HVX only writes in MXF format. Since the drive doesn't write the file, we were sold a product we couldn't use. Chris finally acknowledged that we could return the $1,200 paperweight back for a full refund. The bone of contention? Shining's website claims that the drive writes the P2 format and can be mounted onto the HVX200. Well... not so. Not yet.

Nikon D2H Shoot: Rebuilding East Baltimore?

2006-10-18T03:38:00.000-05:00

(This was actually shot the day before, but I wanted to add a little something about this.)

The planners and dreamers are back at work, trying to come up with a solution to the blight in eastern Baltimore. The neighborhoods along North Av south towards the American Brewery (along Gay Street) are in a state of absolute depression. More vacant dwellings stand than occupied ones. The grocery stores have left, while the corner liquor stores operate daily. The children that live there can only play in the street or inside.

But Johns Hopkins has been working at acquiring a bunch of acreage and wiping the rowhomes off the map in order to develop north of the hospital. Meanwhile, Baltimore City plans on trying to get at least 100 homes in order to spark redevelopment north and west of where Hopkins has been demolishing.

Eric and I returned to the old American Brewery building, and people were busy inside, pounding beams together to reinforce the structure. The rain beat down on us, making me too lazy to pull my flash out and get that wet, in addition to my D2H as we knocked on doors to ask people's opinions. Turning the corner from Gay Street, we were invited inside Tyrone's home.

He loved to talk and told us how he had lived in the community since he was a child. But just up the street was Miss Ayda (not her real name). I love elderly women, especially when they have an attitude. Miss Ayda invited us in, but immediately covered her head with her hands, exclaiming, "But don't take no pictures!"

She told us how she stopped caring like she once did. "You get too old to worry about things," she said. "When it's not fun anymore, you just stop doing it." I was mesmerized by her stories, and wanted to absorb more of her 93 years. As she shared some thoughts about her parents ("...That's their names, but that's not my name," she said, forgetting that her mail was lying on the kitchen table), Eric started reflecting on his own deceased father and mother. For a moment, I forgot about photography, and simply absorbed the heart-felt thoughts that Eric revealed about wondering how many times he may have hurt his father or mother when they were alive. "I miss them," he finished, as Miss Ayda shared the pain of her adopted son turning mean on her. "Why do people get so mean?" she asked. With only the sights and words to gauge any kind of answer, I could only guess that his service in Korea may have changed him.

We then took to searching for any photos of Miss Ayda that may have been hanging or sitting in the living room. She had plenty of photos of cousins, children, grand children, and friends. "Can you even find one picture of me?" she challenged. "Go ahead; look around," Miss Ayda boasted, as I entered the living room. "Is this you?" I asked, knowing it couldn't be. It was her sister, but she told me to keep looking.

"Oh, I see you!" I said confidently, staring at the image of a woman's picture in the center of a cluster picture frame.

"What makes you think it's me?" Miss Ayda asked.
"Because you look like you're ready to kill the one taking your picture," I replied.

She burst out with laughter, her grey ponytails bouncing as she slapped her knees. The spontaneous words, "I love you!" jumped from my mouth as I reached for her hand, kissing the paper-thin skin. Even though she held firm, I so wanted to take her photo. Not for publication, but for myself. So many people see through their pictures. They want to capture a moment as a way to try preserving it forever.

Yet everything lives for but a moment in time.

PS: Check out Stars Of The Lid, if you like ambient music. I'm listening to some on iTunes, through SomaFm. It's spatial music, but it was nice to hear while writing this entry.

FZ30: Cancer Survivor; D2H: Weeping Tree; School Shooting

2006-10-13T21:34:00.000-05:00

Here's a shot taken with this Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30. Like I said, it does well with both videos and stills, a great portable and adjustable multimedia camera. I have to save the image to a lower file size in order to save on my monthly allotment, but the file size is incredibly large for such a camera. Read through the earlier post a couple days ago, there's a posting that gives much more detail about the FZ30. Panasonic now has upgraded the camera as well, and I'll dig that out for you. No, it's not a main camera, it's a do-all camera, and one as a terrific back-up for emergencies when you're out of town.

So on the conclusion of another week of shooting, quite a a few interesting scenarios worked themselves out today. I had to cover a sports portrait, a photo of a weeping tree, and then a football game. Sports was kinda cool, having to capture a field hockey player before her practice. The first thing to look for is a good lighting setup and the second is looking for background. And if you can't find good light, make good light.

In front of the subject was an interesting pattern of shadows from the awning above the building, so I banged off a shot there. But I also wanted to shoot some portraits using the "floor bounce flash" technique. I simply love the effect it has on the subject. The light just comes from a direction not usually seen, yet it's not only pleasing, it's also in a strange way, natural-looking. I say "strange," because light normally comes from above.

I took the player to a walkway near the field and asked her to kneel down so I could place a flash just to the other side of her body and in front of her. The light was rested aiming towards her knees, set on the ground to allow the light to travel right along the walkway. Doing a couple tests, the light pattern looked good enough to finally make the portrait.

Taking a look at the detail, you can clearly look at the sharpness in the hair and eyelashes as well:

My next shoot was capturing a "weeping tree," reported by a resident near Patterson Park, who had posted a query about it on a website. It turned out to be a challenge to shoot, and I returned to shooting with the Nikon D2H. I actually had hoped that there wouldn't be such a thing, because I wouldn't know off hand how to shoot it. As we stood in front of his home on Baltimore St on the clear fall afternoon, I felt some droplets hit my face and hands, so I knew that the challenge was on. But he lived on the block facing north, which didn't get any sunlight.

Fortunately, he knew about a weeping tree on Lombard Street, where the sun shined on it in the afternoon, so we went over to the North side of Lombard at Madiera, where maple showers rained on the walk. I love shooting backlit, and this was the perfect op to let the sunlight catch the rain:

Never one to be satisfied with just one image, I worked on getting a different view to give a more rounded perspective of what was happening. Okay, what's your opinion of this phenom? I'll give you my take at the end of this blog.

Heading back to my turtle, Chuck bounced me from the football game to head for Frederick Douglass High for a shooting, which might have made the victim of a student. The shooting happened a couple hours ago, I was told, but I figured that investigators would probably still be there.

Crime scene tape surrounded the grassy front lawn on the school grounds as investigators gathered evidence and tried to piece together what happened and who did it.

Another shooting at a school.

That's what played in my mind, along with the Amish school shooting. And the shooting in North Carolina. And the other recent events throughout the country. The only image I could picture that might be dfferent was a shot of crime scene tape literally blocking the front of the school. Some students leaving the grounds walked just where I had wanted to capture some images, and I banged off a frame as they headed home from a football game.

The reporter, Jonathan, told me about where the student might have ended, but against the suggestion of investigators ("Why would you go there? There's nothing there."), we headed south on Payson to where the student headed. An elderly woman sat on a picnic chair as he asked her if she had seen anything. I was interested in the cool tabby that moved about near my feet, and started petting it, ignoring my allergic reaction to felines. Kitty was cool, and looked like a young version of Nikolas, who passed away a few years ago. "Mister, can you grab him for me?" a voice said twice, to my left. Grabbing kitty by the scruff and beneath his belly, I returned Tigger to his thankful owner who stood on the steps of her home several doors down. She had been trying to get her cat back for a while.

Jonathan, coming up empty with his first subject, asked the lady with the cat if she knew anything about the shooting of the boy. "Yes," she said. "He ended up here, at my front doorstep," Sandra said. Troy made it to her home, injured by the shooting at the school. He was taken to Shock Trauma, where he is at this moment, she said. Only a short time later, Sandra watched TV to learn that the shooting on the news was about her nephew, who turns 14 tomorrow.

Perhaps thankful that I caught Tigger, Sandra gave us more information about what may have happened, and let me take some photos of her with Tigger. "Send it to me through the mail," she said as we returned to edit what we had.

HVX200 Sports: Volleyball; Nikon D2H: Floor Lighting

2006-10-13T01:37:00.000-05:00

You know how hard it is to shoot volleyball with a video camera?

Not that hard.

Do you know how hard it is shooting video of volleyball in order to try getting a still frame?

Really hard.

Why? One BIG reason: The lack of proper lighting inside high school gyms. Your most important tool is light, and if you have something properly lit, it only depends on your skill and the right moment to get a good shot. Take that vital tool from your box, and you're bound to struggle.

My latest challenge was shooting HD video of a sporting event to get some still images for daily use. The game started at 5:30, and I only had 8 minutes of high def footage to shoot, since I'm still using the 2-4 gig P2 cards. So there's no way to shoot constantly; I had to shoot small clips, depending on my instinct to get some nice shots.

But, the light. Oh, the light. Direct overhead lights yielded only 1/120th second at f/ 1.7, and I had cranked up some gain to 6 decibles. A recipe for disaster? Only if you are clueless with how to use your equipment. But I sure pushed my luck, in any case. I had thought for cranking gain up to (I think it's) 12 db, but I figured that one frame per 30 fps would work. The problem is that you're shooting people who are moving all over the place. So many of what might have made good still shots with a 35mm camera couldn't work with a camcorder shooting at such a slow shutter speed.

I moved all about, shooting different angles, hoping I could find the right spot to capture some footage. Near the end of the shoot is when you wind up finding the "sweet spot," which was behind the last player sitting on the bench, aiming back at the net. I only saw the spot as I turned to watch the action after giving up, and I saw faces of players from both sides, trying to dink the ball on each other's side. Doh! I had less than 1 minute of space remaining, and less than an hour before my next shoot, so I pulled the plug and figured that I should have one image.

The editors back at the office had other plans: "We need one for color and one inside," Steve said, and I opened Quicktime and Final Cut Pro to check each file for a couple good shots. Fortunately, Photoshop and Final Cut are back in working order. There was no squeezing of images, like a couple weeks ago, and I didn't figure out what was done to remedy the situation. All I know is that the widescreen pasting was back.

I found nice "jubo" (the cool way of saying, "celebration," or "jubilation") but didn't have any deejay (my own term for dejection, but no one understands it) and a couple good frames that I copied and pasted onto the Photoshop file. All shot in 1920x1080.... but my camera shot the footage without the digital interlacing, and I was surprised to see no jaggies. I think my camera was set at 30p, and it helped me as well.

This weekend, we're shooting the Ravens at home against the Carolina Panthers, but I won't be able to shoot video, since they've banned those contraptions on-field at game time.

Here's also a shot of a coach. The size that Photoshop suggests for the original size of the Quicktime image is 1920x1080 @ 72dpi. I saved this at 200dpi, and it can be seen here, I hope in its original size. I optimized the size for web use, however. Just peruse the set in Flickr, with shots saved at 72dpi and 200dpi so you can see what they look like, opened in full size.

I also wanted to add some information about floor bounce lighting with the Nikon D2H (you can do this with any camera with a flash you can aim at the floor), from a shoot I did this day as well.

Take a lookie at the image of Dad and daughter, taken with my D2H at this Halloween shop on York Road in Timonium (made me excited about having fun this holiday, too!):

I simply used one flash, the SB-800, but even an undedicated flash will do, like a Vivitar 285. I simply turned the camera upside down so that the flash head will point onto the floor! If the head of yours can move about, just aim the puppy straight down at the ground, but make certain that the color of the floor is white or grey, or close to it. Otherwise you may get some weird color changes.... but don't scare from shooting anyway if you have an orange floor; that may yield some interesting colors as well! Since you're shooting digital, simply make color adjustments as you test the balance of the colors against whatever is in your subject field.

Notice, the lights behind the pair are the standard incandescent (tungsten) lights. If you're so particular that you want true white balance with all things, well, place a warming filter over the flash that will make the output similar to a tungsten light, and change your white balance on the camera to tungsten (the little lightbulb). I like the warmth behind the people, so I kept my flash output daylight balanced, while shooting with the overcast setting on the camera.

Bang out a frame of the light source to make sure that the lights don't over-expose in the frame. They should remain very saturated (another reason I stuck with the warm lamp glow, since a darkened light bulb won't show saturation, but grey if it's white-balanced). The image was shot at 1/60th @ f 4, so I switched the flash output to 1/8th power, since it would stay consistent. Using TTL or auto settings tend to give light outputs that are inconsistent, and with a dark background, I didn't want to waste time. Aiming the flash head slightly behind will keep the top of the flash from throwing any direct light onto the subjects, which make the lighting on their faces quite harsh. If your flash head can't rotate and turn backwards, grab a piece of cardboard and some rubber bands or something to hold it on your flash head and leave it pointing straight down.

If you and your subjects have time, play with the direction and zoom function on the flash head, so you can remember what settings please you (and your subject). I like my zoom feature placed about 50mm to 85mm, but you may like the wider setting. To me, the zoom will allow for more directional yet soft lighting.

HVX200 Tip: How To Extract Pics From Widescreen

2006-10-13T01:12:00.000-05:00

Another layer of work was added in the office to extracting still images (jpegs) from high definition video, and I can't figure how that happened. Somewhere, someone must have changed some preferences, because the monitor sizes are all widescreen, and I had extracted wide images from HD clips a few weeks ago.

When I learned about jpeg extraction, the file was 1920x1080, and I could double the size of the movie in order to double the size to 3840x2160. Now, two things happen when extracting a jpeg at original HD size: The width becomes something like 1260, while the depth stays at 1080. Somewhere along the chain, the movie file is recognized as NTSC (television format, 4x3) instead of widescreen 16x9. So the image compresses from the sizes, making everything look like they've been squished against a concrete wall by a Mack truck. As I write this entry from my laptop, my PowerBook still is conformed to recognizing the HVX200 clips as widescreen. I'll try to recall what I did to stretch the NTSC image back to its intended size.

I asked Guru Dave what was going on, but he was clueless. It also didn't help that his mind was on getting out of work to start his 2-week New England vacation. But anyway, I had almost decided to shelve the camera until I could get this cured. But I'll keep using it. You won't learn anything if you've given up.

So, here's the recipe for extracting jpegs from HD movies.

Ingredients:
Final Cut Pro (untested with Final Cut Express)
Adobe Photoshop (mine is PS8, Adobe CS)
Quicktime Pro
A video-capable computer (mine's a Macintosh G5)
A little patience.

1) Turn whatever HD movie clips you have into Quicktime.
2) Open the file to its original size.
3) Play your file until you find the optimum frame that you'd like to extract as a still image.
3a *Opt*) Double the size of the movie clip by hitting "Apple-2"
4) "Apple-C" (which is a key shortcut for copying). The frame is then copied.
5) Open Photoshop (or, something like TextEdit, which you can paste).
6) "Apple-N" (a keypad shortcut for opening a new file).
7) The file can be custom-created.

But what Photoshop does is recognize the copying you've done and makes a size that conforms exactly to what your image size is.
*HINT* at the top of the prompt, the document is named "Untitled-1." I like to rename the image as the same name of the movie file I'm using. Sometimes I extract more than one image, so I then add letters from A to Z. This is invaluable if you need to revisit the movie clip later.
8) Go to "Layer" in Photoshop and flatten the image (at the bottom).

Do what toning and resizing you want, and save your clip.

For those suffering the NTSC/Widescreen squeeze, read further.
If your computer is spitting out anamorphed images (another term for squeezed), uncheck the "constrain proportions" box after opening "Image Size." You MUST have the file's original pixel size handy in order to return your morphed image back to its unsqueezed proportions. Here are some as a cheat for you:

Double HD Squeezed: 2880x2160
1080 HD Squeezed: 1440x1080
Double 720 HD Squeezed: 1540x1152
720 HD Squeezed: 960x720

You want to return to the "Image Size" function to uncheck that "Constrained Proportions" box so you can return the file size to its original proportions. Replace the top number (which corresponds with the first set of numbers as shown above) with the first number of the widescreen size, listed below.

Double HD Wide: 3840x2160
1080 HD Wide: 1920x1080
Double 720 HD Wide: 2048x1152
720 HD Wide: 1280x720

So, if you've shot in 720p and have a file that's now 960x720, uncheck that box in Image Size, then replace 960 with a pixel size of 1280. Hit "Okay" and your wide format has returned.

For the 1920x1080 image of the beach, here's a Flickr post of the finished image. In the meantime, I'm gonna take my PowerBook into work and figure why my laptop recognizes the widescreen size when the G5 desktops don't.

Links Embedded in My Blogs; Adding Flickr & YouTube Files!

2006-10-11T14:59:00.000-05:00

Perhaps my own computer is having problems, and that seems to be the case. I'm not sure whether the audio from the railroad clip that I uploaded actually plays. I've decided to start a YouTube page, so as I work up some clips, I'll share it with you. Right now, only the video from the railroad is posted. It's shot with that little Panasonic DMC-FZ30, a do-all camera that I will write my own review on.

I've added links to much of what I've posted over the past several months. And I'll try sharing some information about the gear I use as well.

HVX200 Shoot: My First Cinematography Assignment

2006-10-11T14:18:00.000-05:00

I try to make any links some kind of informative and independent review.

Armed with a shotgun mic, Panasonic AG-HVX200 and Lumix DMC-FZ30 cameras, I drove 75 miles due east, heading for the town of Denton, MD, to shoot some footage of the 70 mile commute of a woman and her 2 children. The first stop was the local auto parts store, because I needed to get a portable light. At the Pep Boys store, only AC current lamps were for sale, so I picked a fluorescent lamp, which seemed daylight balanced and burned cool.

Stopped at a barbecue place beside U.S.50 to get some ribs (don't order the dry rub kind, they are dry inside as well!) and drove over the Bay Bridge, getting to Denton around 10pm. After grabbing some snacks at a grocery store, I hunkered down for the night at a local hotel.

But I couldn't sleep.

Almost all night, I was wound up, a bit nervous about my first shoot. Would the sound be okay? The color retention and quality work? The angles of the clips? I decided to go to the truck and pack all my video gear, so I grabbed the FZ-30 to shoot what's called "B-roll," which is cutaway footage with a different camera. After charging the batteries and checking online for the exact address of the subject, I packed my gear into my bag and fanny pack while watching some [adult swim] on Cartoon Network.

Finally, at 230am, I was exhausted enough. So I set the alarm for 445am and asked the front desk to give me a wakeup call for 430am (so I could have an alarm backup, in case I passed out).

Up & at 'em at 5, I started on MD-404, driving past a water tower with "Welcome to Denton" adorning the exterior. I chose to return after finding the family's home, which was nestled in a quiet part of town, just at the fringe of Denton's border. Twilight blue mixed with the tungsten lamps of the block, which were shot with the HVX200, which was apparently built on the platform of the AJ-HDC27 VariCam.

A couple joggers worked out on the other side of the main road, running along a snake rail fence, so I took my B-roll camera and mounted it on a monopod to shoot some quiet street scenes. As a car drove up the road, I squeezed against the wood fence, but the angle wasn't quite right. Lifting the monopod above the fence, I set it down just inside the fence.

Moving it close to the wood, I started framing a shot, but felt a light jolt in my fingers. After a moment, another jolt popped my hand. Doh! My monopod started rubbing against a charged cow fence! I abandoned shooting any more of the fence, and returned to capture a shot of the water tower to give placement of where things would start.

Returning to the home, I knocked on the door, and the husband welcomed me, inviting me to head upstairs as the mother got her daughter ready for the trek. After putting on clothes and brushing their teeth, they were all ready to go. I exited first, and framed a shot of the door knob, and shortly after, the family left their home and packed into 2 vehicles -- Mom belted the children in the back of her Expedition, while Dad got in his Honda "commuter vehicle" (a higher-gas mileage car). I stuck my B-roll beneath the Ford, starting the REC button, and moved aside so the Ford could back out, over the camera (I remember that from a scene in The Bodyguard).

Running to the end of the block to catch up to the Expedition, I rode with Mom and the kids, who watched a cartoon in the back seat. I tried shooting as much as I could, including a grab shot of the front wheel, the Bay Bridge (with the hood of the truck), and a quick grab of fisherman on the bay. As we got to her folks' home in Severn, I shot some of the goodbyes, but had only one minute left before my P2 cards maxxed out! Doh! Too little time to download, I grab the B-roll and shot a little goodbye kiss, and we left for her job in Annapolis.

I zoomed in tight on her odometer, which read 12,000 miles. "That's how much I've driven this year," she said, adding that the truck was newly bought just several months ago. Let's see, how many MPG's? About 16 or so, and at $3 per gallon? Asking her if she had considered a minivan, she scoffed: I'm too young to drive a minivan! I don't want to be a minivan mom!"

As we arrived, I clamped a head on the child seat and aimed my B-roll out the rear door window and ran up the small hill to frame the truck as Mom exited. I held shot, pulling out to the whole SUV as she walked into work.

The shoot was perhaps a little under-exposed. I still don't quite know Final Cut Pro, and I may have messed up a bit, because I shot everything in "480p 30," which is the lowest rez you can use on the HVX200. And I only did that because I could shoot 32 minutes with 8 gigs of P2 cards -- shooting high-rez would only give me 8 minutes or less to shoot with!

But the shots looked like friggin film! Not one frame resembled video, and Dudley watched some of the clips, completely amazed at the quality for something shot in a low-rez format. I hope I can yank some contrast while retaining color, without blowing too much out.

So I thumbed through Google, finding a tip on how to expose shots with the Panny. As I told Dudley, the only way you learn is sometimes by mistake. And you're only an idiot if you don't learn anything from a screw-up.

Lumix DMC-FZ30: Some Hangin' Out in Colorado

2006-10-09T08:02:00.000-05:00

Sitting on the third floor of the Marriott in Denver, I'm getting everything ready for a photo shoot of a Denver Broncos fan who will start his tailgate party at 11am Monday, 7-1/2 hours before game time. The guy is playing hooky from work, and I wonder just how many people might be in the parking lot outside Mile High Stadium.

A day earlier, my colleague and best friend Ken and I made a day out of hitting the mountains, trying to drive to the highest open public road in North America (over 14,000 feet above sea level!). We first grabbed a couple tickets to ride the Georgetown Loop Railroad and act like tourists. Boy that does feel kinda weird, sitting inside a flat bed car filled with people, gawking over the edge as the steam engine chugged along its route.

Since our ride wouldn't start for another 3 hours, we stopped to grab a couple hot sammiches and took to the highway to swing off the beaten path and drive another beaten path up one part of the Rocky Mountains. Yup, I took a buncha buncha photos, because I can never seem to simply put my freakin' camera down and simply absorb the sights. But I did compromise, choosing to take my trusty little Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30, which shoots both still images and full motion VGA and QVGA video, which also records sound. I uploaded a clip that I just shot, and you can see the video here, but I compressed it from NTSC (640x480) to QVGA size (320x240) to save space and time; it'll download fast. This puppy is a really cool item to take as a do-all camera. I could shoot virtually any job with it in a pinch, since it zooms at 12X, a 35mm equivalent of 35mm f/2.8-420mm f/3.7.

The one road we really wanted to take, the Mount Evans Road, was closed (I guess the snow and ice had already made the drive dangerous enough), so we drove as high as we could, on Squaw Pass Rd, to a stop about a mile past Summit Lake. Breaking out the Lumix, we took a bunch of pictures, and also shot some shots of the scenery before returning to Georgetown, a really cool little cozy town off I-70. Driving there is simple, since I-70 starts in Baltimore. Just drive about 2000 miles and bear right at Colorado's exit 228; going under the highway and making a left, you bear right and drive along Loop Drive to the end. You can actually see the loop railroad if you search for the drive in Google Maps. Copy what's inside the quotes - "Loop Dr, Georgetown, Co" - then paste it in the box for the location, click on the "Satellite" or "Hybrid" option at the upper right side of the page, then zoom way in to see the satellite image of the railroad that circles around the parking lot. (You can see some cool sat images, like a full pro stadium in south San Francisco or a plane take off at Hartsfield International Airport near Atlanta!)

My batteries were almost depleted at the end of the train ride, and we then made a stop to check out the town, which looks like it would look really peaceful and postcard- like in a snowy setting. The battery indicator blinked that heart-stopping red as I squeezed every last frame I could as the sun set behind the mountain peaks, but I managed at least one more image of the Rockies as we returned to Denver.

Today, we checked in to the Marriott, where we learned that we shared the hotel with some really cool visitors. These people really suit up for Nan Desu Kan, where many actually dress like the characters they identify with. Plenty of knee-high socks, leather boots, fake swords and wigs at this event, plus NDK'ers apologizing for being "weird" or "ordinary," but I admire someone who embraces their passion through expression.

After grabbing some info for more sight-seeing, we started out at Sky Venture, a place where you can actually take part in indoor skydiving. Even a 3-year old could do it, and one actually did. I shot some video of her practicing skydiving, and when I get permission, I'll post it and give you a link-through in the process, but ya' gotta see her expression! She made some weird faces as she floated inside the chamber. We only stayed a short time (in other words, I was too scared) and then we drove to the Denver Museum of Art to check out the grand opening of the Frederic C. Hamilton Building. For such a cool-looking piece of architecture, I didn't even photograph the exterior, perhaps because I felt like I had shot enough while having some personal time.

Everybody's Free (To Wear Buzz Away)

2006-10-05T03:05:00.000-05:00

*with all due homage to the "Sunscreen" piece by Chicago Tribune's Mary Schmich*

Lady's and gentlemen of the Class of 2006. Wear "Buzz Away." If I could offer you only one tip for the future, "Buzz Away" would be it. The short-term benefits of "Buzz Away" have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the effectiveness of DEET. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the effectiveness of DEET until you're being chased by ten thousand mosquitos. But trust me, by the time you dive back in your car, you'll look out the window as dozens of them tap to get inside, and recall all the bumps you've suffered after walking unprotected, along any Maryland shore marsh. Don't worry about the future of your mosquito bites. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as howling at the moon. Once you are infected by West Nile, you can't run back to the convenience store and think an application of DEET will help.

Scream.

Like I did, when I saw a host of super-sized Culicidae welcome me as their mid-day feast. Don't be reckless with your body, thinking that you'll be able to shoo those XXXL demons away. Don't put up with your own brainless reasoning that 5 miles is too far to return to civilization to purchase a simple can of insect repellent. And don't think that starving mosquitoes will hide in the dark and wait until nightfall when a golden opportunity (known as a body filled with sweet blood) stands in their midst.

Smack.

Yourself in the face, like I should have, since my decision to stay was akin to a license to hit myself in the head, arms, legs... everywhere... as I tried in vain to keep those blood suckers off me while walking up a path surrounded by grassy marshes and still water - havens for humongous mosquitoes. Don't waste your time debating whether to run like hell, back to your car.

Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes those skeeters catch up. The race is long and, in the end, the mosquitoes always get you. I remember thinking I must be nuts as they surrounded me, within the first few steps of the path. I can't forget all the bumps I have all over my body. If you know how to stop all these bumps from itching (especially the ones I can't reach, and those in my most personal areas), tell me how. But keep any sly comments to yourself. Throw away any crude remarks, as well.

Scratch.

Don't feel too guilty about clawing at all those reddening mosquito bites when you're alone. But watch out when you're in public for who notices that you've been digging all over your body; they may think you have lice, or something even worse. Maybe they'll ask you, maybe they won't. Maybe you'll have West Nile, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll finally listen to your own advice in the future. Maybe you'll go to the pharmacy and purchase some hydrocortisone cream to help you now. Whatever you do, you won't congratulate yourself, but you should berate yourself since you KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN. Your choices were half chance. And you blew it.

Enjoy this advice. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid to find humor in the most mundane things. Laughing at yourself is the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Read the directions, especially if you don't follow them. You may find that hydrocortisone might really suck on some parts of your body. Accept certain inalienable truths. Running from blood suckers is funny only after you're safe. Don't expect anyone else to support your stupidity.

So trust me on the "Buzz Away."

Post script: This was the result after a host of mosquitoes harassed me when I invaded their space while attempting to make some images of the "Duck Inn Trail" at Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge. I knew that I should have gotten a can of bug repellent; Even when a blood-sucking fly landed on my driver's side window the moment I arrived, I was too lazy to simply hop back in my car and get some up the street. I got some nice images, but they chased me out. Or, maybe they banded together and carried me out. However the mode of exiting, I lost perhaps half a pint of blood in the process. If you ever decide to traverse a trail along a marshy area in warm climate, buy the can and have fun. If not, I wish you luck.

Thank you, Mary Schmich, for your kindness in allowing me the opportunity to borrow from your thoughtful piece, "Advice, Like Youth, Probably Just Wasted on the Young," published in the Chicago Tribune in 1997. For those who haven't read it, go to Mary's Sunscreen column.

There is also the timeless song, "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)," by Baz Luhrmann.

Here are some images I shot at Terrapin Nature Park, too.

Has it Been That Long Since My Last Blog??

2006-10-02T13:34:00.000-05:00

One week after our multimedia summit, and I'm still trying to figure everything out.

Dave returned the 120GB recordable drive today (it wouldn't record), and we're looking into getting a different hard drive to record on. I had hoped that I'd be shooting in large format by this time, but sadly, this setback is just another stumbling block as I try to manage shooting video, before I forget all that was discussed at the 3-day boot camp in Allentown.

My reaction now is to delay my attempt to shoot my dream project. There are so many things going on in Baltimore. The city center is expanding. The large vacant hotel building near the Basilica is being demolished. The city plans on vacating and razing hundreds of vacant and abandoned row homes and structures in order to extend the revitalization of the city so that what's been gained won't be for naught with good neighborhoods bordering decaying communities.

Yet I'm still trying to work this out and get shooting.

Oh well.... I'm stoked about what we learned in the Allentown boot camp. Brian Storm was an incredible speaker, and he chatted about merging multiple formats to create one seamless and new style of clip. Storm (his website is mediastorm.org) prefaced that newspapers are dinosaurs; they're on the endangered species list. People are getting their information on the web, and they don't believe what the media force-feeds them, for the most part. Even local TV is being shredded by lack of interest. The growth is in the web, and the interest is still in videos and images. Take a look at Myspace, or Youtube. Even the most quirky vids can generate millions of hits. So, how will journalists feed this appetite?

Storm says we should give 'em what they want. But shooting stills or standard video just won't cut it. Producing a story may. Feel free to shoot images, but enhance the experience by capturing good audio and video, and 1/10th of your work is done. The other 9/10ths is completed in post production, since he estimates that 10 minutes of work are needed for every minute of work recorded, whether it's video or audio. Wow. Just a hint, start being more economical, instead of thinking that "it's only disk space."

He suggests that we have a part of our sites to shed light on our creativity. We need someplace to sing. We must have one corner where we can do what we want, without getting an approving editor's blessing, in which we can let our creative juices flow. Only then can we grow and learn. We have to take ownership of our space and of our own projects. Having this in place will let us experiment and develop a style in this generally-uncharted environment.

With regards to the amount of working sites on the web, very few people have tapped into the new style. Hell, we don't even know what to call ourselves. Even the structure of news-gathering and contest submissions haven't caught up. So many traditional journalists are thinking old-school. It's going to be like NPR meets VH-1. Photography has been around for 150 years. Moving film has been captured since the turn of the century, to the 1900's. Newspapers have churned out editions for 200 years. And this is a nation on ADD (attention deficit). Makes sense to shake things up a bit, huh?

Nikon D2H Sports: The Hit The Size of The Earthquake

2006-09-11T22:14:00.000-05:00

"You're gonna tank on game day," Rob told me as I entered the office last Thursday. The comment caught me off guard. "I'm only saying that because I have to do something to get you off track" for the Sunday game against Tampa Bay for the opening game of the Ravens' 2006 season.

I didn't even want to be there. I hate humidity, despise afternoon rains, and hate regions where there's never a chance of snow. Tampa was my last choice for travel, but one city I was told to make reservations for.

Making the most out of the situation, I discovered a neat place to stay - the Mainsail Suites on Eisenhower (right next to the airport) - which resembled a gated condominium comunity instead of a hotel. Complete with a full kitchen, I made a fresh romaine salad with blue cheese dressing and cooked pasta with italian sausage and vodka cream sauce. Check out tripadvisor.com; I wrote a full review with 12 photos!

Rob suggested that I move to his end zone if ever the Ravens threatened to score, but my favorite position is staying in back of the end zone. I figure, the team's goal is scoring, so why not move to a position where the players will head straight for me?

As the Ravens threatened to score, I was concerned since they drove for the far end zone. With this being perhaps the Ravens' first score, the prudent thing was to cover the opposite side from wherever Rob was. I tried calling him during a break in the action, as Baltimore's ball was on the 20 yard line. Rob didn't answer, so I left a message and scanned the shooters for him. Everyone wore an orange security vest, so I couldn't locate him. So I set up tent at the goal line, figuring that he'd be on the opposite side, where the Bucs' team was.

Two plays later, Jamal Lewis barrels past the Bucs defenders, running right past me for the team's first score. As I headed back to the far end zone, I realized that Rob was just 10 feet away, and shot the same play. "What are you doing on my side?" he asked. Well, I had forgotten that I was told to shoot from the Bucs' side! "That's my picture," he said, "and you have to stay on your side." I couldn't tell whether he was joking or not.

I asked another photographer about it, who said that I should send my best stuff and let the editor decide. We're supposed to send our best images for the readers, forsaking our personal feelings.

By halftime, I had shot every big play that the Ravens were involved in. I sweated like a pig (even forgetting my sunblock), but at least my camera was hotter than I was. I could only liken my luck to the 5.8 earthquake that hit the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, right before game time. Rob and I met inside the photographer's room where he downloaded his pictures from the first half. I told him that I wouldn't try sending until after the game, so he could send his Jamal score first.

By the middle of the third quarter, I couldn't believe it. Interceptions, runbacks, scores, sacks... I nailed everything. By that point, Tampa was threatening to score, so I stayed against the back of the end zone, waiting for a pass in front of me. A quick pass from Chris Simms to Michael Pittman, and I squeezed the trigger. Barely a frame shot, when **SMACK!!** The crowd groaned as Pittman got hammered backwards and airborne, flattened by Ray Lewis at the 1-yard line. Ray flexed his guns as the bowl of 60,000 buzzed in awe, reacting to The Hit as some guy asked me, "Did you get that?" I didn't know. I knew I flinched as Ray-Ray speared Pittman, and I felt my focus ring move as The Hit was landed.

For a minute, I didn't even want to look. But I had to. Looking at the preview screen, it seemed sharp, but that's on a 2-inch LCD screen. I found shade and zoomed in the detail. The elbow, the ball, the feet: they all looked sharp enough. So I showed the guy beside me. We couldn't help ourselves, busting our guts about the play. I haven't shot something that spontaneous in football in a long time. The Hit capped a good afternoon.

People have been posting comments in websites about The Hit all day, and it's been rerun in 3 different angles at full speed on ESPN. The Hit even made top honors in "Monday Night Countdown." But when I got home, I saw that the shot didn't even run. An editor told me when I returned that The Hit would run Tuesday, so perhaps it'll see the light of day, after all. It gets rough when you have a really good shoot, yet your stuff doesn't run, or run well. When you do well, don't you want people to see what you've created? A shooter's work is about image. It's displaying your vision, your creation, your talent, your pride.

When it can't be seen, part of you isn't seen as well, and it hurts. Perhaps that's why we aren't ever fully satisfied. If you don't care when your best stuff doesn't get shown, what does that say about your drive? Your passion? Your desire? Someone told me that I shouldn't complain. That the layout of the photos looked well. But I didn't argue with him, because he is waiting for his chance to retire. Maybe the day when I don't care is when I'll look for my way to hang 'em up, too.

D2H Shoot: Is Opening an Umbrella Inside Bad Luck?

2006-09-01T22:51:00.000-05:00

This doesn't have a thing to do with the Panasonic camera, for ther most part. But I'll add a line that does chat about it.

I come in to work, armed with my water-resistant Olympics (Athens, 2004) rain jacket and a pocket "Rainkist," one of those miniature portable, take-it-with-you-anywhere umbrellas, ready to cover Ernesto, whose leading edge began spritzing the Baltimore area in the morning. The only thing on the platter: look for flooding, rain, wind damage, and anything else that might make a front page image.

Already, I had no intentions of using the HVX-200.

With no rain gear for the camcorder (and, frankly, none for my Nikon D2H bodies), I figured it would be better risking 2-year-old still cameras than new gear that cost us $6,000 (and it's uninsured). One reporter chatted with me as I emptied my pockets at the assignment desk. "Are you ready for the big flood?" she kidded. Of course, I said, and I started unveiling my Rainkist umbrella. "Don't open that in here!" she replied, as the 6-inch portable telescoped to about 2 feet in length.

"Are you superstitious?" asked Chuck, our assignment editor. Pausing for a split second, I became unfazed, popping it open. Boy, did I get ribbing.

"What kind of umbrella is THAT?!" she scoffed. "It looks like it's for a girl. It looks like a purse!" Laughing, she continued yet I maintained, in defiance of her questioning my manhood. "I don't care what you think, and that shows that I'm self-confident. What, am I supposed to impress you with the size of my umbrella? Anyone uncomfortable with what your slinging has more to worry about than I do," I said with a smirk on my face.

Cut to 2 hours later, as I went from street to street, looking for weather art of people dealing with the storm. With my car parked on a side street, I walked along Lombard Street, trying to capture a good shot of people battling the wind as it caught their umbrellas. Walking west from Calvert Street, I paused to shoot some photos of the north side at Light Street, as commuters holding umbrellas stood among bright images of people smiling, which adorned a pharmacy at Light Street.

Still unimpressed with my images, I started heading for the USF&G building. Seeing that the "walk" sign burned for me to cross, I started into the street. The driver of a Ford Explorer yielded for me from the first lane of 3, and the amber "don't walk" hand began flashing. Knowing that I had time to cross, I continued, watching out the corner of my eye for traffic turning left. But I noticed a blue Saab, whose driver had her view of me blocked by the SUV. I was already in her lane, but she didn't slow down.

"What the--" I said, as I backpedaled, watching her bumper aim for my kneecaps. In a split second, I thought of my family and being thrown onto the hood of her car, my legs breaking at the impact, and laying up in a hospital, unable to move my legs. At that moment, as I scrambled backwards, she noticed in time, and her wet tires groaned for a moment as the car stopped a foot from my legs.

I shook my head as I completed crossing Light Street, my heart still pulsing with adrenaline from the experience. I did NOT want to become a news event while covering an event that wasn't news-worthy! Only moments later, I captured a nice moment as a woman, heading for the shops at Harborplace, grabbed at her umbrella which was blown backwards in a gust of wind while she stood beside me at Light and Pratt Streets. Only after I told her of my experience did she relent and give me her name (and permission to use the image in the paper).

As I headed back to my car, I recalled the talk about whether opening an umbrella is bad luck. If that was the worst of the luck I had today, I'm glad I opened it.

HVX200 Observations: Merging Technologies, Merging Jobs...

2006-08-28T20:48:00.000-05:00

It's bound to happen.

These HD cameras will jump to 4K and higher definition, bringing the image quality on-par with the current crop of digital 35mm cameras. With this blurring of technology, you know that the job description will blur as well.

Ultimately, that will result in a loss of many jobs in the journalism field. Newspapers and local television will merge. If the FCC doesn't allow it, they most certainly will relax their regulations to allow such things to happen. The weight of power is on the side of the large business, not the individual. As newpapers work feverishly to generate some kind of revenue to offset what they have yielded, they would look to getting into true multimedia, by purchasing radio and local stations. If they don't have the money, television will look at this as an option, and the merger will slowly mean the merging of office space, editors (although, there will be some distinction between online, newspaper, TV and radio eds), and field workers.

Reporters will have to know how to work in front of the camera, as well as write stroies for TV and radio. Television camera operators will be merged with photographers. The camera operator of tomorrow will be able to grab high resolution frames, capable of being enlarged ten-fold and more, and then edit the footage for broadcast use.

And the upper management will make more money, while finding more ways to trim their bottom line and save more money. Streamlining, they call it. The only problem is that the stream is already too shallow. If this is the way the future will shape up in the 21st century digital age of news-gathering, they should get some seasoned talent and round the newsroom with some promising raw employees, and give them a good working environment, free of pressure-deadlines that encumber the media workplace.

These HD cameras are simply stepping stones to the 2K, 4K, and higher rez cameras. But they can only be used effectively with people who have an eye for color and composition. Those who make for effective story-telling further enhance the story by knowing how to piece it together to create a story, whether it's one with an ending or not.

Grab a camera and start shooting, people. Learn your craft well, because the time will come when you have to truly put up some well-shot and edited stories for your portfolio. Those shooting Canons and Nikons? Our days as still photojournalists are numbered. It won't be within the next year or two. But in a number of years -- perhaps within the next 5-7 years -- the mergers will start and soon sweep over the lay of the land of media.

No one expected that LP's would become antiques, but they are. Audio tapes, sold just a few years ago, and supported with automobile head units (aka radios) and home audio decks, now gather dust. But now, the CD is an elderly medium, and DVD's will follow suit in a few years, as HD-DVDs and Blu Ray disks expand the storage space. They really are opening the doorway to the UHD formats.

Ultra High definition. And we haven't even formally switched to the HD format, which is a couple years off. Even the HD_DVD's and BluRay disks are a temporary format, as the holographic DVD is being developed, to burn a multitude of layers onto a disk. These are said to hold 1.6 terabytes per disk, which equals 1600 gigabytes. See how the format is actually keeping pace with the storage media? You'll need a 1.6TB disk to hold footage from a 4K camcorder.

Learn your craft now. Hone your skills, and stay ahead of the curve, still shooters and indie videomakers. The ones who have little imagination won't last. Stand-up grab-shots won't cut it. Not with these UHD cameras. The HVX200 is only a mule. It's a playtoy compared to what's about to emerge in digital filming technology, in my honest opinion.

HVX200 Tip: Crush Big Black

2006-08-25T20:00:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure if I'll be posting before sometime next week, but I've read about a little tweak inside the camera that can give you a richer black level, and that will be first priority for my next shoot.

The setting is the Master Ped, which is another way to set the black levels for shooting. I've always shot my stuff with MP at zero, but I have read that a better yield for richer tones (beyond setting some good color settings including white balance) would result if you notch the MP level down to around "minus one" or -2. I would have wanted to shoot some footage today, but I needed to shoot the first of a recurring project on a basketball player. Since I want to be able to shoot video and grab frames at the same time, I will want to wait until we get that 100GB writeable drive, otherwise my HD shooting in 1080 or even 720 will yield me only around 8 minutes shoot time.

I've also created a cheat sheet, because I've been setting my camera on different resolutions that wind up resulting in some jaggies (those frames that look like they've been shot with a video camera). The blur looks like a bunch of jagged lines, not simple motion blur. I will keep it right near the front seat so that I can quickly thumb through and see which settings yield film-like qualities (those settings are highlighted green) and which ones yield the jaggies (they're in red).

If someone wants me to post the color cheat sheet, or simply rewrite the info down, I'll try to get to it next week. Right now, I need a haircut, and I'm exhausted. I normally am sleeping at 8am, not shooting, like I did this morning!

HVX200 Shoots: Baltimuda Triangle (sports and features)

2006-08-24T23:55:00.000-05:00

It's been a couple weeks, and I've been farting around with the HVX200 (not really ... I've really been working like a mutha mutha) in my attempt to find the right settings for the camera to use it as a still camera. I've not been shooting film stories lately; there's simply not enough space to do it effectively, until we order a 100-GB Firestore drive. So far, the Panasonic has blessed the front page as well as section fronts for the local section and inside of sports. I'm working on the sports and features section fronts as well, and I may have shot just what I needed today.

My first shoot was in Washington, covering Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (is "The" in caps or not??), who made an appearance for the local media for an upcoming feature film, Gridiron Gang. I was pressed for time since I had to run to Annapolis for another shoot, at the Naval Academy. The problem: Any time you have to travel the route between Baltimore, Washington, and Annapolis, you're flirting with possible failure. I call it the Baltimuda Triangle, because somewhere along the line, you're gonna sink. Either the timing between shoots will be off, or you'll get nailed with the traffic issue somewhere along the way.

I did get to the hotel in plenty of time, but the PR flaks said that we wouldn't get to have Rock until 2:40pm. And the Navy PR said they wanted me to be in Annapolis by 3:30pm. You ain't gonna get to Annapolis from DC in anywhere less than an hour or so, and I started the protest. Finally, the Rock crew relented and gave me a couple minutes with Rock, so they hustled me to a room and told me to ready it for him. Opening a shade for the main light, I moved two room lamps a little to get some warmth as a key light and give the room some ambiance. After sitting an assistant down for a test shoot, I was ready.

We had to leave so Rock could come in, and then we were called back in. Asking one of his assistants to sit across from Rock to chat with him, I started shooting some horizontal and vertical stuff as he listened to the lady talk about how she fell and hurt herself. I only shot perhaps 3 minutes worth of 1080i-HD clips, shot at 1/30th second, with a wide open f-stop. I will post a couple shots of it, once the shots run. The color rendition looked great!

The PR guy waited for me to arrive at 4pm in Annapolis (after I misplaced my phone), and escorted me to the practice field to capture some stuff of the players. One camera operator for WBAL-TV told me that I couldn't shoot video after the 6th period (they were in the 8th period), but I scoffed at the notion, saying that it didn't apply to still shooters. Hey, we aren't gonna post video on the net of this, anyway.

Two frames in particular interested me: one of a player who was backlit like crazy - His sweat just jumped in the frame I shot. The other was of a cornerback busting through the offensive line - I opened the video screen, holding the camera low and stood near the two players during the drill. The angle looked somewhat unusual, one shot you rarely see during game action. I'll post these once they get published, as well, which should be within the next several days, I hope. Most of the shoot of the practice was around f/2.8 @ 1/1000th second, using the built-in ND filter.

I saw a shot I lifted from a clip of James Kinstle, who did a piece about Shakespeare downtown. The shot, which ran 2 columns, below a photo shot with a digital still Nikon, held up so well, you simply couldn't tell which one was a still frame and which one was a movie frame! It's posted in the pictures section. I may start posting some video once I learn about downsizing to post here, as well.

HVX200 Shoot: Another Section Front for the HD Camcorder

2006-08-23T01:47:00.000-05:00

Well, it's done again. The local section front for the paper now has an HD movie frame from the HVX200. Here it is, children taking part in a clown school. Yes, I had my doubts, but I got what I needed. I shot strictly with the Panasonic, only using the Nikon camera to shoot still images for ID's of the children I captured on the Panasonic. Bob needed the images for the section because he had nothing else to run. Between this job and the one of the football field being dedicated, I wanted to shoot everything with the movie stills. Only the ultra-wide angle of the Nikon was enough for me to use the digital 35mm for the field dedication, but the secondary image of the players' legs standing on the turf (thanks for the shooting idea, Chris Detrick) completed the publishing of the images inside sports.

I didn't even check to see whether any other images were used of the clown school; I wound up going crazy when I scrambled to shoot the rowhouse fire that destroyed a dozen beautiful homes in East Baltimore. And I was ANGRY. I have been waiting to get the 100gb Citidisk HD recording drive to mount on the camera, which shoots HD files at 1 gig per minute, but with my clown stuff already filling the 2- 4gb P2 disks, I'd have to wait for around 16 minutes while the files transferred from the drives to the slow laptop of mine.

I called Dudley and left an angry message: "I need that hard drive NOW. I have a spot news assignment and my disks are filled. This needs to be changed!" I yelled on his voice mail as I booted up my PowerBook to transfer the first 4gb drive. I wound up not even shooting with the camera, but it highlights the need to have a large drive to write on.

I took the HVX200 to the Orioles game this evening, and another batch of journalists -- this time, the photographers -- stared at my new gear. And Bill, with the Orioles PR, was shocked. He simply didn't know what to say, so I told him that this is the future of the still photographer. And I agreed that we couldn't use any of the footage online. The photographers shook their heads, and some of them are clearly upset about the new equipment, saying that there will be lost jobs because of the merging of formats.

Honestly, I see this on the horizon. The downsizing will come into the field visual journalist as it has in other aspects of reportage. There will perhaps be mergers between papers and TV stations, if that's okay by law, and there could be double duty for the photographer to shoot for the local TV station. People will be canned to make way for another wave of journalistic streamlining. And another realm of pure local journalism may very well be hurt.

HVX200 Musings: From Bottom of Barrel to Next Generation

2006-08-21T22:31:00.000-05:00

Walking into work today, and I can't believe my eyes. There it is, just like that, on the front page. An image of a man squrting water onto the rubble as a bucket scoops out debris from demolished homes for removal in front of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Opening up the paper, I see 3 more images that I shot with the Panasonic, all printed in color. This was the milestone.

We're now only one of a handful of papers working with HD cameras to do double duty, shooting video and still with one camera. Here we are, with a 30fps (or, 60fps, in slow motion) camera that can capture images up to 4 megapixels for print use, and also use the footage for web or broadcast use.

Only an hour after I made it to work, and my boss Dudley calls me from home. "Is that your still camera, or the video camera?" he asks. It's the video camera. I decided to ramp back the sharpness and shoot all video files, grabbing HD-1080 frames and setting them as Photoshop images, dropping them into the system with a tagline of "HD MOVIE FRAME," instead of "DIGITAL IMAGE," which we tag onto digital still photos. The file number now reads, "000HRC.mov," instead of "DSC0182.jpg."

The picture ran 4 columns wide, and Dudley was ecstatic, like I was last week, when I thought I had my first front page high definition frame. "The only reason I asked was because I knew you'd be gunning for a front page photo," Dudley said, adding, "You'd better grab some extra copies, because we've moved to the next level."

So, it's now official, that we've gone to the next generation of news-gathering. It's time to start considering whether to dump your stills for the high definition camera, and as the newer generations are released with 2K and 4K capabilities, you'll be able to shoot raw images and project them onto a movie theater screen. It's coming. It will soon be here.

HVX200 Musings: Run and Gun

2006-08-19T21:00:00.000-05:00

I couldn't sleep. Even though I knew it would be a cloudy morning, I still wanted to take the camera out and shoot some morning scenes on my day off. My first stop would be the courthouse, where I recalled months ago that a homeless man would spend the night at the front doorsteps, sleeping. Walking along Calvert Street, I saw him. Wrapped in a greenish blanket with empty cups of McDonald's drinks and a water bottle around him, he lay outstretched in the still morning air. His shoes sat on the step beneath him, beside some newspapers folded next to them.

My camera was set on B.Press (deep black gamma), with it on Low, for more tonal range. Shooting 1920x720 (HD, 720p) at 60 FPS (called super slow motion, double the frame rate of film cameras), I set my tripod across the street and waited for some gusts of wind to blow the newsprint up. People walked by as he rested, never checking to see what his condition was. But don't judge; would you check on a stranger when you can't see what's in his hands?

I drove out to south Baltimore, setting up beneath a statue to capture some time lapse, at 1 frame per second. Ran out to Tide Point and did some more time lapse, stoked at the way the clouds floated above.

Then I stopped on Charles Street to capture a traffic light and a street lamp. There weren't enough people to shoot street scenes like I had wanted. I even rolled up to the mirror building to shoot some time lapse there. I had only gotten 2 hours sleep, but I just wanted to shoot some footage as the clouds mingled with the sun and sky. And I resized them to post in the images here.

The shots have no post-production toning to them at all, they are raw frames from the shoots I did. I plan on shooting perhaps everything in 720p, since you can't do time lapse or slow motion in 1080, I think. 720p has the most wide ranging shooting styles one can manage.Soon, I'll have to really fart around with the sharpness.

HVX200/D2H Shoot: Ouch, That Hurts.

2006-08-17T00:30:00.000-05:00

My first shot at posting a photo for the front of the newspaper. And I'm ready for it, I think.

The job: Grab a shot of the Bromo-Seltzer Tower, which was requested by the managing editor, since we hadn't had any recent images of the building.
The story: Apartment lofts are being created inside the tower, which was built in the early 1900's, which is part of the big rebirth of Baltimore.
The image: A scene of the tower from the eastern side as the sun sets.
The feeling: Elation and pressure. It's got to be done right. It's for show on page one of the largest newspaper in Maryland. The image must be captured at dusk (after 8pm) and dropped into the live system (by 9pm).

Off I go with the HVX200 and my Nikon D2H, for back-up. When you're about to shoot a job in which you're learning your camera's limitations, you don't want mistakes. I reach the inner harbor area right around 8pm, but the sun isn't quite at the right location, since the tower is still too back-lit. So I move about the area on Lombard Street, looking for a clean image where I can capture traffic, the downtown area, and the tower, with room on the left side so the editors can drop some copy.

Finding my spot on Light Street, I wait for the right moment, which comes within the next few minutes. My camera's set on 1920x1080 (1080i), and I wait for Lombard's light to go red, so I can get into the street and shoot. My camera's hoisted on the monopod in the vertical setting, to preserve as much of the resolution as I can. The image looks more saturated as each red light hits, and I start backing up my shots with my D2H.

With my images written on disks, I head back to the photo department and grab frames off the Panasonic. The image looks stellar. And I'm just tickling inside, anticipating a nice display on A-1. Dropping the images into the live system, I walk over to the production desk, where Julie is readying the images for the page front. And she likes what she sees.

"Great job," she says, as does Swag. I feel tremendously confident as I walk back to the photo department. I can see myself driving into work, past newspaper boxes, glancing at box after box with the image that has officially taken us into the next format of camera.

Barely able to control my elation, I answer the in-house phone. "We have a problem," Swag says. "Can you drop the image from your still camera, instead?"

Oh... my... God.... What's wrong? "There's some kind of halo around the buildings, and it's noticeable on the page printer," I'm told. I simply got the backup shot into the system, since we had our backs to the wall for deadline. There was a sinking feeling. A sense of defeat. What the F---? Curse words coursed through my head and out my mouth as I opened the Photoshop files, searching for the halo effect.

I returned to the production desk, and Julie and Swag both apologized, knowing that I had my heart set on the image running. I looked at the page print, and I saw it. A clean, barely-noticeable but definite white edge around the tower. Swag asked what it could have been, and my mind set my sights on the sharpness, which I had cranked up to 7 throughout the camera's settings. Once you set it inside, you can't undo the sharpness.

So, the moment was gone. Talk about depression. If only I could have gone back there, but it's too late. If only I hadn't cranked up the sharpness as much as I had done. The images look so terrific on the Apple monitors. The blue sky, turning to orange closer to the horizon, with the city street bustling beneath the Bromo tower. It would never be used, this time. And I felt responsible.

Austin, TX's HVX Bootcamp? Hot as Blazes!

2006-08-10T13:13:00.000-05:00

I can only be brief, as I'm being called out early on assignment, to shoot some footage of the long lines at BWI/Thurgood Marshall Airport, since the U.S. has ramped up the security alert to code red...

The camp was hot on the first day (A/C was broken!) as temps outside flirted around 100 degrees. But I didn't absorb the info as much as I typed away, pounding on my PowerBook as information I thought was worthwhile transferred into a TextEdit file. The second day was better than the first, as I grabbed my camera and shot some footage in time lapse and slow motion. I'm learning how to tweak the settings as well, in exposing the shots.

A BIG important factor in getting good footage is having a good subject. That means, the TOD (time of day) and lighting should be prime. Good clips are watched more when the viewer is mesmerized. Watch for saturated scenes, and you might want to try shooting more at the "golden hour," which is late afternoon/early morning. When that light hits from the front/side/back of a subject, it can make for a prime setting. I like afternoon, because the built-up haze in the atmosphere makes for a great warming filter as the Sun hits the thick part of the atmosphere while setting. Early morning's okay, but you tend to see clouds that block the sunrise in the morning. If you don't, the air tends to be cleaner, resulting in sterile light. Just too white for my tastes.

Anyway, I think I got my first clip for the budding personal film project! It was a shot between two buildings downtown... several people at work were transfixed at the screen as I reviewed my footage. Promising!

Oh, I want to get AppleCare ($99), as that gets the user a 52-week course in whatever Macintosh software they choose to want to learn. Can we say, "Final Cut Pro, please?" That FCP software is powerful, and I have alot to learn.

Ready to Go!

2006-07-23T13:25:00.000-05:00

Dudley hands his cellphone to me. A woman who is helping prepare for the HVX200 class in Austin wants to speak with me.

And she keeps asking me what equipment I want. I think, "She must be trying to sell us something, so I'd better make the list very short, since we're watching our budget." Even Dudley told me just days before, "The only thing you're gonna have is a monopod."

So I only ask for a few important things. I want an external writeable drive, a 35mm lens adapter, and an wireless mic system, I said. "Do you want a matte box? Lighting kit? Anything else?" she asks in an eager voice. I wish I could ask for more, but we have a wire-thin budget. I'd love to talk about the stabilizing system, fluidhead tripod, and other goodies, but I want to be realistic. Yet I feel excited that she seems to want to be my advocate, since I can't get anymore vital gear.

Dudley finds me, and I know he needs his phone, so I give her my cell number and she promises to call me right back. But she doesn't.

Dudley asks what I requested, and he seems receptive to the short list. Are we actually getting the gear? No, he says, it's all loaner equipment that I can bring back to use when I complete the seminar. Doh! And that's when I plead for Dudley to call her back, so I can give her the WHOLE list!

I plan to fly into San Antonio instead of Austin. For whatever reason, prices for car rentals and airfare are jacked up in Austin, so always look for alternative cities to fly into. For instance, a subcompact rental for 3 days would cost $230 in Austin, while renting a midsize in San Antonio (75 miles away) would total $94. And gas doesn't cost so much that it would figure into making a difference. Yet.

I'm All but There

2006-07-18T20:19:00.000-05:00

I've been given the OK to travel to Austin, TX for the 2-day seminar on using the HVX200 and Final Cut! Dudley called me in his office, giving me information about where to stay, so I will travel south on the day after our family reunion, and then sit in on 2 days of intensive training.

There are no other seminars about this camera, which is potentially catching the attention of many people in the web and news publishing fields. The event will cost around $500, but everyone's saying it's worth every penny. Part of my travel gear will be carrying the rig with me, plus a couple rechargeable batteries. And my brain.

So, the countdown starts, to July 30!

Ready for Training

2006-07-13T20:14:00.000-05:00

I've given up. Well, not really. But I've thrown my arms up, because trying to learn Final Cut Pro while shooting with a new commercial-grade camcorder is simply driving me nuts.

I went online to hunt for training seminars, and the only one open in the near future is a seminar in austin, TX. It's a 2-day event, and will cost around $500, but it will immerse users in the ins and outs of shooting with the HVX200.

Meanwhile, I gave all my raw files to the editing Gods, so they can piece my first shoot together. I simply don't have the time to learn it, by the time it has to be polished for web presentation. With my clips and B-roll files, they can piece it all together, with the audio I recorded, and put together a decent clip.

For now, I'm ready to get away from yet another computer screen, so I can grab a bite to eat and look at life outside an office.

From Digital Stills to Digifilm...

2006-07-06T05:00:00.000-05:00

I've been racking my brain with the prospect of putting down my still cameras and picking up a high definition camcorder. I never really thought about it so much as I did when I faced the possibility of hanging up my stills, and I didn't like how it felt.

An old boss complained once, "You're taking away my photo soul," a number of years ago, when he was told that management shouldn't do the work of union workers. In a way, I felt like my photo soul was dying, as well.

But then, I came upon a PDN (Photo District News) article about high def camcorders being used as the still shooter's primary camera. At least two photographers have apparently been knocking out frame grabs (still frames saved as photo files from movie clips) and using the jpegs on newsprint. Even the Dallas Morning News, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo staff has at least one shooter doing just that, the article said.

I couldn't sleep after reading the article, because I was wound up with a fresh excitement of being one of the first to trailblaze high definition video by cross-platforming to photos. I had asked my boss about using frame grabs for the paper from the video I shot, but he nixed the idea. Now, it has viable credibility. And it's a no-brainer. Pulling me off the streets as a shooter would leave a hole in staffing. And I can shoot video and be able to use frames that can be run perhaps 10 inches in news print.

I like the idea.

But my boss is off for the week, and I have to wait to bring the suggestion to him. I've already left a copy of the article in his mail slot. Some people feel that shooting video cheapens the photographer as a way of making them look like video people with no concept of capturing images. Some feel that the art form would be removed. "I shoot for a newspaper, not a TV station," someone said once.

I understand the concerns, and I've grappled with them to understand and accept the fact that the movement to high def video frame grabs is INEVITABLE. The trend is there and will gain momentum as newspaper editors want photographers to capture two different media - photos for news print and movies for the web - as the years add up while circulation does down. Television is scrambling the same way as newspapers are, as both see their numbers dip, while online surfing explodes.

Newspapers are facing an extinction of sorts. They are morphing into something. Whatever they become, they won't ever be what they once were.

A battle exists if the news-gatherers don't want to adapt. We can adapt only if we concur that the change will take place. It's been happening for years, and we can't turn the clock back. It's simply called, "progress."

News artists were forced out as the primary eyes of history when the still photograph was finally incorporated into news print. Although the first photo was apparently printed in 1880, the consistent use of still photography took place with the launching of the New York Illustrated Daily News, according to the Library of Congress.

The cameras were huge for decades, and finally, a much lighter medium format camera was developed, making press cameras (the old speed graphics) obsolete (except for an alleged sighting of a large format camera at a Donald Rumsfeld press conference... in 2003).

After some time with the 2-1/4 format, the 35mm SLR came into play. For a while, 35mm, 2-1/4, and 4X5 cameras worked side by side, depending on the assignment. The medium format camera became the format for some as they wanted a faster and more compact alternative as photojournalism transformed into a more intimate form.

Meanwhile, telephoto Speed Graphics, known as "Big Bertha" cameras, had been used to capture sports from photo boxes after sports organizations began banning photographers from being on the playing field. The veteran Speed Graphic users squawked that the motorized 35mm camera removed the skill from the photographer. For a while, some veterans likened the young newcomers as "button pushers." (Even my father, years ago, used that exact phrase that when I told him about my decision to become a newspaper photographer.)

Another 2 decades, and the digital still camera broke ground, signalling the death of the 35mm film camera for news gathering. Those who resisted discovered the necessity to shoot digitally on September 11, 2001, when digital cameras wound up transmitting images of the terrorist attacks all over the world. Those still shooting with spools of Ilford or Kodak couldn't find an open processing lab to develop their film.

And now, high definition video has scored a direct hit right into the center of the market. This is the new wave of news-gathering around the world. The lines have been blurred between television and print, but it's now as clear as ever. When you have to option of shooting a camera at 30 frames per second, and you can shoot for two mediums in one clip, it's going to get done. Resist, and that photogrpaher may as well search for a new job. Editors want to hit print and web. They want to give people images and video to view what's unfolding in the world.

The thought was that I should shoot alongside the still shooter to capture digifilm as the photographer shoots the stills. But how long will that last in an era where companies look to streamline their workforces? I am no longer viewing myself as a photojournalist. I'm a multimedia journalist.

The interesting concept about shooting digital film is that it's easy to capture clips that look terrible.

So many videographers are out there on a daily basis, shooting video for television. But have you watched what footage they capture? It's less-than-inspiring. The problem with many local tv shooters (and a decent number of network camera operators) is that they can't think on their own. They have editors or producers speaking into their headphones, and even reporters they work with, telling the videographer how to frame the shot. That simply leaves little room for creativity, which harms the profession and the professional.

But photojournalists will capture some wonderful footage and still images through creative framing. You know, many still shooters scoff at the camcorder as something that cheapens the profession. But the challenge is actually greater to capture images and footage that is well-lit, thoughtfully composed, and creatively executed to let the viewer or reader feel as though he has been an actual eyewitness to an event or subject.

The HD camcorder is now another tool in news-gathering, just like the laptop, cellphone, pen, and paper. Anyone can be issued the gear, but the memorable images and digital film are captured by the ones who have the passion to exploit their gear to their limits.

We all have similar equipment, but only certain shooters seem to get the telling shot on a consistent basis. It has nothing to do with the equipment. It's all up to the one who uses the gear. Anyone can buy the most advanced cameras on the market, but a great photographer can make a quality image from a point -n- shoot. Many photographers blast the gear, but why don't they simply depend more on their talent? One person said they felt dirty by pulling frame grabs off a movie clip, as though it were a form of cheating. But if you shoot something in the right light and frame it, isn't it your shot? Why, then, should you feel "dirty"? Only feel dirty if you're cheating. Cheating is only done when you stage something, or when you claim something that isn't yours. Ultimately, however, our job as news gatherers is to capture images that tell the story fairly. If we are provided with HD cameras or Polaroid instant cameras, the core of our job never has changed.

I think that photographers are intimidated by high def cameras. Honestly, I am, as well. It will be a terrific challenge to capture images and movies that yield that intimate feeling like still cameras can yield. But in thinking back, the switch to digital cameras made it difficult to capture the subtle images and textures when they first were introduced. It took months for me to adjust and understand the new technology enough that I could finally master it.

I won't be able to do it overnight. But I'm learning, and I will master it some day.

The Gee Dee MXF Files!

2006-07-03T04:10:00.000-05:00

Lots to say for now.

My first foray into shooting slow motion video with the HVX200 was so anticipated; The first day I got my sweaty hands on the camera, I shot water dripping from my father's storm gutter. Just last Friday, I stayed into the early evening, capturing clips of people enjoying carnival rides at the Havre de Grace fair. Yet I couldn't figure out how to watch what I was shooting. Dave had downloaded Final Cut Express HD onto my laptop, since we tried saving alot of money by staying away from Final Cut Pro 5, which was the native software for the camera's "MXF" files.

My storage cards had all of zero minutes remaining, so I took the camera and PowerBook home and tried all different ways to Sunday to get the software to recognize the camera. But, no luck.

I gave up (how many curse words did I fling? That gee dee camera. That effing P2 system. The maw faw software!) and figured that I would come in to work on my day off and see whether the camera would be recognized by FCP5, which is on our Macintosh G5 desktop. And that puppy has so much more power than my PowerBook. Dave was here, but by that time, I realized that FCEHD doesn't recognize MXF files! Only FCP does. I plugged the Firewire cable in, cranked on the camera, and scrolled to "Import P2 files..." and there they all were. Yay!!

But, what's this? I imported the files and eagerly viewed the files that I shot at 60 frames per second. Yet they didn't look like slow motion. What gives?

Perhaps a little more reading of the user manual might be in order. I did read it when I got it, but didn't touch the camera until we got P2-capable software to edit the files. I only know that I did it all the wrong way. All that salivating I did, trying to catch tight close-ups of faces straining under the horizontal g-force of the ride, the Scrambler, was for nothing.

Online, I found a site that explained how to overcrank and undercrank video. If only the manuals showed such concise information. Just skip over to this site:

http://www.studiodaily.com/studiomonthly/tutorials/trainup/5993.html

which will give the complete scoop on making your shoots look like slow motion film or Charlie Chaplin movies.Play with Synchro Scan and move it up or down by the default 180.0d. My experiment worked, but I hate having to use myself as a subject for camera testing. But where else can you go to shoot slow motion at 1:30am Monday? At least I don't have to go to work until 2:30pm. So, make certain that you DO NOT purchase FCEHD, it will waste your money. Get FCS4 or FCS5. I think version 5 has the software that directly recognizes P2 cards, and our version did that flawlessly.

So now, I was told that I have to shoot video of a commuter on the eastern shore Thursday. I have no idea what to do, so I may bring out both the HVX200 and the Lumix DMC-FZ30, which also shoots video. The lens quality is in no way near approaching that of the HVX200.

This camera is soooo complicated. It has menus like a Windows computer. Some nerd came up with all the functions and weird menus in an awkward position beneath the handle of the camera (the buttons share that of the video preview, which I despise). And you have to run between menus to update between film and video, frame rate, and shutter speed. Somehow, they'll come up with a better, more streamlined approach. But I won't trade this camera in for any other, no matter how easy they are. This bad puppy rocks, and I see how it will be there even years later (as long as it doesn't break). It has more than a hundred different configurations, and can shoot anamorphic video, standard NTSC (your regular TV size), and high definition widescreen.

You can make the videos look all different ways, from basic video with the jaggies, to film-quality. As the next couple weeks go by, I should be shooting mainly video, if not all video. It will be difficult to switch between still photography and moving shots. Maybe the next entry I will write might touch on the bit of sadness I feel about switching. It should be fun, like going from Dell to Macintosh. But I don't know... and I'll try to write an entry about it soon.

another Week Rolls By, and...

2006-06-25T01:26:00.000-05:00

... I still can't use the video camera. The software still hasn't been purchased. The laptop isn't optimized. A work station hasn't been modified. Yup, I'm frustrated. So, there isn't anything new to report. My time is being wasted. Every day that I can't dive into the hardware and software will cost double that. Right now? I guess I'll be lucky to be able to begin truly shooting with the camera within the next 4 months. And I feel that I'm being liberal in my guess. Honestly, I think it won't be until around the holidays that I will have the equipment needed to officially begin shooting production video.

It's frustrating, since the plan had been to get the hardware and software in-house by the time the camera was delivered. Well, the exact opposite happens. So, what happens is that the camera begins depreciating, since it was purchased at full retail price. I just noticed that the camera has since dropped around $700 or even more. That could have been used to buy a fluid head tripod and a 250GB external storage drive. Or a 35mm lens adapter.

I had a feeling that this would happen. No matter how many times I tried to convince the ones to order the gear or update the PowerBook, it simply didn't happen. I had been emailing and writing requests since late winter. And now, it's summer. Nothing, but frustration. So what do you do in this situation, punt? My choice is to simply wash my hands of this, put the gear on mothballs, and get back into the habit of shooting still photos until all the equipment is here, or on its way. I did all that I could have done, for months, and they ignored the recommendations. But now, every time they ask where the great "production video" is, I'll tell them that they're on back-order.

Elation Yields to Reality

2006-06-21T01:45:00.000-05:00

I carried the new camera into the department, anxious to see what my recorded slow motion video would look like for the first time. I had shot video of dripping water after a storm and leaves blowing in the wind at 60 frames per second, twice the frame rate (hence, slowed down by half) as normal. After downloading a driver to the PowerBook, I opened the 4GB, transferrable P2 card. Inside the card were a number of folders. Inside the VIDEO folder were some files, all locked and in "MXF" format. I never recalled mxf files before.

The painful reality hit.

Forgetting that the HVX200 doesn't record in MPEG format (a widely-known video file that can be easily viewed in any video-capable computer), I learned that users will need Final Cut Pro, or perhaps, Final Cut Studio HD, to view and edit the files. Doh! I totally forgot. But I had told them that I needed the software back in January or so, after I had attended an Apple Final Cut conference in Washington. I had written all the information down. I had done research on what kind of upgrades that my G4 PowerBook needed. I recommended that we upgrade a G5 desktop with video and memory upgrades to make certain that editing and training could start immediately when the camera arrived. I left my PowerBook in May when I left for vacation, with information on software and hardware upgrades and recommendations by Apple. But nothing happened. My PowerBook is still the same and the G5 hasn't been touched. So we have a $6,000 paperweight, until this gets done.

Anyone considering the HVX200 as a purchase, make certain that you have TWICE the amount to purchase other gear! You need editing software and perhaps, hardware upgrades to view the high definition video. You'll need a high def monitor to view the files. And the camera needs extra batteries, a GOOD "fluid head" tripod and maybe a monopod, a wireless microphone system (get one with at least 2 different channels and transmitters, for at least 2 subjects to wear), and you will learn that the lens can only reach so far. Some consider the add-on wide angle and telephoto adapters to screw onto the front of the camera's lens, but if you have a battery of still camera lenses (as we do), consider purchasing a 35mm lens conversion kit. The kit can allow you to place your existing 35mm lenses onto a unit that mounts over the front of the video camera's lens, which will make your video have a more limited depth of field, like film. And you need mass storage for shooting and filing. A 100GB hard disk recorder will set you back well over a grand at current prices, and you must continue to expand storage as you fill disk drives with video, which can run a gig per minute. Other add-ons that I have considered are a stabilizing vest system and a Stickypod (to mount the camera on windows, vehicles and other places).

Don't buy this camera just to look good. If your sound and shooting balance aren't in order, your work will simply suck raw eggs. Sure, you can call it "raw footage," but that gimmick only goes so far. Like, for wars and breaking news. So feel free to take it to Iraq (or the latest country battling with civil war or violence), or just buy an emergency network scanner and chase ambulances every day. But really be true to yourself and add up all the costs to see what purchasing the camera will cost. You're really buying a system, not simply, a camera.

I had this thought out months ago, but now, I have a camera that I can't truly use (and learn from using), until software and hardware are purchased. Don't scrimp on your purchases, either. You may buy a cheap wireless mic system and hate the sound so much that you wind up buying a better one, which would cost you more by the end, than if you had simply done your homework and weed through the reviews to get one that can give you the most for your budget.

I chose the HVX200 because the files would be saved as files and wouldn't be recorded as a video stream. Video streams will take as long as the length of the video to copy to disk. Files are much easier to manage. And this is needed for time-sensitive events, which I shoot all the time. Do your homework and weed through the mass of video camera hardware for which camera SYSTEM truly fits your needs AND your budget. But don't sacrifice your accessories so much that you lose money by repurchasing gear because of shoddy workmanship.

In the meanwhile, I have placed the $6,000 paperweight and "moth balls" into a camera bag and stuffed it on the shelf, hoping that the day comes that we get the equipment needed so that I can make use of the gear we purchased.

The HVX200 Arrived Today!

2006-06-19T23:47:00.000-05:00

My day off, and I had to go to work to drop pictures and video clips of a shark fishing tournament and a story about Crisfield. The time that I told my father that I'd be there had already passed, and I scrambled to get everything in for the editors. Jeff soon walked in the office, followed by Lloyd, who carried an oversized cardboard box, with a black drawing of the Panasonic HVX200. There it was! But I had no time to inspect the contents, since I was fighting to get out of the office.

Finally, I had accomplished everything, so I packed my laptop and shuffled for the nearest exit. "Woah, hold on!" yelled Dudley, who emerged from his office, demanding that I open the box. He called out Bob, and they were deaf to my plea to run to east Baltimore to purchase a chicken and get home for dinner with Dad.... they wanted me to just open the darn box! Using the key to my truck (which I plan on replacing with a Civic, which will instantly save me $2,000 per year in gasoline), we opened the box and then an inner box (something to prolong the anticipation!) to get at the equipment beneath the styrofoam packaging and protective pouch.

I was unimpressed. The camera, well .... looked like the pictures. The only difference was that there was no attached microphone with the foam wind buffer; only the built-in mic in front of the handle was available. Each editor took turns holding the camera and commenting on the balance and weight as I watched the minutes tick away. When they were satisfied, I put the gear back in the boxes and returned to my truck to drive to Highlandtown to get a whole chicken at Chicken Rico.

Yes, it's a plug; the chicken's the best I can remember! I love my dark meat, but Chicken Rico (Peruvian style chicken baked in a coal-and-wood-fired rotisserie) is so friggin' yummy!I don't even eat beans, but theirs has a flavor that's great. Anyway, I grabbed a whole chicken meal with beans and plantains and sped home, getting more hungry with each mile I drove. My mind wasn't at all on cameras, since I hadn't eaten all day!

After a fine dinner, I dug through the box for the manual, shaking my head. Earlier, I told Dudley that I may wind up thinking that I made a mistake in getting the gear. After Bob had said that the camera felt too heavy for continuous hand-held shots, I had told them that I may some day wind up in traction with braces for my back, shoulders, neck, and arms! And the buttons, the buttons! You know, I felt for a moment like this was gonna be a monumental task to learn how to use the HVX200.

I stuck the 2- 4GB P2 cards into the slots behind the camera and played with the controls for video formats, moving between the high definition and basic capture resolutions. Most of the files that I shot were in slow motion, since that was a big reason I chose the camera. I only shot 2 gigs of video, just enough to check out the files the next day, on a Macintosh G5 computer at work.

Laying Out Before I Go

2006-06-03T00:49:00.000-05:00

Here I was, thinking that I'd be enjoying a nice afternoon at home before returning to work at 4:30pm, since I had to cover the Orioles game against the New York Yankees. So, why didn't it suprise me that I would get a call from my boss at 2pm?

"What are you doing now?" Dudley asked. If he really needs something, I'll try to get it done; he's got the fire that I appreciate in management. So I quickly got ready for a hastily-called 2:30 meeting with Eric and several others, as we reviewed the images I had taken on the "Lost East Baltimore" project.

The area, between North Avenue and Federal, has been caught in stagnation over the decades. Nothing's happening. Except decay and drama. Since last July, I'd been showing face throughout the neighborhood, trying to get the remaining residents to accept me, rather than suspect me. It took a number of months, until the day that I decided to stay in the neighborhood with my cameras until almost midnight. Only the following day, did I realize the effect on my actions.

"You're one of us, now!" yelled one resident, impressed that I would chill out with the folks past dark, with two pro-grade Nikons, walking from block to block, chatting with people. He felt that my actions showed that I meant business. I wanted to show life there, and I wasn't intimidated by the perception of what many would consider a "bad neighborhood." And I only realized what I needed to do after seeing children play outside after the sun set. They aren't afraid of anything. What should I be concerned about?

Literally, everything changed overnight. Residents invited us inside. People on the street were unconcerned if I took photos. A huge weight was lifted off our shoulders. We were, indeed, one of the family.

And it showed in my images. Reporters and editors from different departments stopped my to comment on the telling images they had seen. And it shows when the layout artists have "too much" to work with. The only thing I regret is that I hadn't gotten the video camera to capture some of the voices and actions of the people I met. All it takes is for a photographer to put the camera down and show that (s)he is just as human as the ones being photographed. And hopefully, by next weekend or so, you can check out pick up the newspaper or visit www.baltimoresun.com and see some of the work that Eric and I did to present the human side of a poverty-stricken neighborhood that time has all but forgotten.

On a stranger note, my first baseball game in a long time concluded moments ago, here at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. I showed up right before game time (because I had to run out to East Baltimore to shoot a scene-setting shot), and had to bump another shooter from the inside third base photo pit, since our company gets first choice of positions. I hate doing that, but she said that there was no problem.

It was just two innings later that things got a little ugly. A TV camera operator to my right only acknowledged my presence after the second inning, asking in a condescending manner that we switch positions. "You're killing me," he claimed, suggesting that I had been blocking his view of the third baseman.

"No," I replied, "if I give you this spot, I may be blocked, myself." So I stayed put, which frustrated the guy. But there were two other reasons I refused to yield my spot. If he would simply have abandoned his chair to stand, he would have had a clear view of the bag. But, since his video camera rested on his right shoulder, he had a clear shot anyway. He also was in his position well before I arrived, so he had to live with his choice. He simply realized that he was being blocked from his view of home plate by the on-deck batter.

Several plays later, a play at the plate happened, and I stood in the corner, checking my images. Suddenly, the guy jumps along the top ridge of the pit, attempting to climb over my camera to shoot into the Yankees dugout. "C'mon, you're blocking me!" he yelled. "We've known each other for years! I've been out here for years - why can't we work together?!" he said.

I took my headset off, which was tuned to the Orioles' play-by-play. "Dude, I'm not moving. You didn't even say 'excuse me,' and yet you suggest that I'm giving you problems? I'm not moving. You can argue all you want, but I'm not listening, anymore."

The following inning, the Orioles' team photographer came by, and I knew what was going to be said. But, he was calm, cool, and reasonable. I switched without hesitation.

Some people think that their position can give them carte blanche to dictate everyone else. But, when people dictate, they become a dictator. And I don't yield to that kind of person. The other photographers knew what was going on, and they said that I did the right thing. To me, it's about being reasonable. Once someone reacts out of disrespect, how do they expect to be respected?

I wasn't on my game tonight. Although I had a decent image, the desk wasn't thrilled because there was another play I had missed. It's hard to be on the game when you haven't shot games in a long time. Photographers get rusty, and I needed the WD-40 this night. But the weekend is upon us, and I have a day to (kind-of) relax before Sunday's journey to Puerto Rico.

More Heat, Outside and Inside

2006-06-02T01:50:00.000-05:00

Yup, I can complain about the heat. Baltimore.... it feels more like the western coast of Florida, what with the high humidity, stagnant air and searing sun. So, why am I excited about traveling to San Juan? It's much closer to the equator, fool.

For those who love playing in the snow, remember: you always love the thought about it, until you have your hands in the snow for a short while. Then, you can't wait to get into the controlled climate of a nice room.

It was another evening of staying up all night, making checks and double checks about my plans. So this morning, when I woke up after all of 3 hours of sleep, I felt less-than-enthusiastic about getting up. Fortunately, my jobs were in the nice air-conditioned environments. After swinging by the city police headquarters, I grabbed some Puerto Rican food at a place in east Baltimore. The chicken was much better than the beef. A stop at the photo department, and then it was off to cover the Baltimore Bee, at a middle school on the west side.

Talk about misery. The school had no air conditioning and only one floor fan to circulate the stagnant air inside the auditorium, which had several hundred people in attendance. A 4-piece band pumped out some foot-stomping jazz beats as we waited and waited .... and waited.... for the event to start. You know, when I see most everyone using the pamphlets to fan air on themselves, I'm gonna start the event a little early.

Several Baltimore Ravens players were there as guests or as judges, sitting down at tables at the symphony pit, and the children - all middle schoolers - went to the stage and sat down. After a number of speeches (and me, rolling my eyes, wishing the speeches would simply end because of the miserable conditions), the contest started.

I had a feeling that it wouldn't go smoothly, since the audio that the judges relied on to hear the children's replies was shoddy equipment. Several children continued into the next round by spelling their words correctly, while others exited the stage after misspelling their words. And I was eager to get just one photo, so that I could get back to the office, edit and submit an image, and drive to east Baltimore to cover a community meeting.

The scene was setting up for a big blow-up. A youth came to the podium, held the microphone, and listened to a judge's request that he spell "capital." "Sure," I thought, "give him a word that can be spelled two different ways, like he would really know, at his age. Trick word," I argued to myself. The speaker system, whistling from a poor wireless system, didn't help the contestant one bit as he repeatedly asked the judges to say the word again. A Dell computer, one of several prizes for the winning contestant, hung in the balance, and hundreds of pairs of eyes pierced the dimly-lit auditorium, anxious for him to spell.

And then, he did it. "'Capital': K-A-P. . . ."

One of the judges, telling the child about the error, spelled "capital" on the loudspeaker.

Suddenly, the event became controversial.

"I said it was with a 'C,'" the boy said, looking over his shoulder. A collective moan rose from the audience as the judges paused to confer, with the result being that the boy was, in fact, wrong.

In the confusion, I grabbed one child that I photographed, took down his name, age, and school, and headed for the exit. Outside, the mother of the "capital" youth was outraged. "He studied for weeks, and he knew that name," she argued. "The sound system was screwed up. He knews that 'capital' isn't spelled with a 'K!' They're hurting the children the way they're doing it!"

I thought that she had a point. Perhaps the judges could have asked that all the children who misspelled words could be given a second chance, since they decided to give the children the words while standing next to them, after the "capital" problem. There were less than a handful of children who had misspelled words up to that point, and it seemed like they all had difficulty hearing just what the judges' words were.

But this is also the first year of the contest. The winner had no chance of advancing to the national spelling bee, because the contest was taking place the same day, in Washington. And there were bound to be quirks in the system, errors in execution, or missteps in judgement. The good thing is that the organizers have this year to iron out the bugs and polish the presentation for next year's contest, which will send the winner to the national spelling bee, which has grown since its first contest 80 years ago. They've grown because they've learned from their mistakes, and this is the first year that the contest was broadcast on national television.

The Baltimore Bee, which will be affiliated with the national contest, will also get better. People make mistakes. There would be no contest, if everyone got it right. It would get boring, if we were perfect. But failure happens only when we don't learn from our mistakes.

The Baltimore Bee made its share of flubs in its inaugural event, but it will get better. It will also grow, which will only be good for the future youngsters.

Ever Ridden in a Presidential Motorcade?

2006-06-01T00:52:00.000-05:00

I've been in a motorcade one time, but while many others who have experienced it say that it's a hassle, I enjoy the thrill. A call came in, complete with area code 202, and I knew it was a member of the White House advance press to give me details on where I would report.

So, it was official: it was time to try my hand at photographing President Goerge W Bush, who was scheduled to land at BWI/Thurgood Marshall Airport in Linthicum, MD for a fundraising effort for Gov. Robert Ehrlich. It can be fun for a local photographer to be involved in the White House press pool; it's one of those things that seasoned journalists know can be a "dog and pony show," but for the local media, it's a fresh experience to get away from the routine daily assignments.

I was stopped short of where I wanted to go by a Maryland Port Authority cop, one of many who lined the airport loop road, who seemed to have a suspicious eye for anyone who was supposed to be at the scheduled location. Even after I told him my name, "you won't be allowed in," he said, noting that "a few other media" had been turned back. No problem, I replied, as I confidently hit the speed dial for the White House press contact. Ooh, I love getting into a battle of power. Before the phone rang twice, suddenly, he changed his tune and told me where the Signature jet service was.

There are a number of levels of security when local press are involved in covering the President. As I entered the building at Signature, my name was checked and doublechecked, and I went through the body search and then an equipment search by a very kind-looking pooch who stepped on one of my cameras. At the instruction of the Secret Service, I had to power all my gear up and operate each piece of equipment to show that they all work. "The dog won't hurt your equipment," the officer said, as the canine sniffed my PowerBook. "Maybe not, but dogs drool," I said.

It was then a short walk to one of the press vans, this one, driven by a member of the Maryland GOP. A typical-looking republican with the obligatory short-cut straight dark hair, dark suit, white shirt and red tie, he boasted about the sports car he owned while we waited for the helicopter brigade to land. The first one, a twin-bladed helo, slowly lowered above the landing zone, but then, *foomp* it suddenly dropped with a thud on the ground.

I busted a gut, laughing at the hard landing, and even the officials all along the tarmac laughed. One of the reporters came into the van. "That was the hardest landing I've ever had!" she said. The second press helicopter landed, shortly followed by Marine One - two more helicopters, one ridden by Bush and the other one, a decoy. "I can tell which one is G.W's," I boasted..."It's that one," pointing to one of the two. "How do you know?" asked the press liason. "Because it made the softest landing!"

As the blades of both helos stopped, the doors of each one opened, and out came the President, who swiftly entered his limosine. Even the plain black limosines look impressive, with the ultra-thick, green-colored bulletproof glass windows and flags of the U.S. and presidential seal fluttering in the wind.

As we entered the street surrounding Thurgood Marshall Airport, all traffic was stopped as we rode along the other side of the median. "Why do we drive on this side?" I asked. "Because we can." That was good enough for me. As we started off for the hotel, I asked out loud how many people were sweating in traffic, trying to get to the airport, since the whole area was on lockdown. Police held up traffic everywhere. Parking lots, homes, streets, and businesses, plus the light rail and even air traffic yielded for the motorcade.

It was a short ride to the Marriott hotel, where Gov. Ehrlich had a fundraiser, but Michael Steele wasn't there as it was said that he had a prior engagement in Las Vegas. As we waited, members of the White House staff came by, making sure we were all right. Eventually, two of the Secret Service walked by with plates of hors d'oeuvres. I had to do a doubletake. So, why not, I'll show some muscle the only way I could with a guy holding a concealed glock and a license to kill, and make him come back and wait for me to grab a few snacks!

Once President Bush appeared, he and the governor stood almost nose to nose, shaking hands with smiles as the commander-in-chief was introduced. After about half an hour of taking photos and video, I returned to my PowerBook to download images. Suddenly, the prez was finished and we had to scramble for the vans to return. Abandoning my attempt to copy the images over to the desktop, I stuffed everything into my backpack and ran to catch up with the press corps, making it into the van just in time to return.

The driver definitely didn't have his racing foot on, lagging behind the motorcade. I wanted to tell him to step on it, but bit my tongue as we finally caught up to the rest of the vehicles, black limosines and tricked out Chevy Tahoes, which sandwiched the white Ford panel vans. People can try all they can to make their own rides so tight that they turn heads, but only a presidential motorcade can stop air and ground traffic and compel people to simply stand by the open road to catch a glimpse of The Man. And that's whether they like the one in office, or not. He still commands the ultimate attention. Not many people have actually ridden an actual presidential motorcade. This was my second one; the first one was for President Bill Clinton, who had landed at Fort McHenry and ridden to the inner harbor.

Our convoy returned onto the tarmac, but the president was already out of his limo and inside Marine One, which slowly turned its rotors to full speed and rolled out to the takeoff zone. One by one, the helicopters took to the air, banking right in a slow turn over the airport as the sun set, on their way back to the White House.

And minute by minute, the limosines, press vehicles, Secret Service and special ops units and buses exited the area, returning Linthicum to its normal routine.

And Now, for My Next Project

2006-05-31T01:54:00.000-05:00

I don't care for having to go to work early, especially on hot days. I'm such a cold weather baby, I feel miserable when the temperature's over 90 degrees. So, here it is in downtown Baltimore, with that typical August heat... and it isn't even June. My eyes squint as though I'm trying to use my eyelids in an effort to cut back the heat while driving to the city police headquarters. The reporter wants to write a story on how the police must recruit outside the continental U.S. to hire bilingual officers. "I'm heading to San Juan Sunday," he says. My ears perk up.

"Don't you need a photographer?" I smiled, reminding him that he can't take pictures worth a lick and that he needs to have a professional shooter there so he can concentrate on writing. He plans on being there 5 days - Sunday through Thursday - and I gleemed with anticipation, after my attempt to travel to Puerto Rico went bust in April. For that project, I had written a proposal to ride aboard Pride of Baltimore II, and compromised my original suggestion that I head to France and ride across the Atlantic, as she returned for the first time after a near-tragic freak storm disabled her last September.

I had just returned from a trip to Vancouver, and I'm already itching to leave home again? Oh, yeah, I love visiting other places. After leaving the headquarters, I stopped by a luncheonette to grab a bite to eat before heading for work. As I walked around the buffet islands, I looked up at a man leaning in to get a bottled water. It was my boss, Dudley!

We sat and I mentioned the story to him, suggesting that I might be able to shoot some video as well as still images. After eating lunch, I returned to my truck and drove back to the office, sat at a work station and edited my images. Dudley then stepped into the room and looked at me. Taking my headphones off, my listening changed from Drone Zone to my boss:

"Gus just sent me some information and I forwarded it to your Harris messages. Would you follow up on that please?" Dudley asked. In the message, Gus said that he'd be leaving Baltimore for San Juan, Puerto Rico this Sunday, spending 5 days, returning Thursday. So there it was. I had to make reservations to hit the island of San Juan for the first time in my life. I have my little Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 to shoot video, while I wait for the shipment of that cool HVX200 (the camera in the photos). I'm ready to go, and I can't wait. Maybe I might grab the underwater housing and shoot some ocean photos? Why not?

My First Day Back at Work

2006-05-29T21:56:00.000-05:00

It's been a couple weeks, and I had to get back to it again. Back to photography, back to work. My first job: covering the annual Memorial Day observance in Timonium, a number of miles just north of Baltimore. You can shoot an event such as this, filled with dignitaries and speeches and music, in a literal way, or you can try stepping outside the box.

Keep your eyes peeled not only with what's happening during the event, but around and outside the ropes. A few of us noticed a woman with a stroller, walking with her young son up the hill beyond the ceremonies, where the rifle team stood, waiting to give the 21-gun salute for those Marylanders who had been killed during the war that the U.S. declared in the Middle East, since last year's event. This Memorial Day, the "Loved and Lost" totalled 18 people.

I went beyond the crowd gathered for the ceremonies, walking along the base of the hill, waiting for the family to walk in front of the rifle team, making a poignant image of the youngster in the stroller, sitting in front of the men at the ridge of the hill. The baby's older brother peeked at his sister, who peacefully teethed, unaware of the significance of the day.

The mother's name was Kathleen, who had visited her brother, killed while at work in one of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11/01, and her father, a World War II veteran who died just months after her brother did.

Images can capture an event, or a moment. A scene, or an emotion. Anyone can take pictures, but anyone can also learn to capture history. And journalists have a choice to work in a respectful manner, or take a gung-ho approach, never taking their eyes off the hunt for the award-winner. Journalists can capture those award-winning droplets in time with respect for their profession and for those they must document, or disrespect their subjects, which is a slap in their faces and in the face of the journalism profession.

Many people think that pros with cameras simply break windows, climb walls, trample flowers and stalk just to shove a camera into the face of their subjects. I can't answer for those who do; I can answer for those I have seen in my career, however. Most journalists don't even want to be there to document a gut-wrenching story, especially when survivors are there, filled with pain. That's been my most difficult job. But we must have an unblinking eye to capture moments in time. The good, the bad, and the ugly are all parts of everyday life, from a nearby city neighborhood, to an outlying county, a neighboring state, a country halfway around the world. One of you may have had a terrific day, but the day you smile remembering a moment in your life is a day shared with someone who wishes they could do anything to give that same day back, because the date will forever be marked with hardship and sorrow.

Just think of 9/11, for instance. Much of the country marks it based on the terrorist attacks. But it's also the birthday of the child of proud parents. Or the start of a refreshing change, a day of sober living or freeing one's self from some sort of bondage, be it jail, an abusive spouse, or the move to a new home.

On this Memorial Day, most who lost a loved one in the war wanted to talk to the media. One family even sought me out, wanting to share thoughts about their lost loved one, Robert of Silver Spring, who was killed while serving in Al Taqaddum in March. I only hope that my skills can yield images and footage that people can always return to view. Because once a moment is over, you can't bring it back.

Some Technical Notes About Pan and Tilt...

2006-05-26T14:16:00.000-05:00

I am excited to find some information that may just help me with a project!

I read a website about a suggestion for a camera panoramic platform: "One or two servo motors could rotate a digital camera through set angles to take pictures for a panorama. Two servos would allow the panorama to span in 2 dimensions. Of course, there is the problem of instructing the camera to take a picture. Some digital cameras have an interface for this; a remote trigger. This could be a product." And I'm also seeing some spotty information about pan and tilt units.

I've been searching for months to find a pan and tilt robotic tripod head that I can mount a regular sized camera like a Nikon D2H/D100/D200 and program the smooth operation from start to finish for time lapse photography. The camera itself already performs interval capture @ one frame per second to one frame per minute or perhaps even longer. What I have purchased is a Celestron dual axis motor drive (part DA-G5, number 93523), which contains 2 6-volt motors powered by battery, a hand controller (that uses a regular phone connector RJ-11) and battery pack. The motors can only run in 3 different speeds, but with the time lapse photography, I want to control user-variable speeds: the motors can be programmed to start really slow, ramp up to a faster speed, and ramp down until they stop, and they should be independent movements and speeds. I also hope to do this by computer laptop (I run Macintosh OS X, which I believe, should run motors.

But, I am no engineer. And I don't understand computer codes and whatnot. If there's some software that I have those chart curves to help map out the movements...

The motors will be installed into a gutted security pan and tilt head. The gears and hardware from the gutted unit can be fitted with the 2 gearmotors of the Celestron kit I purchased. If this can be done... I recently visited a kind man in Canada who has a programmable pan and tilt head, and the gear and software cost him over $10,000. His results are beautifully clean and smooth. I don't need precise clean and smooth movements, because I can work that out in post-production. After finding information about the Phidgets products, I think there can be a cost-effective solution that I want to share with those independent film producers who have looked for similar results.

First Post, Then, a Break....

2006-05-26T06:58:00.000-05:00

Hey, all.... My first post and I am excited to find some information that may just help me with a project!

I read here in this website about a suggestion for a camera panoramic platform: "One or two servo motors could rotate a digital camera through set angles to take pictures for a panorama. Two servos would allow the panorama to span in 2 dimensions. Of course, there is the problem of instructing the camera to take a picture. Some digital cameras have an interface for this; a remote trigger. This could be a product." And I'm also seeing some spotty information about pan and tilt units.

I've been searching for months to find a pan and tilt robotic tripod head that I can mount a regular sized camera like a Nikon D2H/D100/D200 and program the smooth operation from start to finish for time lapse photography. The camera itself already performs interval capture @ one frame per second to one frame per minute or perhaps even longer. What I have purchased is a Celestron dual axis motor drive (part DA-G5, number 93523), which contains 2 6-volt motors powered by battery, a hand controller (that uses a regular phone connector RJ-11) and battery pack. The motors can only run in 3 different speeds, but with the time lapse photography, I want to control user-variable speeds: the motors can be programmed to start really slow, ramp up to a faster speed, and ramp down until they stop, and they should be independent movements and speeds. I also hope to do this by computer laptop (I run Macintosh OS X, which I believe, should run motors.

But, I am no engineer. And I don't understand computer codes and whatnot. If there's some software that I have those chart curves to help map out the movements...

The motors will be installed into a gutted security pan and tilt head. The gears and hardware from the gutted unit can be fitted with the 2 gearmotors of the Celestron kit I purchased. If this can be done... I recently visited a kind man in Canada who has a programmable pan and tilt head, and the gear and software cost him over $10,000. His results are beautifully clean and smooth. I don't need precise clean and smooth movements, because I can work that out in post-production. After finding information about the Phidgets products, I think there can be a cost-effective solution that I want to share with those independent film producers who have looked for similar results.

I'm off for several days, so I think I'll resume posting after Memorial Day. Have a great holiday, but remember what it's about.