246. Camera - March 4-10, 2018
Paul-
Reading Kevin’s comments this week on the proliferation of cinemagraphs and boomerangs piqued my interest in trying what I interpret is the former for the theme “Camera.”. While this file I am submitting is an MP4 (or could have done so as a TIF) file. The tool I used—Microsoft’s fun little “Cliplets” application—allows either. I opted for MP4 because in this format, the application relies (as part of the processing) on a selected frame from the video sequence, which becomes a stand-alone image. Thereby satisfying the importance of providing a picture. Of course there is a video overlay to create the desired effect. There is intentionally no audio track.
The entire video sequence (which Cliplet will not permit running past 10 seconds), involved inputting the video settings I wanted, situating the camera where I could hold the glass as well as get out of my own way while I operated another camera on the tripod to the left. When I started the video—and it occurs to me only now I really should have used a remote—I ran into the scene posing with the glass for a second or two, then darted over left (out of the way of the tripod/camera as well as my other self) and moved the camera in such a way I hoped it would be appear to be waking up and reacting to the scene.
FYI: The intended submission consisted of a three-track process, with two non-overlapping moving images against a static background. It came out too dark and wasn’t able to replicate it as successfully on subsequent attempts with that 10-second window hanging over me. ’Probably just as well.
This is not a particularly good way to set up (or show off) a cinemagraph, as we call all see a static tripod handle while the rest of tripod head/camera moves and shakes. Leave and learn, and maybe crop. I sense with these techniques movement should predictable not erratic, easy to capture and keep separate from static surroundings, and be fun or engaging. Maybe I nailed the last one.
You can actually crop (frame size, not duration) a video in an MP4 format. The D5200 doesn’t have that kind of on-board video editing capability and I would imagine most DSLR don’t. That would have removed that pesky tripod handle from the resulting frames, but: 1) I would be getting too much into video editing at this point; and 2) I would have had to download some freeware to do it…which I’m not interested in doing right now.
That camera’s possessed, I tell you: Nikon D5200; Video mode [640 x 420 frame size, at 30fps*]; aperture priority; 18-55mm lens focused at approx. 45mm; ISO 1600; f/13; +0.3EV; matrix metered; Auto Focus set to Automatic, Auto WB.
* I wanted to try a 60fps sequence, but my heavily consulted Nikon D5200 book suggested 30fps looked better on a web site. Would this have anything to do with interlacing?
Fairly irrelevant notes except for #4:
1) I guess the little origami mask (bright blue) attached to the top of my copy stand counts as an Easter Egg.
2) You won’t be able to see it very well, but directly above my head (and installed to my pegboard by an elite team of rogue scientists) is a switch plate with a toggle attached. The switch plate reads “Death Ray.” It hasn’t worked in years and I’ve decided not to repair it.
3) Yeah, that’s a Coca-Cola Fountain glass alright.
4) A very special thanks to Byron Braton for the possessed camera expressing a dim view of my activities in this video submission. It’s an old Olympus OM-G. I have this “thing” about Olympus cameras.
5) Now you’ve glimpsed approximately 45% of my nano-studio.
Reading Kevin’s comments this week on the proliferation of cinemagraphs and boomerangs piqued my interest in trying what I interpret is the former for the theme “Camera.”. While this file I am submitting is an MP4 (or could have done so as a TIF) file. The tool I used—Microsoft’s fun little “Cliplets” application—allows either. I opted for MP4 because in this format, the application relies (as part of the processing) on a selected frame from the video sequence, which becomes a stand-alone image. Thereby satisfying the importance of providing a picture. Of course there is a video overlay to create the desired effect. There is intentionally no audio track.
The entire video sequence (which Cliplet will not permit running past 10 seconds), involved inputting the video settings I wanted, situating the camera where I could hold the glass as well as get out of my own way while I operated another camera on the tripod to the left. When I started the video—and it occurs to me only now I really should have used a remote—I ran into the scene posing with the glass for a second or two, then darted over left (out of the way of the tripod/camera as well as my other self) and moved the camera in such a way I hoped it would be appear to be waking up and reacting to the scene.
FYI: The intended submission consisted of a three-track process, with two non-overlapping moving images against a static background. It came out too dark and wasn’t able to replicate it as successfully on subsequent attempts with that 10-second window hanging over me. ’Probably just as well.
This is not a particularly good way to set up (or show off) a cinemagraph, as we call all see a static tripod handle while the rest of tripod head/camera moves and shakes. Leave and learn, and maybe crop. I sense with these techniques movement should predictable not erratic, easy to capture and keep separate from static surroundings, and be fun or engaging. Maybe I nailed the last one.
You can actually crop (frame size, not duration) a video in an MP4 format. The D5200 doesn’t have that kind of on-board video editing capability and I would imagine most DSLR don’t. That would have removed that pesky tripod handle from the resulting frames, but: 1) I would be getting too much into video editing at this point; and 2) I would have had to download some freeware to do it…which I’m not interested in doing right now.
That camera’s possessed, I tell you: Nikon D5200; Video mode [640 x 420 frame size, at 30fps*]; aperture priority; 18-55mm lens focused at approx. 45mm; ISO 1600; f/13; +0.3EV; matrix metered; Auto Focus set to Automatic, Auto WB.
* I wanted to try a 60fps sequence, but my heavily consulted Nikon D5200 book suggested 30fps looked better on a web site. Would this have anything to do with interlacing?
Fairly irrelevant notes except for #4:
1) I guess the little origami mask (bright blue) attached to the top of my copy stand counts as an Easter Egg.
2) You won’t be able to see it very well, but directly above my head (and installed to my pegboard by an elite team of rogue scientists) is a switch plate with a toggle attached. The switch plate reads “Death Ray.” It hasn’t worked in years and I’ve decided not to repair it.
3) Yeah, that’s a Coca-Cola Fountain glass alright.
4) A very special thanks to Byron Braton for the possessed camera expressing a dim view of my activities in this video submission. It’s an old Olympus OM-G. I have this “thing” about Olympus cameras.
5) Now you’ve glimpsed approximately 45% of my nano-studio.
Jerry,
Once upon a time I used to collect Argus cameras. Some of you may remember the Argus C3 (Brick), a truly functional but kind of basic 35mm camera. About 5 years ago I sold most of my collection via eBay and have not regretted it. My desire to collect had pretty much evaporated after getting my 150th Argus. They were easy to find at garage sales and people would just give them to me. It was a cheap hobby. At least I wasn’t collecting anything Leica or Zeiss.
So I have my wife Cindy attempting to take a photo with an Argus AF. I used my Sony A6300 with 16-70 mm zoomed to 70 mm, 1/50 @ f16, ISO 1600. Light was from the north facing kitchen sliding doors.
Once upon a time I used to collect Argus cameras. Some of you may remember the Argus C3 (Brick), a truly functional but kind of basic 35mm camera. About 5 years ago I sold most of my collection via eBay and have not regretted it. My desire to collect had pretty much evaporated after getting my 150th Argus. They were easy to find at garage sales and people would just give them to me. It was a cheap hobby. At least I wasn’t collecting anything Leica or Zeiss.
So I have my wife Cindy attempting to take a photo with an Argus AF. I used my Sony A6300 with 16-70 mm zoomed to 70 mm, 1/50 @ f16, ISO 1600. Light was from the north facing kitchen sliding doors.
Don-
My wife bought a new car and I bought a lens. I decided to put them together.
I set a Canon A1 on a stand with the car in front. I thought the camera open
with the car in view was just what I wanted. I kinda had to settle for this pic
that the car is a bit out of center but its about the camera anyway.
The focal was a 14 to 24 mm 2.8 Nikon lens set to 14 mm.
Exposure was 1/320 sec; f/8; ISO 1800; Aperture Priority and
Pattern Metering.
My wife bought a new car and I bought a lens. I decided to put them together.
I set a Canon A1 on a stand with the car in front. I thought the camera open
with the car in view was just what I wanted. I kinda had to settle for this pic
that the car is a bit out of center but its about the camera anyway.
The focal was a 14 to 24 mm 2.8 Nikon lens set to 14 mm.
Exposure was 1/320 sec; f/8; ISO 1800; Aperture Priority and
Pattern Metering.
Byron-
The inspiration for this week’s photo came from a cactus and a hummingbird. Erl & I stayed in Kevin & Michelle’s Casita. One morning I watched the shadow of a hummingbird as it explored a cactus. The shadow is being cast on the privacy screen that is rolled down for the night. That gave me the idea to have Erl take aim at the cactus with a camera while outside and I would go inside the Casita and take to picture. This technique only works for a short time. The Sun has to be low in the morning sky. If you futz around too much the shadow goes too low and quickly disappears.
ISO 200, f5.6, 1/500 sec, 23mm.
The inspiration for this week’s photo came from a cactus and a hummingbird. Erl & I stayed in Kevin & Michelle’s Casita. One morning I watched the shadow of a hummingbird as it explored a cactus. The shadow is being cast on the privacy screen that is rolled down for the night. That gave me the idea to have Erl take aim at the cactus with a camera while outside and I would go inside the Casita and take to picture. This technique only works for a short time. The Sun has to be low in the morning sky. If you futz around too much the shadow goes too low and quickly disappears.
ISO 200, f5.6, 1/500 sec, 23mm.
Darin-
I knew if I could get to Los Angeles, I'd be able to shoot what I was looking for. On Tuesday, I ran across a small production shooting some kind of ad. They had a little camera mounted on a gimbal rig, mounted on a crane, mounted on a truck. (I've seen this same set up before, but with a bigger camera and mounted on a Porsche! Very cool.) Anyway, this one didn't do anything for me.
The next day, I was fortunate to have to go back to LA and found this shoot right near city hall. It's a Dunkin Donuts commercial. This is a legit camera, compared to the previous day! I shot until the security guard told me to stop... Then I pulled out my cell phone, in case there was something else I liked. This photo was with the Nikon D40.
So, in the coming months, if you see a Dunkin Donuts ad, where an Indian fella, in a suit and tie with a brief case and a breakfast sandwich in hand, bumps into a goofy looking, redheaded guy, who promptly makes a silly face and gets on his phone to google (I'm guessing), well know I was standing just to the right of the camera as that was shot.
I knew if I could get to Los Angeles, I'd be able to shoot what I was looking for. On Tuesday, I ran across a small production shooting some kind of ad. They had a little camera mounted on a gimbal rig, mounted on a crane, mounted on a truck. (I've seen this same set up before, but with a bigger camera and mounted on a Porsche! Very cool.) Anyway, this one didn't do anything for me.
The next day, I was fortunate to have to go back to LA and found this shoot right near city hall. It's a Dunkin Donuts commercial. This is a legit camera, compared to the previous day! I shot until the security guard told me to stop... Then I pulled out my cell phone, in case there was something else I liked. This photo was with the Nikon D40.
So, in the coming months, if you see a Dunkin Donuts ad, where an Indian fella, in a suit and tie with a brief case and a breakfast sandwich in hand, bumps into a goofy looking, redheaded guy, who promptly makes a silly face and gets on his phone to google (I'm guessing), well know I was standing just to the right of the camera as that was shot.
Kevin-
So the theme was camera. And Paul specifically didn’t want a bunch of photos of iPhones. This of course creates challenges for various WPOTM members, depending on availability other cameras. But I was fortunate, as I have a Pen Camera! No, this is not an old or new Olympus Pen film or digital camera. And honestly it’s not even an actual camera. But it makes a noise like one, and the “lens” flashes with light when you push it.
Now the problem with this is it’s just a cheap novelty pen. No remote trigger, you push down on it, it flashes and “click’s" once, then pauses and does it two more times. Why three? Who knows? But at least it meant I could photograph it at night with all the lights off to capture the second and third “flashes”, then add Nikon flash units to expose the rest of the scene during the 1-second exposure.
First I needed a beautiful hand to hold the camera pen, enter Michelle. Then I needed her to write “Smile for the Camera” on the paper, as even after all these years my penmanship is worse than that of any first grade student.
Finally as I looked over the scene I decided to prop it with real photographic equipment in the background, books, a camera body, a few lenses, and a bag.
After that it meant setting up the flash units to light the scene. Four Nikon strobe units were used. One was in a gridded, aimed softbox to illuminate the hand and the paper. Another with an orange gel was angled at the wall behind, creating some dimension. A third was bounced off the ceiling high above to create some overall light, at a lower level than the highly directed softbox. And one more unit, with a tight grid and a blue gel was aimed toward Michelle to simulate the light from the pen camera. In testing that one worked beautifully, and we both saw it flashing during the final shots, but I must have mis-aimed it in my scramble to get everything set up the final time, so it missed Michelle’s shoulder and you can’t see it. Dang.
Nikon D850 mounted on a Manfrotto CarbonOne 440 tripod with an Acratech ballhead, 85mm f/1.4 Nikkor lens set to f/11, ISO 64, 1-second exposure.
And the starburst from the pen camera happened on it’s own. No star filter was used.
So the theme was camera. And Paul specifically didn’t want a bunch of photos of iPhones. This of course creates challenges for various WPOTM members, depending on availability other cameras. But I was fortunate, as I have a Pen Camera! No, this is not an old or new Olympus Pen film or digital camera. And honestly it’s not even an actual camera. But it makes a noise like one, and the “lens” flashes with light when you push it.
Now the problem with this is it’s just a cheap novelty pen. No remote trigger, you push down on it, it flashes and “click’s" once, then pauses and does it two more times. Why three? Who knows? But at least it meant I could photograph it at night with all the lights off to capture the second and third “flashes”, then add Nikon flash units to expose the rest of the scene during the 1-second exposure.
First I needed a beautiful hand to hold the camera pen, enter Michelle. Then I needed her to write “Smile for the Camera” on the paper, as even after all these years my penmanship is worse than that of any first grade student.
Finally as I looked over the scene I decided to prop it with real photographic equipment in the background, books, a camera body, a few lenses, and a bag.
After that it meant setting up the flash units to light the scene. Four Nikon strobe units were used. One was in a gridded, aimed softbox to illuminate the hand and the paper. Another with an orange gel was angled at the wall behind, creating some dimension. A third was bounced off the ceiling high above to create some overall light, at a lower level than the highly directed softbox. And one more unit, with a tight grid and a blue gel was aimed toward Michelle to simulate the light from the pen camera. In testing that one worked beautifully, and we both saw it flashing during the final shots, but I must have mis-aimed it in my scramble to get everything set up the final time, so it missed Michelle’s shoulder and you can’t see it. Dang.
Nikon D850 mounted on a Manfrotto CarbonOne 440 tripod with an Acratech ballhead, 85mm f/1.4 Nikkor lens set to f/11, ISO 64, 1-second exposure.
And the starburst from the pen camera happened on it’s own. No star filter was used.