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Man, this was fun! Fun to shoot and fun to edit! After a month or so of chopping away at commercial gigs, this was just some good ‘ol fashion candy coloured, idealistic fun!

It’s nice to take a step back from everything sometimes and just shoot some stuff that feels good. It’s a good time of year for it too. Around the end of April the temperatures are starting to drop a little, the skies are starting to clear up and with the diminishing rainfall, there is little silt washing down the rivers into the ocean, leaving it crystal clear. It’s this fortuitous combination of meteorological phenomena that makes this time of year such a lovely time to shoot.

All of this footage has been shot over the last 2 or so weeks. A mixture of the Canon 5DMKII and the Canon 7D. Canon 5DMKII for the lower light sunset stuff so I can keep shooting a little later and Canon 7D for the blue sky daytime stuff, basically because I have polarising options on the Canon 7D that I don’t have on the Canon 5DMKII. . .yet.

Did I mention it was fun shooting this?. . .Yes. . .Where were we?

I shot this with a mixture of the usual suspects. . .that being, the increasingly insufficient bag of lenses that I lug around, detailed greatly elsewhere on this blog. Man, I’m hanging to get some new glass for the Canon 5DMKII.

The new Canon TS-E 17mm F/4L didn’t get too much of a run here, with this kind of footage, I really missed the ability to be able to whack a polariser on the front. Likewise being without ND grads really limit this lens as a landscape type of lens for me. If I could filter it, I would be absolutely stoked! I had been using the Tokina 11-16 f2.8 ATX on the Canon 5DMKII. By itself, it works passably from 15-16mm, but with the polariser on you get a bit of hard, unflattering vignetting at the edges. So whenever I needed a wide polarised shot, I turned to the Canon 7D. I could have fixed this with a dedicated Wide Angle lens for the Canon 5DMKII, but this solution will work well for now. I don’t mind running two camera’s and would rather keep doing this so I can invest into other glass first, instead of buying another wide angle.

There are a couple of Canon 5DMKII shots in there with the Sigma 30mm f1.4. I just scaled them up a little to remove the darkest of the vignette, I’m sure you’ll spot it/them in there, it’s quite noticeable. Funny that in that OOF background, there is a ring of slightly more in focus detail inherent in the fringe of the vignette. It’s weird and kind of takes away from the perception of depth. I’m not sure if you can see it here, but it’s there. . .trust me (I mean that in a totally un-facebook, not creepy way, honest!)

The Canon 100-400 f4.5-5.6L was great for the yachts on the water at Mooloolaba, but I have since taken to leaving it at home more recently. The camera bag was growing in weight and considering I wasn’t using it every time I shot, decided to see how I would go without it, relying only on the Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS USM. I can say, my back really appreciated not having it in there, but I did miss it a couple of times for sure. Especially when shooting from up high on the cliff in Coolum, it would have come in great handy there. The Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS USM’s bokeh at f2.8 was pleasant though, and it was nice to be limited on focal length for a while. It makes me walk more and in the process, see shots I might not have come across.

The music in this clip, Revtone – Love Movement (Ulrich Schnauss Remix) is off a compilation, Global Underground 030 – Paris – Mixed by Nick Warren, one of my favourite DJ’s. Ulrich Schnauss has a very typical sound, very atmospheric and it was playing in the car while I was cruising around shooting some of this footage up at Coolum. When I heard it, I immediately knew that this would be the soundtrack to this footage. Cruisy, beautiful and not in a hurry to get anywhere. It would allow the shots to just hang there for a couple of seconds extra, allowing the eye to really roam around the image.

Usually I burn shots, 1-2 seconds and out, and I did start doing that at the end because it was too monotonous, but this time I wanted to more reflect the feeling I had when I was shooting it. Which was a whimsical kind of relaxed concentration. . .Very Sunshine Coast!

My own criticisms. . .This clip is about two minutes too long. At 2:30 it would have been a corker. In, out and left me wanting to see more. Trouble is, this one is a bit of a dual purpose clip. I intend to utilise this for other applications and wanted it to be a bit longer than what I usually cut. There are some shots in there that hang a little too long and it loses momentum somewhere in the middle. A little editing of the song might not have gone astray here, but there is only so long I can spend on these things. At the end of the day, this is not a show reel (Which I am working on at the moment) or anything, just a collection of footage shot over the past two or so weeks.

Things to look out for. . .

• Some very nasty aliasing on the sunset shot across the bay from the Canon 5DMKII. One was so bad I couldn’t include it. perhaps I need to wind the sharpness down as detailed in various places around the net.
• Sigma 30mm f1.4 EX DC HSM Vignetting. What’s your thoughts on that? Fan or hater?
• Glidetrack love. . .and love it is. . .I really do love it. (In an entirely not creepy way. . .)
• The video’s stupid title. . .watch that. . .it was late and I was strapped for ideas. . .I think in German it means “Flying burger sausage”. Perhaps not.
• The second last shot, a little noisy (ok, alot!). . .That was Canon 5DMKII with the Tilt Shift on at 6400 ISO. With some noise removal it might have come good. For me, it’s better having a noisy shot than no shot at all. I’m not going to a 35mm print for theatrical distribution so it’s not going to cause me much trouble.
• The last shot. This was my first attempt at a proper night timelapse of the stars. It’s not an amazingly interesting shot, it was after all my first crack, taken from my front yard and a test more than anything. I just really wanted to use it here, since it was something different. I’ve become quite inspired, as I’m sure many other have, by Tom’s work, over at Timescapes. That guy is seriously one of the most talented out there, more so than any of the other DSLR ‘pioneers’ out there. Check him out, you’ll be glad you did.

Anyway, that’s enough crap from me, it’s late and I’ve proven myself unworthy of continuing to type at this keyboard.

I hope you enjoy the flick, if there’s anything I missed, just flick me a comment!

More soon. . .

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What would a trip be without a bit of a video to go with it, eh? How will I hold onto the memories once my old and decrepit brain slows and the once vivid colours and easily recalled sounds start to dim and fade? Well, the plan is that I’ll take out my 128 Core Intel Blink6a Chipset driven Mac-3D Hologram interface running OS XVIII Aardvark from the comfort of my nursing home bed and hoping that it still knows what to do with the H.264 codec, watch all these videos, remembering a time when I could choose when to go to the loo and walk where I wanted unaided. . .ahhh, can’t wait!

All that aside, this video was really just a bit of fun to shoot and a walk on the wild side for me, since I never travel anywhere without a tripod. Even though I missed, it, it was an interesting excercise.

There are some really pretty area’s where the lovely Katie’s parents live. The Dandenong Ranges are about an hour east of Melbourne in Victoria and make for some very nice scenery, I could seriously have spent days and days just walking around shooting, it seems everywhere you turn there’s something to lock the lens on. But, since it was a family trip, I had to make some concessions on allocating one on one time with the 7D. . .

I’ve got to say the decision to not take the tripod was interesting. . .and stupid. . .I hated it. . .So many times I wished I had it with me, my shaky hands and wobbling footage driving me up the wall. See if I had steady hands, I don’t think I’d have cared so much, trouble is, I tremble like an 8 day high crack fiend as soon as I pick up the camera. This is where a heavier camera has always been my friend. If you too have trouble getting that steady shot when running around shooting hand held, the best bet I found is to try and keep it moving, that way the shake is disguised a bit more. Or lean on something that doesn’t shake! I think for the home movie stuff it works ok, the landscape stuff. . .eeewww! Man, some of that stuff looks rough! Lesson learnt. . .

Both the Sigma 30mm and the 50mm 1.8 II got a really good run in this video, the tight quarters shooting meant for the kind of shots I wanted these focal lengths worked well. I love shooting portaits with the 50mm on the 7D, I guess it equates to about 86mm on a full frame. Now that I have a 5DMKII to play with, I will have to get the Canon 85mm f1.2 lens as I have really fallen in love with that focal length.

After watching a colleague work with split screens I got inspired to play with some of my own. I did specifically shoot a sequence of shots for the effect, instead of just seeing what would work afterwards, I think that helped. I don’t mind it, but I’m not sold on it. What do you think, win or fail? The implementation could do with some tweaking, the hard borders a a bit harsh, I definitely think that having three handheld shots all wiggling different ways at the same time is a bit much too, a locked off shot would improve things greatly.

Now, one thing I do know it that there is absolutely no consistency to the grade, some black and white, some super saturated, some really warm, some really cold. . .That’s exactly how I was feeling at the time, all colours were created in camera. I didn’t do any post colour correction on this at all. In hindsight, I would have liked to see more Black and White, but hey, I made my bed, and even though I don’t have to lie in it, I will. I’ll know better next time. It’s my goal to be able to grade in camera with as little post as possible, give your settings a bash around and see what you come up with, it can be rather rewarding!

The music is by a very lovely group by the name of ‘The Album Leaf’ and the song is called ‘We Need Help!’. It’s not symbolic in anyway, we didn’t need help, (Well I did, after a bit of celebratory overextension syndrome after my birthday on Good Friday, but that’s a story for a completely different blog! ) it’s just a nice cruisy song, that I thought fitted the feel of the trip.

This was a fun little video to shoot and to cut and would recommend everybody to give something similar a shot. Use your lovely Canon glass and DSLR depth of field to really do a number on the old home video! I’d love to see your results!

Well, that’s it for now, I’m off to Tamworth for the weekend to see my family. It’s another road trip video and no doubt my gorgeous little sister Kendra will break in the new Canon 5DMKII that arrived today very nicely. I can’t wait!

Until then. . .enjoy the vid!

[Show as slideshow]

A sense of lurking malice hid in the atmosphere, unseen forces swept through the air and the ocean, elements whipping each other into a frenzy. The usually idyllic Sunshine Coast had turned feral and it surely was a sight to behold!

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With the weather putting all my shoots on an indefinite hiatus until it clears, I had the perfect opportunity to get out with the camera and shoot a little bit of what’s going on at the moment. We are getting pummeled by heavy rainfall, strong winds and king tides – It’s not the best, but it sure is interesting! The surf is big and supposed to be increasing right up until Wednesday and it should make for some great footage if this onshore wind will let up.

This was a bit of an experiment today, with different settings, white balances, filters, time lapse, slow motion. . .and of course some playing with the Glidetrack Shooter for the first time in a shoot of this kind. Got to admit, I had a ball! It’s been ages since I got to go out and just shoot for fun and I really enjoyed it, even though it felt like shooting in a Coriolis storm!

As usual, I shot it all on the 7D with the usual crop of glass. Nothing too different there – Sigma 30mm f1.4, Tokina 11-16 f2.8, Canon 100-400 IS 4.5-5.6 and 70-200 f2.8 IS USM.

I didn’t have too long to shoot, knew that I wanted to attempt a very harsh color profile in camera and had some ideas of what I wanted to capture. The wild sea, some time lapses of the clouds as the wind was howling and they were moving super fast, and hopefully some people watching. I got lucky on all counts, with the bonus being some Kiteboarders who were the only ones to brave the conditions. Funnily enough, the kiteboarder in the red is the same Kiteboarder from the 7D test video I uploaded ages ago! I found out his name is Mick and he is the Stickerman here on the Sunshine Coast. So good on ya Mick! Thanks again for the footage!

There were quite a few people watching and despite a few curious glances at the strange looking guy with the Glidetrack, on the ground behind the spectators, everything went pretty smoothly.

Got to say I do love this Glidetrack Shooter so far, but I am still a bit of a novice with it and still yet to learn how and when to employ it to the greatest benefit. It is a lot of fun though and quite smooth along the slide. I ended up getting a little Manfrotto 701HDV head for it. That was a good move, it uses the same base plate as my 503HDV and means I can quickly pull the Glidetrack on and off my main tripod legs without any hassle and also switch the camera in between both of them without having to change base plates. It’s very useful and I’d say almost essential for shooting on the move. It has taken a bit of getting used to in terms of setting up and balancing and what not since it’s a tripod mounted on a tripod, and as you can see in the wide shot with the people watching I noticed it develops a gradual lean when moving from one side to the other. It’s not very noticeable when viewed in real time and you can really only see it because of the speed ramp applied to the shot, but it’s something I need to investigate so I can stop it from happening. Something about the drawing board and a trip back to it. . .who knows?!

There is some funny business going on with some frame blending artifacts on the sped up clip of the tree and the clouds. I have found a slight hiccup with MPEG Streamclip and the fact that the transcoding process actually creates interlaced footage. Yes I’m aware it’s Progressive interlaced footage, where both fields contain information from the exact same moment in time and hence when displayed together create one entire progressive frame. But I don’t want that, I’ve found that speed changes with frame blending enabled and also Smoothcam can make this footage show it’s true ugly interlaced colours in the form interlaced banding. Something I was glad to see the back of when I got my HVX! And now it’s BACK!!! Ugghhh. . .So MPEG Streamclip only allows you to select the options “Upper field first” or “Lower field first”. It doesn’t let you choose ‘none’, or ‘progressive’, like After Effects or Final Cut. If anybody knows a way, please share, this is annoying me and so far I’ve only been able to achieve true progressive output in ProRes LT with Compressor. But as you may or may not know, Compressor takes much longer than MPEG Streamclip to do the same thing, so it’s not really a path I want to embrace at this stage. I’m putting it out there! Any ideas?

So for the last time lapse I used my little chinese intervalometer, which, by the way, has a bung screen but is still usable. It was just a 1.6 second exposure fired off every 2 seconds. Finally I got some decent wave motion. I decided to play it back at a slower frame rate just so the motion wasn’t so fast you couldn’t appreciate what was going on. I think that works well with waves, so you can actually see whats happening.

The music in this video is by The Last Atlant and the song is called ‘Everything is Illuminated’. A great track off an even greater album, ‘Cloudburst of Colours’. Get on it, no doubt you’ll enjoy the whole album if you liked this track!

Anyway, it’s definitely not a masterpiece, but I had heaps of fun shooting it which is all that matters at the end of the day. . .and I didn’t get rained on too much, which is a huge bonus.

Hopefully the swell picks up even more over the next few days and we get some real carnage going on! Fingers crossed!

More soon!

And for you Vimeo Lovers!

So finally, here’s a couple of shots I knocked off from Australia to Rio. This video is the first in what will hopefully be a series of short video blogs. It’s all handheld handycam type stuff, I had the tripod with me, but I didn’t want to risk a run-in with security or overbearing airline staff all hopped up on oversalted mini-pretzels.

Shooting sure is a soothing way to pass the time. The only reason there’s not more footage is because I was so dog tired most of the time, I just couldn’t be shagged getting the camera out, but there just wasn’t that much interesting stuff to shoot anyway. It isn’t meant to be an amazing display of cinematography (if you were expecting it to be, I’m sorry! hahaha!), more than anything it is a side-product of boredom and my desire to document what it is that I see. Think of it as a home movie shot with an decent rig!

The Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS USM owned it in the plane. I would never have even dreamed of putting the old 75-300 on there in that dim light, it would have been completely useless!

The Sigma 30mm f1.4 was great too, most of the stuff I shot with that in the plane was wide open at maybe ISO 200-400. . .

The shot at the start with old mate scratching his eyes and the dude playing with the phone were both on the Canon 100-400 f4.5-5.6L. I really do like this lens and even though it taps out at 5.6 at 400mm, considering that’s the same as my old 75-300mm I don’t find it much of a hindrance. If anything it helps as I know what’s possible with a given amount of light. It’s boken is nowhere near as nice as the 70-200, but it’s still decent.

I’ve heard many people discount the usefulness of the IS in the canon lenses for video applications. Personally, I found it incredibly helpful and I am so glad that I got the IS model of the 70-200, as I almost didn’t. For handheld shooting I can get a much better shot with the IS on than without, and providing you nurse your pans and movements a little so as not to push it too much, you can get quite good results.

The music in this clip means a lot to me and there’s a very good reason I used it. . .It’s by a band called The Detroit Escalator Company and the Song is called ‘Gathering Light’. The whole album that this song is off (Black Buildings) is just amazing, I have loved it since the moment a great friend of mine Claudia, from the Dominican Republic, introduced me to it around 5 years ago.

It is my travelling music, it allows me to put my headphones in and completely disconnect. Moving through airports and fellow travellers as if I was a ghost, a vaporous entity, invisible, untouchable and completely at ease within the maelstrom of itineraries, people, planes, flights, service staff and screaming children. It’s just such a perfect juxtaposition that my entire perception of the journey is almost left in limbo. A complete obfuscation of the senses. . .

On journeys like this, the ability to be able to plug in and view everything with a vacantly detached curiosity is priceless beyond measure. I hope you find your travelling music. If you’ve got something to recommend, let me know. . .I need it!

More soon. . .