Dave’s CES Update

Each year the Consumer Electronics Show is held in Vegas to showcase the latest in technological innovations. I attended CES again this year and spent some time reviewing the latest cameras and TVs.  And at the end of this missive I pass along the experience of a Canadian photographer who flew into Las Vegas with his camera gear through the tightest security yet!

Canon showed the new 1DS Mark IV, with its 2/3 sized sensor and 10 fps burst speed.  Be careful not to melt the inside of your flash with 30 shot bursts, as happened to the Canon rep.

The exciting news from Canon, and a bit of a teaser to you, is that they have indicated they will provide an Explorer of Light to instruct our Danita Delimont photographers in how to shoot HD video with the 5D Mark ll at our upcoming “Footage Forum” scheduled for late March in Seattle.  More on this in my next post.

I got to try the Steadicam Merlin unit at the Teffin booth.  The handheld units were very pricey at $850 and it takes some practice to get the delicate balance required to use them.   They only support up to 5 pounds and a supplementary vest unit is recommended for a DSLR with a big lens or a standard video recorder.  Their Marilyn Monroe model was creating quite a draw. (links throughout?)

Panasonic 153" LCD

3D HD TVs and 3D HD BluRay players were all the rage in the Central Hall.  Every major manufacturer showed their 3D offerings, literally hundreds of models.  I feel like I saw Avatar all over again!  They actually look quite good, although special glasses are required to watch them.  While manufacturers are settling on standards now, there are still several ways to create the 3D effect and all were touted as the best.  If a format war can be avoided, and if sufficient programming is forthcoming, I think they will be taking over the HDTV market in 2-3 years.  ESPN announced a 3D sports channel that will feature the upcoming World Cup in 3D for the millions who don’t watch soccer now, as well as NBA games.  There were many 3D moves previewed for release this spring and summer.  Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp anyone?

While most of the 3D fare to date has been animation and CGI material, I foresee a market for 3D stock footage developing in the years ahead.  Canon had no knowledge of any 3D products in the pipeline.  Panasonic announced availability of a 3D Video Camcorder for professional use with a list price of $21,000.  We will be monitoring the progress towards 3D and keep you informed.

Nikon’s big announcement was a CoolPix camera that can project images up to 40 inches in size (and as low as 5 inches).  There’s also a remote control in the package, so you can set up your own image slideshow on the go. The camera has a 12MP sensor, 5x optical zoom and a 2.7-inch TFT LCD. ISO levels can be cranked up to 3200 at full res.  The Nikon S1000pj “procam” is scheduled to be out in September and will probably set you back about $600.

Microvision, a Seattle based company,  demonstrated their WVGA resolution “Pico Projector”, about the size of a pack of cigarettes, with a spicy video by a Dr. Evil impersonator, and LG showed their projector attachment for a cell phone.  I played with a similar prototype cell phone HD projector at the IMAX theater in Seattle a few months ago.   I think they may be cool for small business presentations in dark meeting rooms, bars, caves, etc.

At the other end of the spectrum, Panasonic showed their 153 inch plasma with 3K resolution.  Very impressive!  It uses “mother glass” which is the full size sheet of glass that is cut into pieces for their smaller models.  The Mitsubishi 155” OLED was not on display at the show.

Ford/DeWalt Truck

I also marveled at the Ford/DeWalt Contractor truck which can take inventory of all the tools at the push of a button to be sure none are left at a job site, the Chevy Volt and its iPhone app with remote start, car location monitor, and lots of details on car status, and my personal favorite the MakerBot which is a 3D printer that can make parts (including its own replacement parts) out of ABS plastic for only $750!  An inventor’s dream come true.  The new $10 billion City Center development financed by Dubai was even more impressive than the show.  It is so big it has its own monorail, Dale Chihuilly store, and two world class hotels.

Finally, while dining with a Canadian photographer who flew into Las Vegas from Vancouver, I was filled in on the new security precautions for flights coming into the US.  He could not bring his camera gear as a carry-on and had to put his camera around his neck.  Fortunately he was traveling light and got everything else onto his person to avoid the restriction.  After practically being strip searched, he is now in favor of whole body screening equipment and profiling.  He thinks next time he may choose to FedEx his gear in advance!  Since the rules are still very much in flux at the moment and each airport is likely to have different policies for some time, you might spend some time researching this issue before you leave the US on your next trip.  If you have flown back to the US with your gear since December 24^th, PLEASE leave us a comment on this blog and let us know the details of your experience.

PACA Update – Part 4

And the future is………

Possibly Red!  The Red Scarlet is now scheduled for release by January 1.  It will come in both a fixed and interchangeable lens configuration.  Expect to pay $4-5k.

The Red One is scheduled to be replaced by the Red Epic, which will have a 5-6k resolution.  Red has indicated that they will accept Red ONE cameras on trade-in for their full purchase price as a credit against the cost of a Red Epic.  How’s that for standing behind your product!

And don’t expect Canon, Nikon, and other DSLR manufacturers to be left behind.  Canon has already announced another firmware upgrade for the Mark II which will provide for various frame rates including the popular 24 frames per second.

Red Scarlet

Footage will be a harder format for the microstock community to produce.  It requires more skill and equipment to do it well. Few will have the patience or money to dedicate to this after they see how little they make on their stills.  Consensus at PACA was that stock footage currently has a longer payback period than stills, in the area of about 18 months, but also has a longer lifespan.

In closing, we have been acquiring footage clips for about 6 months and expect to have them loaded to the website in 30-45 days.  Next year will be the Year of the Footage Clip and we encourage you all to get with the program. Speaking of which, we will soon be announcing our plans to help beginning footage shooters with submitting and processing their clips until they get comfortable with the process.

Footage continues to be a bright spot in the otherwise not so rosy photography business.  To travel and nature photographers, it represents a very attractive and relatively easy way to increase the return from your travels.  We look forward to helping you to take advantage of this unique opportunity.

PACA Update – Part 2

Footage Shooting Tips

While watching the stock footage shoot at the PACA International Meeting Sunday session, we got a chance to watch and talk with the participants for 3 hours as they went about creating several different stock footage clips.  Here is what I gleaned from the assembled practitioners.

The Red ONE is an extremely good camera for the price. They love it. However, it is not easily portable in the sense of travel photography.  The tripod is enormous and the ancillary gear such as hard discs, field monitors, etc. requires having a multi-person crew.  In addition to the 2 models there were 6 others involved in the shoot.

Focus is extremely important. The depth of field with a 135mm lens at about 15 feet was between 3 and 4 INCHES!  A turn of the model’s head and his beard went out of focus.  The 5D Mark all which was used to get the “B roll” shots had a much larger DOF and a different look because of the sharpness of the background.  This is both a limitation and a benefit of the DSLR hybrid that can be used for good effect.  Focusing the Mark all was very easy compared to the Red ONE.  The resulting “boca”, or area that is out of focus, is better with the DSLR.

Canon 5d Mark II histogram

Expose to the far right of the histogram whenever possible. The result looks overexposed on the viewfinder and on a monitor but can be easily corrected in post.  This technique saves the details that might otherwise be lost in the shadows.

Other tips included:

Think like you are shooting a silent movie (which you are!).  Tell the story without the sound.

Shoot multiple compositions whenever possible. Do a close up, a wide angle, leave room for copy in one version, etc.

Pans and zooms can be added in post if the original composition is created with this in mind. Shoot wider than you want for the final product and do the pan or zoom in post similar to the way you would do a crop in Photoshop or turn a still into a moving image.

Avoid logos and trademarks. These can be removed in post but it requires a lot of work.  There is a list of places and things that are problematical on the PACA website.

Get Down! The DSLR can get closer to the ground than a regular video camera and can also be more easily elevated with poles or booms to get unique perspectives.  Be creative, get unique shots.

PACA Update – Part 1

We attended the Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) International Meeting and Symposium in Miami Beach October 17th and 18th 2009.  There was a lot of interest in footage this year and the program had several footage sessions, all of which we attended.  In this article I will give an overview of what I learned and will go in to more depth in upcoming posts.

Most striking was the general attitude towards stock footage.   Last year it was the future.  This year it is very much the present!  More agencies are putting their toes in the waters and more and more resources are available to allow still photographers to acquire footage capabilities.

The Canon 5D Mark II, and similar hybrid DSLRs have been well accepted by shooters and buyers of stock footage.  The image quality is good enough for all but the largest presentation formats, such as theatrical releases of movies, and is quite acceptable for TV and web use.  I learned several advantages DSLRs have over traditional video equipment as well as techniques to work around some of the limitations of these hybrids.  More on that next week.

We also watched a stock footage production shoot featuring a Red ONE camera, 2 models, and extensive lighting.  The shoot was staged in the lobby of the Eden Roc hotel around the lobby bar.  It allowed me to see firsthand what goes into a typical shoot.  You may have heard that making the transition to video can be a daunting challenge and to watch how an on location shoot with talent and lighting works makes me agree with this assessment.  I would never want to try this style of shooting with my 5D!

The good news is that the type of stock footage we are adding to our site does not require this level of technical sophistication and complexity!  While some people are shooting elaborate studio type video with very high production value, our travel and nature photographers are presented with a much simpler and easier proposition – let Mother Nature supply the talent and lighting – just focus on the composition, exposure, and focus!   I will give you more details about this in an upcoming post.

There was a lot of good information on the footage workflow.  In addition to getting tips on software and procedures, we also located several resources that can take over with some of the “post-production” tasks that you may not be ready or willing to do yourself.  We even located a vendor that is now providing us with samples of their post production capabilities.  Their work looks great and they can quickly turn around clips from our EDL (Edit Decision List) and even supply the metadata.

Finally, I picked up some scuttlebutt about the upcoming Red Scarlet and Red Epic that will be appearing in the near future. Stay tuned!

Effectively Capturing Audio

There are many ways to capture usable audio when in the field. Sadly, using your on board microphone is not an ideal solution. Your best bet is using an external microphone that can connect to your audio input. You can also use a separate recording device and match the audio up to your clips in post production processing, but  this might require a time marker. Take a look at some of our options presented below and see what would work best for your shooting style and work flow.

Sennheiser MKE 400 Compact Video Camera Shotgun Microphone

Rode VideoMic – Camera Mounted Shotgun Microphone

Rode Stereo VideoMic – Camera Mounted Microphone

And for our 5D users…

BeachTek Audio Adapter

The DXA-5D XLR adapter also features dual transformer-based XLR inputs with phantom power and built-in level meters.  There’s also a built-in headphone jack so one can finally monitor the audio and trim controls permit the user to dial-in proper signal levels.  Extra cool….
This XLR adapter includes a nice LCD display which shows the state of various switches and battery life and also shows audio levels from -54 dBu to -33dBu so verifying proper audio recording levels will be a snap!

Forums / Tutorials

Here are some links to help you get acquainted further with audio recording in the field.

Sound Recording Tips by Philip Bloom

DPReview thread on Audio

The Sweet Sounds of HD Recording Great-Sounding Audio with the Canon EOS 5D MkII By Kevin Reylek courtesy of B&H.

Chuck Westfall talks about the sync issue with other devices

Welcome to Danita’s stock footage resource and distribution network.

As we become a more visually oriented society thanks to TV, movies, and the Internet, there is an increasing demand for video imagery.  In long pieces like movies and TV shows, there are lots of short filler sequences that are needed to transition from one scene to the next, establish the location, or just add variety.  On websites, small short pieces are needed for the same reasons and the rapid adoption of broadband is increasing the demand rapidly.  Traditional print users like newspapers and textbooks are demanding video to supplement their traditional products.  While we are not expecting traditional still photographers to dump their SLRs and switch to becoming videographers, we do see an opportunity to take advantage of the unique talents and opportunities that professional travel and nature shooters possess to make their trips and shoots more productive by “double shooting”, in other words, capturing both stills and videos during the same shoot.

As still and video camera technologies continue to converge we may someday see the demise of one or both types of cameras and the emergence of hybrid devices that serve both purposes equally well.  In the meantime, we feel it is best to begin creating stock footage clips using the tools now available and setting up a worldwide distribution network before the market becomes saturated.  By learning the basics of stock footage now, both Danita and her photographers will be positioned for what is to come.

So, in order to assist our 300 photographers with creating and selling footage, we have created a special section on our website devoted to footage.  We hope that by combining the resources of our photographers and our staff that we will be able to help the photographers get off to a quicker start and have a community that will keep the latest information about gear, technique, and markets at your fingertips.  Instead of 300 individuals starting from scratch, we plan to offer a single stop to give you the latest information and other resources to delve as deeply into video as you desire.

It will take some time to create the world’s finest resource.  In fact, we are just starting.  However, we have created many useful repositories of information on the site and will be adding to them a lot in the next few months.  Once the framework has been completed, and with your help and feedback, we will keep them updated with the latest info so that as you move into new areas, we can give you a great place to start.

It’s not the image, it’s the story!:

With still imagery it’s all about the capturing of a special moment in time in the best possible light (so to speak).  With footage, it’s all about story telling.  You need to think differently about how footage will be used to communicate.  Stories have a beginning, middle, and end.  When shooting footage, it is essential to create pieces that can be used in as many ways as possible.

How?  By making sure that you have enough of a lead in and lead out to allow the editor to fit the clip into his video product.  Most stock footage clips are about 10 to 20 seconds long.  At least half of that time might be needed for the lead-in and out.  And most of the time, the editor will only use a few seconds of the clip.  Next time you watch a TV show or a movie, count the number of seconds between scenes.  You will be surprised how often the scene or angle changes.

Many of the transitions and short takes are called the “B roll” material, which compliments the narrative or storyline.  Your footage will not be the main subject in most cases and is used to amplify or add to the story.

While you are waiting for that supreme moment when the light is just right, take a few short footage pieces.  Try several angles, and get wide, medium, and tight shots in every situation.  Shoot and move around.  Come back to your still shot when the light is just right.

The Gear:

If you are like many of our photographers, you have or about to buy a Canon 5D Mark ll or Nikon D90.  These cameras can shoot wonderful footage if used within their limitations.  We’ve found lots of resources to help.  Need the 5D firmware update to allow manual control?  Try our 5D page. Need a small video camera to add to your bag or the latest info on fluid ball heads?  Check out gear page and go to the section that you need.

Shooting Tips:

First and foremost, always use a tripod if you can.  Panning and zooming are hard to do right without the right equipment.  A fluid ball head allows smooth pans.  A regular one will be jerky.  Don’t pan unless the story calls for following the subject.

With hybrid SLRs, set up so that the subject moves past the camera.  Turn off the auto focus whenever you can.  And again, shoot wide, medium and tight – close-ups are great!  Instead of zooming, just move closer between clips.

Getting both an action and the corresponding reaction is fantastic.

Finally, let the camera roll!  With digital there is no film cost and you never know what might happen.  If something interesting walks in front of the camera, send in the 10-30 second portion that makes a good clip.

We know that there are enough differences between shooting stills and video that you might want some training.  We have compiled a list of seminars, workshops, books, and videos that can help you.   And we hope you will give us feedback and what you have tried and how it worked to share with our other shooters.  Remember, we are all in this together!  If Danita offers up the highest quality collection, it helps all of us.

Bad sound doesn’t sell:

Great sound is also extremely important.  While great video and great audio make a great production, great video and poor audio makes a poor production.  Unless you can capture high quality audio, don’t worry about it.  Just concentrate on the video.

Why?  The vast majority of stock footage does not contain audio.  The audio is added during the creation of the video product and is usually dubbed in from other sources.  You can do just fine by forgetting about audio completely, which is a good thing because the microphones that come with the cameras are not good enough to capture high quality audio.  Built in microphones suffer from being in the wrong location – at the viewer’s perspective rather than at the subject.  They are also prone to picking up camera noise.  They have a limited frequency response and are subject to wind noise, ambient noise, and the noise you create from behind the camera.  They were really included on SLR hybrids to capture voice notes to document your stills.  You can use them as intended and make a voice recording of the information about the footage clip and add that to the keywords and metadata later.

Whenever the audio is an integral part of the video, such as a person speaking, an animal making a unique cry, or perhaps a natural eruption, knowing how to capture the audio with high quality microphones and recorders is necessary.  If you frequently find yourself with opportunities to capture cool audio sounds, by all means be prepared!  And multimedia packages that include HD footage, high quality audio, and great stills can command a premium in the market.

We have collected enough information on audio gear to give you a good place to start if you need help selecting gear and learning how to use it.  We have found several small and lightweight rigs that offer stellar performance at reasonable prices.

Creating saleable clips:

The first question most of you ask is “What should I shoot?”  The best answer is anything you see that you feel is interesting and will look great.  Beyond that, Danita will keep a running list of things she gets requests for here.

The next step is preparing your clips for distribution.  We have developed submission guidelines here that will streamline the task of editing your work and transmitting it to us.  The more closely you can follow the guidelines the sooner your clips can be put on the site and distributed.

You may need help with selecting the right hardware and software to edit your work.  We have created a list of the most commonly used tools and reviews of them here.

Marketing your Footage:

There are literally hundreds of companies and websites that sell stock footage, both here and internationally.  We plan to establish a worldwide distribution network of high integrity outlets for your work.  We have researched the most universally accepted video formats for distribution and will sell the clips on our own website as well.  Our goal is find the best combination of distribution that will cover the globe but will not dilute the brand and will not split the royalties through sub-agencies.  With one submission, you will get world-wide exposure.  Our target is to have the network in place by June of 2010.  If you have any preferences or knowledge about both good and terrible footage outlets, please email us and let us know.

In Closing:

We hope you find these blogs informative and entertaining and this site a valuable resource.  It is going to be a work in progress forever and its value will to a large degree depend on your contributions and feedback.  We are attempting to build a community around our blog and use your existing social networking sites to keep the communication lines flowing between us.

Are you in Prague and need subject tips?  Give us a Tweet.  Having trouble with your 5D?  Let us know.  New software has just come out for video editing?  Tip off our videomeister.

And remember, we are all in this together.  Let’s make it fun and profitable!

Dave and Danita