From Film to Fine Art

For years now I have been shooting lots of time lapse footage for the film and television industries. As the process to acquire such footage yields a ton of super high resolution stills, I always wondered what the heck can I do with these. For example, this piece of footage: 

recently appeared in an MSNBC special by Lawrence O'Donnell titled "Erasing Hate" - Actually they used a couple of my pieces of my footage which was very cool to see. I mean, there is nothing more exciting than seeing or knowing that millions are seeing your stuff. Well, in any case, back to the stills that made this 4K piece of footage. Yes, 4K - that super large format. It is basically a series of super high resolution stills in a sequence - hence the time lapse effect. A lot of them. 

Not long ago I had a visitor see some of my stuff laying around. She instantly honed in on the lightning pics. Keep in mind, I have these for "frames" of film to be used as footage. But she immediately told me that a gallery that she knew of, really could use some of this "fine art" on their walls and to sell. To sell? Yup, to sell! 

The thought never really occurred to me as I had talked to several friends that also shoot this type if stuff as photographers as opposed to me, the "cinematographer". No difference really other than my camera stays locked down in place until whatever is over with. And that is the real difference I suppose. My fellow photog's are always changing focal length, direction, aim, lens, shutter speed, and are always hoping to get that one special shot, while missing most. I on the other hand, well, I really don't have a special shot that I hunt for, I tend to get that special framing and then shoot a sequence of shots all with the exact same settings. Remember - locked down!

Funny thing about my method - it surprises me pleasantly many times. When I go through the 700 to 1500 shots, there is always a really nice shot somewhere in the bunch. Of course that one or more nice shot is just a "frame" of footage in my mind. But now, that is no longer the case. Now I actually see and understand what the photogs are hunting down. And now I bring those "frames" to the world as limited editions as prints that are matted and sometimes even framed. Kind of cool I think. Oh, and yes there is a story behind each one of these prints. Just like the one here:

From New Releases Qtr 4 - 2011

The moral of this story is actually quite simple. Even though I think more as a cinematographer, the end result many times comes through as if I was a photographer. If you want to know more about these limited edition prints, visit my other site/blog at http://www.mopicfineart.com/.

Sony Vegas Pro 11 has arrived!

 

Yes sireeee! Sony Vegas Pro 11 has finally arrived and it's a doozy! I received the upgrade codes this morning and of course, as this is what I primarily use for editing, downloaded it immediately and installed it. Here are some findings: 


1. Wow - it installed without a hitch. Some may ask; "Is that unusual?" - well, yes and no. Sony Vegas does have a few requirements to install it cleanly. For example - you must disable any and all anti-virus software for the process. It really will resolve any installation issues. I disabled many processes just to be safe. Believe me, I am talking from experience here as I have been working with Vegas since version 7. It's easy to do to... just go to your task bar, right click and open the "Task Manager" - selectively kill processes that you know are loaders, background mechanisms for other software etc.. Also, and most importantly, disable your anti-virus software for the installation process. You can do this via the actual software itself, or simply use "Run" -> "cmd" -> "msconfig" and disable stuff for the next reboot. If you do that, don't forget to un-set these again and of course reboot. 




Read more about it here and here (10 tips for a faster computer)
for a few additional tips.


2. This upgrade came with some nice extras! Ever hear of Newblue's Titler Pro? A sweet titling "plug-in" for Sony Vegas 11.x - Check that out for sure. (Visit NewBlue for details about this product.) 


3. Of course we must not forget, Sony's DVD Architect either. A powerful DVD an Blu-ray authoring and creation tool. The thing that really kicks butt on this is it quite simply is from Sony. They are the standard! Hence I have been able to play any DVD created with this software on any DVD player. I have not had that kind of success with other products. Of course I stopped using other products years ago due to the issues, and now only use Sony DVD Architect. 


This may all sound like a sales pitch. All I know is that I use this stuff daily. I need this stuff. It is so far still the fastest tool to get productions out and on time. At least for me. Having seen the turmoil my friends and associates have gone through with some of the other products, I have stayed the course with Vegas. Perhaps it's because I know the software inside out. Perhaps it's because I use mainly Sony tape decks and cameras and know it will be 100% compatible. 


Or quite simply, perhaps it's because Sony has put more energy into the Vegas division for the last couple of years and hence,  started listening to us users. All I know is that the learning curve is fast for anything new that is introduced and quite simply that the logic for an NLE in this case makes far more sense than most NLE's. Of course that is my opinion only. 


There is of course so much more to explain - but I'll let the Sony website take care of that. :)

Obnoxious or simply "How quickly one forgets".... yup!

Today (as almost every day) I received a heads up about a new post from our photo friend Guy Atchley. Yes. That Guy. The one on TV locally here in Tucson. What many don't know is that Guy is an avid photographer too. I suppose newscasters need to do human stuff too to feel alive. - FYI - that was a joke. Actually Guy is a very determined photographer and also loves communication with fellow photogs. Anyway, back to today's posted link he put up (and it's a doozy - so profound):

7 Obnoxious Things People Believe About Photographers was a real reminder of just how obnoxious people can be towards professionals. I would even call it demeaning. But unfortunately this happens all the time. And believe me, it gets old really quickly. READ THE ARTICLE!

Train yourself to not be like this. Be respectful of any profession. That's all I have to say about that.

For those that like to watch videos instead of reading, here ya go:

As seen on....

Being in the stock footage industry, one never knows who is buying what and from whom. Sure we get information of sales on our collections. But that is about where it ends. But sometimes, one gets lucky and gets to see one's own footage on national programming.

Last night, while flipping channels I ran across a special from MSNBC. It was titled "Erasing Hate". Actually a pretty neat story about a former "skinhead" that changed course and now wanted to have all of his facial tattoos removed. A painful and long process. In any case - While watching I recognized something very familiar. No. I don't have any tattoos. But it seems that program bought some of my footage. I saw these two clips as they jumped out at me:



and



The latter was even a 4K format (super hi-resolution). It showed too. Whenever I see some of my stuff on the tube it quite frankly makes me want to film lots more. Oh yes! Lots!

If you ever need any really cool footage for your production, I can only recommend Pond5 Stock Footage. Why? Not because I am a contributor, but quite simply because they are now the largest in the world, and yet still give a hoot about not just us artists, but of course the customers as well.