Random Job: Live Action Stop Motion

Got to help out on a live-action stop-motion church promo for Oasis Church on Monday. It was very cool to see how they shot the piece.
It is very similar to the amazon kindle commercials and will look very cool when they are finished. I will post the link to the final product when they are done with final edits.
Here are the Kindle commercials that influenced this project.

Film: Baby Lyla

I know this is boring baby footage but it is so cute! I wish I could film my new 2nd cousin but can't yet...Soon though.
Enjoy this beautiful HD footage of this wonderful baby girl.

Music Video Tests

Working on a music video with some friends.
Here are some tests we did today.

Lens Test: Nikon 50mm f/1.4

Shot some random video yesterday with my new (used) lens. To keep the depth of field as shallow as possible I had to use three ND filters (.3+.6+.9). These filters allowed me to keep the iris at f/1.4 - f/2.8. As everyone has noted in their experiences with this camera and shallow depth of field, the focus is incredibly hard to keep sharp while tracking a moving object!

Our Beautiful Farmhouse Bed

If you have been following our Blog you should know that Katie and I have recently built a bed for ourselves. We have been more then pleased with the way it has turned out and we constantly receive compliments on it. I've been meaning to post some pictures of the final product but haven't gotten around to doing it till today.

My New Super Fast Lens - Nikon 50mm f/1.4

Well it's not a $1500 Canon 50mm f/1.2 nor the mythical (and very expensive) Canon 50mm f/1.0 but this lens is still incredibly fast and has a very shallow depth of field all for $75 from ebay. The lens is entirely manual control with the focus and aperture adjusted on the lens body itself. There are no electronics at all in the construction and feels very solid due to it's metal body. Another great thing about this lens is it's locked focus points. The focus ring stops at it's infinity point and stops at it's macro focus point (around 1.5ft) for a total spin of around 180-200degress. These hard stops allows me to set focus points on a film set using either a follow focus or the lens itself. The modern Canon lenses have focus rings that continually spin and make it much more difficult to set focus marks.

Since this lens uses the Nikon F-mount I had to purchase an adapter that allows me to mount the lens to my Canon T2i. I bought one for $20 off Amazon made by fotodiox and so far I think it will work perfectly.

$5 Photography. A Simple Idea.

$5 Photography.

This is an idea i havehad for a little whileand came from a story i read about where a guy keeps trading stuff starting with a paperclip and ended up with a house. the thought was to all ways trade up, get something better each time. This story gave me the idea for $5 photography where the first client pays just $5 for photography services and the next client pays just $5 more which is $10. The cycle would ever continueand just as practice and repetition makes one better at their craft in essence clients would always be paying more for better and better photography. Now i know there are many other expenses but we'll cross those bridges when we get to them.
So, i placed my first $5 Photography ad this morning. We'll see what happens. :)

Film: Fryman Canyon - A Hike with the Benners

This last Sunday Katie, Barkley and myself joined with the Benners for our second weekend in a row trip to Fryman Canyon. We had alot of fun and I was able to play with my new camera, a Canon T2i.

I used the stock kit lens. It is not great but it has a nice image stabilizer that helps with the lack of a tripod. I shot using a superflat picture style and color graded in Apple's Color. I am still trying to figure out that headache of a program.

We really love hanging out with Rhianwen and Mike. They are a very sweet couple who are both working in the entertainment industry. Rhianwen works for the Ellen DeGeneres Show and Mike works for a new animated TV show company. Katie and I are both excited for many more hikes with the Benners.

Film: (Don't forget to click on the higher quality version by clicking on the 360p icon and selecting 480p)