The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) brings some of the best multimedia storytellers together each year for its Multimedia Immersion workshop. Thanks to a generous grant from the NPPA, I’ll be joining the week-long event in Syracuse, New York. Thank you NPPA!
I’ll be one of 40 students working with visual journalists and editors from organizations including The AP, Washington Post, NPR, USA TODAY, MSNBC.com, and many others.
You should be there if you want to be part of the rapid-expanding field of multimedia storytelling! Sign up here.
Yanobox provided me with their new color manipulation plug-in for Final Cut Pro X, called Moods. In this post I will review Yanobox Moods and tell you a bit about its pros and cons and why you might want to try it on your next Final Cut Pro X project.
First off, as always, this is an honest Yanobox Moods review for Final Cut Pro X, but I did want to make sure and mention that yes, Yanobox sent the Moods software to me for free. That said, I will still try to be objective in this review. Second, right off the bat, I like Moods because it is simple, easy, and user-friendly. The software does not necessarily go far beyond what is already built into Final Cut Pro X, but it is still useful, intuitive, and comes with some great color-correction/manipulation presets. I tested out Moods in FCP X on my new project, The Tallest Hurdle, which is about the surprisingly common trend of child burn injuries caused by accidents with cooking fires in Nepal.
What’s great about Yanobox Moods is that you can preview a preset by simply moving your mouse over the preset. You will see the visual effect on your selected clip without even having to click. That is slick. There are several options for presets in Yanobox Moods and Final Cut Pro X makes integration with the plug-in a breeze. Click on “Effects” while in FCP X and review the Moods preset options. Select a preset or start from scratch using the array of sliders and wheels that control everything from shadow color tones to gamma, exposure, and more.
What’s not so great about Yanobox Moods is that it seems to draw much more energy from the computer in order to render changes as compared to say, using the built-in color and exposure controls in FCP X. Other than that drawback, I can’t really find a reason not to use Moods, unless you are tight on money. Otherwise, for $50, it’s really not a bad deal at all.
If you liked this Yanobox Moods review for Final Cut Pro X, you want to see more reviews, or just want to disagree, go right ahead! Let me know what you think or send me a question. I will be reviewing another software plug-in for Final Cut Pro X soon – Singular Software PluralEyes for Final Cut Pro X – so stay tuned. Thanks for viewing.
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Here is the Moods tutorial video, which is just an introduction by Yanobox that they put on YouTube for beginners:
I thought it would be interesting or useful for some of my readers to hear the story behind one of my photos, so I decided to explain how the above image was made and what led up to it. It is one of my favorite images from a recent trip to Peru, where I shot a story, Legacy of War, about the decades-long internal conflict that saw approximately 70,000 lives lost. I traveled to Ayacucho, a city in the Andes, to investigate a tumultuous period in Peru’s history, which began in this town. After meeting and photographing many people directly affected by the violence of the 80’s and 90’s, I took a taxi into the hills above Ayacucho in order to make some photographs of the entire city – I needing something with more of a sense of place. I shot landscapes and wide shots of the city from above and I told our taxi driver in Spanish that I’d like to stop once or twice on the way back in order to chat with people in the fields and/or make photos. After a minute or two, I spotted two women sitting together in a beautiful pastoral scene. I told the driver to stop and I got out of the car with my girlfriend, Karlie, and we approached the women.
From across a large ditch, I yelled to them in Spanish, telling them that I am a journalist, I came from the U.S., I’m interested in the daily life of Ayacuchanos, and I want to chat with them and take their photo. They nodded as we climbed through the ditch and slipped and slid on the dry earth. Standing next to the ladies, the first thing that struck me was the size of their cheeks. Like chipmunks, they each had a giant wad of something stuffed into one cheek, and it took me a few seconds to realize that it must of course be coca leaves. As a Seattle photographer, this obviously isn’t something I get to see or photograph often. They smiled as I talked to them in Spanish and I noticed just a few teeth in those smiles. One woman was spinning yarn while we sat, and I’m not quite sure if it was llama or alpaca or neither. I listened to a few very thick and difficult Spanish words that the woman spoke to me, saying to me that she understood some Spanish but spoke only Quechua. We laughed as she asked me a few things in Quechua, to which I could only reply “no sé,” … “I don’t know” in Spanish.
I told them to just carry on as if I were not there, and then I walked behind them to capture the beautiful hills in the background behind them. The two cows in the left of the frame mirrored the two women spending the afternoon together, and the picture came out quite well. It felt calm and quiet, with just the right colors and tones. I wanted to shoot the image at f/1.4 to make the background blur significantly, but with the Canon 50mm lens that I have it can be a pain to keep the subject in focus. I snapped a few quick frames before saying goodbye, and only one of these frames was decently in focus. With a bit of luck, as usual, I was able to meet a couple of people in a really cool scene and make a photo out of it. Once I got home, I didn’t hardly do anything to the photo in Lightroom or Photoshop except perhaps bump the contrast and saturation up just a bit. Thanks a lot for looking and stay tuned for more.
Singular Software has just released PluralEyes for Final Cut Pro X. PluralEyes was the go-to plugin of choice for video editors syncing audio using Final Cut Pro 7, and now the plugin is available: PluralEyes for Final Cut Pro X. I will be reviewing the new plugin soon.
As DSLR shooters, we have to use external audio recorders because our cameras don’t record audio very well. And as you may know, to sync audio in Final Cut Pro X it is as easy as three clicks – just click the audio track, the video, and right click to select “synchronize clips.” This is great and a feature that was badly needed in Final Cut Pro 7, which is why PluralEyes was so great when it came out. So why would anyone ever need PluralEyes for Final Cut Pro X?? Final Cut Pro X does not seem to be able to figure out how to sync multiple video clips with a single audio track. This is very frustrating, because often I will have one track for audio from an interview, and multiple video clips from the interview. This is because DSLR cameras like the Canon 5D mark II cannot film for longer than 12 minutes or so. You have to briefly stop and start the camera. I’m very much looking forward to testing out this new version of PluralEyes for Final Cut Pro X.
See below for the official press release:
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PLURALEYES FOR FINAL CUT PRO X NOW AVAILABLE
New release lets Final Cut Pro X editors better manage dual-system audio and multi-camera productions; sophisticated automation technology accurately syncs video and audio
Vancouver, British Columbia, January 25, 2012 — Singular Software™, a developer of workflow automation applications for video production, is pleased to announce the availability of PluralEyes® for Apple® Final Cut Pro® X (FCP X). The multi-award winning PluralEyes technology works alongside FCP X to quickly and accurately sync video and audio clips for dual-system audio and multi-camera productions, saving hours of tedious manual syncing during post-production.
“The auto sync function that is built into Final Cut Pro X is a start, but most professional editors will want more. They want to be able to sync many clips at once, see the results right away, and be confident that the sync will work across a broad range of real-world video projects,” says Bruce Sharpe, CEO, Singular Software. “PluralEyes for FCP X is built on the same technology that is used countless times every day to sync weddings, corporate videos, documentaries and a host of other video production types. With a time-tested, proven technology powering the automation, FCP X editors can confidently offload their entire sync task to PluralEyes and be hands off until the sync is complete, regardless of the type of project they are working on.”
PluralEyes for FCP X went through an extensive public beta before its release with thousands of editors putting the software through its paces. Photography Bay reviewed the PluralEyes for FCP X beta release, commenting on its ability to better handle real-world sync projects, “…syncing multiple takes to a single audio clip is a challenge in FCP X, but is something that the new PluralEyes beta shreds through easily.” The full Photography Bay review can be viewed at http://www.photographybay.com/2011/12/15/plural-eyes-now-available-for-fcp-x/
I recently created a video for the University of Washington Bothell that tells the story of two outstanding Computer and Software Systems students and a professor. They are developing a computer program that allows high school teachers to use the motion and voice capabilities of the Microsoft Kinect video game system in order to enrich the high school mathematics learning experience. Have a look at the short film below:
The Kodak Zi8 is a great little tool. Here is a quick Kodak Zi8 review to help you decide if you should buy it or not.
Pros:
The Kodak Zi8 shoots 1080p HD video.
Input for external microphone.
Uses SD memory cards, not built-in memory.
Great size. Small but not too small. Kodak Zi8 is about the size of an iPhone.
Cons:
Not all HD is the same. The Kodak Zi8 footage quality leaves something to be desired.
Battery life is short.
Still photographs are poor quality
The Kodak Zi8 makes for a decent secondary camera for b-roll, detail/secondary angles for interviews, and for time lapses. It’s also great for attaching to something like bicycle handlebars without having to worry about breaking an expensive camera. I wouldn’t write a Kodak Zi8 review without saying that the battery is crap and the still images it takes are pretty useless. But that’s fine – it’s still worth buying and it’s better than a Flip camera.
Why is it better than a Flip camera? What is better – Kodak Zi8 vs Flip? Well, the Flip doesn’t use SD cards so you are limited to what the Flip’s built-in memory can hold. Also, the Flip doesn’t work with external audio. And if you know anything about good multimedia and good film making, it’s that audio is everything. That said, the Flip shots slightly better footage than does the Kodak Zi8, but everything else about the Flip camera is worse. The Flip isn’t bad, it’s just worse in comparison to the Kodak Zi8. Review it differently if you disagree, and send me your review so I can read it!
So what about the Kodak Zi8 vs Flip vs GoPro? If you’re in the market for a pocket HD digital video camera, then you are probably looking at the Kodak Zi8, the Flip camera, and the GoPro. The benefit of the GoPro is that it’s rugged and the newest version of the GoPro shoots better quality footage than both the Flip camera and the Kodak Zi8. The GoPro is, however, more expensive. So it’s really in another category, but it is similar to the Flip camera and the Kodak Zi8. So in the context of a Kodak Zi8 review, I’ll have to say that the Zi8 is the best choice, and if you have extra money or want to send a list to Santa this year, then consider the GoPro as an upgrade. But keep in mind that the GoPro has the same audio drawbacks as the Flip camera, and in the audio arena the Kodak Zi8 is the winner.
I’ll finish this Kodak Zi8 review with a little endorsement for the iPhone 4S. If you don’t care about audio, then ditch the Kodak Zi8 and pickup an iPhone 4S. It will shoot as good as all three of the pocket digital video cameras mentioned above, but it’s the only one that makes calls and tells how to get home when you’re lost … ! Good luck shopping.
I wrote a recent review that was a pretty harsh critique of Final Cut Pro X and I do have to say that Apple took care of a lot of issues with its recent Final Cut Pro 10.0.1 software update. FCP version 10.0.1 (some people think it is FCP 10.1 but it’s not … not quite yet) is a nice revision of FCP X, which smooths a few of the rough edges of the first release of FCP X.
What we get with Final Cut Pro 10.0.1 is XML capability finally, as well as improved cross dissolve (and other) transitions without having to create a second storyline. This was an overlook in the first version and seemed weird, so I’m glad they fixed that. We also get solutions to other annoying bugs like the lower thirds malfunction that I described in an earlier post. It also feels a bit quicker. I do have to say that I upgraded to a new iMac this week, and FCP X really works slick and quick on this new machine. That hardware upgrade made me a lot happier with FCP X, but I do think that in general Apple is going in the right direction with the software and we’ll see more professionals using it soon.
I’m still on the fence as to whether or not it is the best tool out there, but I am continuing to use it more and more because I don’t have to transcode my Canon 5D mark II footage and I don’t have to wait for Final Cut Pro to render all the time, as I did with FCP 7. It is also a dream to be able to sync my separate audio and video files with one click (without buying an expensive plugin). And all of this costs $300. As the software updates from Apple continue to come, I am going to use FCP X more and more as my primary editing package.
The Lomokino camera will be a pretty cool addition to my Christmas list this year …
I’m very excited about making some short films lo-fi style, with good old fashioned real film. It’s funny because so many HDSLR filmmakers using cameras like the Canon 5D mark II, they will say “shoot in 24p because it is so film-like.” But really no one is ever going to shoot with film, unlike with still photography where so many people do still shoot film. Well, I can really sense that a camera like the Lomokino might actually catch on. And even though using actual film to make moving pictures is time-intensive (and $$-intensive), it really does look rewarding and I am going to give it a go. Stay tuned for the results.
The Lomokino uses any kind of 35mm film that you select, and works by the use of a hand crank that you crank to move the film through the open shutter. Pretty awesome, huh? Does anybody remember the opening credits to The Wonder Years? With the Beatles song. That was the Beatles right? A Beatles cover, anyway.
Here are some short videos from the Lomokino site:
Is this the new face of photojournalism? Google Maps is certainly part of the future of photojournalism, like it or not. (Related: See my Google Maps photo essay.)
Below is a screen shot of SeattlePI.com and you can see how they have utilized a Google Maps Street View image for reporting purposes. It’s very sad that a woman was shot and in this case an actual human photographer I think would be able to cover this story quite well, but instead we have a Google Maps image taking the place of traditional photojournalism. Of course I’m sure the SeattlePI.com journalists would agree that using a human photojournalist would be ideal – and seeing Google Maps in this story probably comes down to a case of budget constraints.
I’m actually surprised that I have not seen more Google Maps images in the press, but I am wondering how the readers are responding to this. Right now there are four comments on the story but they all relate to the rather shocking content of the story, not the use of a Google Maps image. My guess is that viewers/readers do not care one bit. They probably do care that the image presented is pretty boring, but that is not necessarily because it is a Google Maps image. There are plenty of pretty and interesting Google Maps images out there, but just like traditional photojournalism it takes time, energy and expertise to find those images.
For me, I really am intrigued by the use of Google Maps images for photojournalism, reportage and photo essays, but the image below isn’t exactly a good supporting argument. Aren’t I afraid of losing my job? Not really. I actually think that the more that Google Maps images pop up, the more that media consumers will realize that their lives are constantly under surveillance. For this reason, and others, I think folks will begin to remember why they love images made by real, empathetic, human photojournalists. There is something great that people love about images made by other humans, and the screen shot below can help with understanding that. However, as a photojournalist myself I’ve found that using Google Maps can be rewarding. Part of my graduate school capstone work included a Google Maps Street View photo essay.
After using the software for a few months now, I finally feel that I can write a well-informed Final Cut Pro X review. Let’s get right to it: don’t buy Final Cut Pro X. Not just yet.
This was a massive overhaul of the software and anyone should know that it’s risky to jump on the bandwagon with a 1.0 release. Don’t get me wrong – I like Final Cut Pro X and I think it has a lot of potential, but there are too many bugs right now. Extremely frustrating bugs. Bugs that make this software a huge waste of time and inappropriate for professional use.
The trailer you see below is one I made for With Nature in Mind using Final Cut Pro X, along with a full 7-minute video that is almost finished. It was fun to learn the new software while creating these videos, and there are a lot of great features in the software, but this is an honest Final Cut Pro X review so I have to tell both sides of the story.
The bugs are frustrating. The worst one happens when using the lower third templates (the little name and title animations for interviews). What happens is that I insert a lower third over someone talking, type in their name and information, and then move along with my editing. But after a while, the changes to the lower third get lost over and over again at different times in the editing process. Sometimes, I’ll have the video project completely finished in Final Cut Pro X and I’ll export it. Everything looks fine. Then I go back in to change something small – and completely unrelated to the lower thirds in the project – but what will happen is the lower thirds reset themselves and just say “Name” in place of the interviewees’ actual names! This has happened too many times. Often times the formatting that I have applied to the lower third is also lost. See pics below.
Another weird bug that happens that I haven’t read in other Final Cut Pro X reviews is that the audio becomes distorted upon export and upload to YouTube. When I export a video and watch it on my computer, it sounds fine, but when I upload to YouTube, often the audio gets very scratchy. I know this is a transcoding problem because I found a way to work around it. The problem disappears if, after export from Final Cut Pro X, I open the video in Quicktime and use that program’s “Save As” function and select “1080p.” This essentially re-transcodes the video file and somehow fixes whatever Final Cut Pro X is doing wrong. Very weird. And another time waster.
The funny thing is, I started using the software in order to save time, but this Final Cut Pro X review is sadly going to tell you that Final Cut Pro X wastes more of your time than it saves. Yes, it’s true that you can sync an audio track with a video track in one click (something huge for DSLR interview shooters like myself). Yes, you can edit h.264 footage without having to first transcode to something like Prores 422 via MPEG Streamclip. And yes, it’s true that you don’t have to wait for Final Cut Pro X to render (at all). But what they don’t tell you is that the program becomes quite slow during the “background rendering” that Final Cut Pro X uses, but this is probably not a big deal on newer machines. My Macbook Pro is from mid-2008, but still is generally quite fast and does great with the previous versions of Final Cut Pro. Also, in general, Final Cut Pro X is just slow overall compared to previous versions. Again, yes, my machine is older, but comparing Final Cut Pro 7 to Final Cut Pro X head to head … the older version is way faster.
So here is my advice – since you have invested your time in reading this Final Cut Pro X review, do you yourself another favor and save your time by avoiding Final Cut Pro X until 10.1 comes out. If you don’t like that, then switch to Adobe Premiere. Call me too patient, but I’ll wait to see if 10.1 works or not before I switch. Unlike many, many other photographers and video producers out there.
Exciting news – I just saw the announcement of the upcoming release of the Canon 1D X, which combines the 1Ds line of camera bodies and the 1D line. You can see the official press release here.
Before I can actually get my hands on it (can I borrow $6,800?) I’ll have to say that the Canon 1D X will be a useful update for photojournalists and filmmakers/videographers because of a few new things – first, it is now a full frame camera body, unlike the 1D series, which had a 1.3x crop factor. That meant that you didn’t see everything the lens gave the camera; everything was cropped/zoomed in by a factor of 1.3. Now, the 1D X matches the 5D mark II in full frame capability, so the image will be much nicer. Additionally, you can adjust the audio levels on the 1D X while recording video. Before – and with the Canon 5D mark II – you had to pick an audio level setting and leave it. On-the-go adjustments are crucial for filmmakers, especially when it comes to audio.
Another great thing is that the 1D X shoots 60p video, which means you get 60 frames per second so that you can get more out of your slow-mo shots, especially with the help of Final Cut Pro plugins like Twixtor. Again, the 5D mark II lags behind – with a max of 30p (though the 7D shoots 60p as does the 1D mark IV).
There is a whole host of other new features and crazy upgrades (14 frames per second for sports … or LOTS of pictures of your cat), but I just wanted to highlight a couple of my favorite things. We’ll see how the thing functions when it actually comes out and if there are any issues like with the last time Canon released such a heavily redesigned product. 1D mark III auto focus defection nightmares anyone?
This is just a short time lapse I made for fun while having dinner with a view of the street and our bikes in the International District in Seattle recently. I can’t say enough good things about the iPhone’s Timelapse app. If you’re searching for it on the App Store, it’s the only one with the simple title “Timelapse.” Just that word, nothing else.
It’s super easy to use and allows you to create time lapse videos wherever you go. To create an instant video from the pictures it takes, choose “encode video.” For higher quality videos, don’t choose “encode video,” as this will allow you to simply have a large amount of images that you will use to create a video on your computer using Final Cut Pro or other editing software. You can set the app to take pictures for a set amount of time or to end at a certain time, and it can take pictures every second, every few seconds, every minute, etc. I like every two seconds for longer time lapses, which span over several hours.
