by successfulbob | Lumix GH3, Lumix Lounge, photography, time lapse
Tom Tayback and the Daddy O’s play a monthly show at the Sound bites Grill in Sedona, Arizona. When you see the show it is a seamless presentation of music and stories from the 50’s and 60’s called the Graffiti Gold Show. What you don’t see is the proverbial feet of the duck paddling underwater like crazy to make it work.
That’s why I like time lapse photography.
Here I take an hour and a half and show it to you in about one minute. I used the Lumix GH3. It has a built in intervalometer that allows you to set all your specific times, number of exposures and time between images captured. It even has a readout that tell you how long a time period will be covered with the settings saving some time with the calculator. On my previous camera systems I had to buy accessory equipment in order to accomplish time lapse images.
This is about 1400 images photographed every 3 seconds. The playback is at 30 frames per second…
Getting the Graffiti Gold Show show set up is quite a job…
by successfulbob | commercial photography, Lumix GH3, Lumix Lounge, photography
This is continued coverage from yesterday’s post of a photo shoot for the Sedona Integrative Medical Clinic….
The sense of place is important to show in your marketing materials. The mood and decor are helpful in making people comfortable in coming to your establishment. I can help you tell the story you want to share with your customers… Here’s a sampling of some images from the Center and the Medi-Spa.
Natalie at the front desk working the computer.
Dom at his station in the back office.
Looking over the Jane
Patient care with Vanessa.
by successfulbob | commercial photography, Lumix GH3, Lumix Lounge, people photography, photography, photography education
The Sedona Integrative Medical Clinic was a great opportunity to shoot in many different styles of work on one job. The catchphrase of Bob Coates Photography is ‘Making people, places and products look better than good.” Here was the job. Head shots, group shot, action images (for sense of place) and product images.
What a great group of people! I went to get some Physical Therapy from Eric and suggested I might be able to help in dressing up the Sedona Integrative Medical Clinic’s web site and marketing material. First on the docket was to update the Facebook header with a group image of the staff.
Nicole, Dom, Linda, Eric, Tera and Vanessa. Staff of the clinic.
I was looking for a very clean background and went with white to help give a clean medical feel. The font is Trajan Pro from their logo to tie together with previous marketing and is reversed with a drop shadow to keep with the white theme. Images were captured with the Lumix GH3 with a trigger to set off studio lights I brought in for the job. Paul C Buff lights were used one equipped with a shoot-through umbrella. A second light was outfitted with a regular umbrella on the same side as the shoot though for form fill. This gives a nice shape to the faces but doesn’t let the shadow side go too dark.
One suggestion I make for offices with multiple people is to photograph each individual separately and then assemble them into the group photo. This saves trying to rally all the staff for a new photo when there is a change of personnel. When that happens now we only need to photograph the new employee, remove the employee that is leaving and insert the new employee in the image. This saves tons of time and allows the staff photos to be up-to-date with little additional fuss or the cost of redoing the entire photo. Many different styles of background or lighting may be chosen with this approach.
I also set up a quick faux studio to highlight different product lines offered for sale. If this was a shoot for the manufacturer’s advertising there would have been a lot more attention to detail and lighting, but since this is just for web use I think we did OK using the ivy wall as a background and white surface as the base. I had Dom hold a scrim over the product in order to control the overhead lights giving an even illumination with no hot spots. Here are a couple examples…
Using a shallow depth of field allows the product to come forward in the photo.
Light coming form the window behind adds depth and dimension by
also helping to separate the product from the background.
The scrim Dom is holding spreads the light and keeps distracting
highlights from taking your attention away from the product.
I always ask in my business blog posts, “How may I help you tell your business story in a professional way?? Give me a call or drop me an email to have a chat about your wants and needs. No obligation and as always if you aren’t thrilled with the images we’ll work it again or I’ll refund your money.” And give them contact information.
I’ll show you some more images tomorrow that help tell the story of the clinic.
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GH3, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography education, video
While capturing some images of Esteban for the Sound Bites Grill ‘Wall of Fame’ I set up the Lumix GH3 to capture some video.
TECH STUFF – Panasonic H-HS12035 LUMIX G X VARIO 12–35mm/F2.8 ASPH X Series Lens set to 18mm at f3.5 1/60 sec ISO 3200. We didn’t have the capability to get sound directly from the house sound board. I mounted the shotgun mike on the camera and gave it a shot. In order to minimize wait staff traffic and too many heads in the frame the camera was high on a tripod. Instead of jumping on a chair or small ladder I turned the articulating viewfinder so I could see it from below for framing and focusing.
PROCESS Stuff – No real fancy editing here. I used ScreenFlow from Telestream (Learn more here). It’s actually a pretty versatile piece of software for the MAC OS 10.7 and higher that’s designed for capturing video and audio from your computer. It does allow you to do most video editing like add transitions, split clips, delete video sections, add captions and text and do some minor color correction and sound processing. I added video actions to gently zoom in and out to give the piece a little more professional feel. For under a hundred bucks you can’t beat this software especially if you also want to produce how-to tutorials on your computer.
Esteban with his daughter Teresa Joy on violin and percussionist Emilio Santiago
live at Sound Bites Grill in Sedona, Arizona produced with ScreenFlow
I am an affiliate of SreenFlow but I think this is a kick-a** product for the money. You can also get a trial version to see how you like it… If you have any questions give me a shout.
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GH3, Lumix Lounge, people photography, photography, photography education, photography gear
Cobblers children go without shoes. Painters houses show peeling paint. You’ve seen the expressions in writing for the professionals not taking care of their own business because they are so busy taking care of others.
Don’t let your own personal look be the victim of this…
Make the commitment to get your head shot updated. When people see your head shot and wonder who the photo is of you gotta know it’s time for a new one. Here’s the way I remade mine. Ideally you might grab a photographer friend and shoot each others photo but when you are hanging out with a little time it’s time to work your own. While I did it I practiced with a lot of the new technology that’s available in the Lumix GH3. Learned some stuff along the way…
I used the facial recognition feature to make sure the photo was in focus. If you have tried to self portraits without this it can be very frustrating. I am pleased to say whether I moved forward, back or to the side during the shoot the focus was dead-nuts on!
Bob Coates head shot
Used the WiFi capabilities of the GH3 with my IPhone to fire the camera remotely. It’s pretty cool. You can see what the camera sees on the phone. The only problem with that part is when you try to pose and change position it’s like looking in a double mirror. There’s a tendency to move exactly opposite form what you think you are doing. After you get used to it it’s not too much of a problem. Obviously when it’s not you on the phone screen it’s pretty easy.
Why else would you want to use the WiFi connection? Transferring images to the web. Controlling your camera from a distance but still being able to see what the camera sees. Like not disturbing wildlife like birds or a watering hole where animals come to visit. I’m sure you can come up with many more…
Where’s your new head shot? Send me a link!
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GH3, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography education, photography gear
As you know I was hired to help cover the Sedona International Film Festival for the organizers.
One of the assignments was to grab some images from a live stage performance. There was some grief from a previous performance being disrupted by flash being used and disturbing the audience. I assured that wold never happen during my capture of a show. Using built in features of the Lumix cameras makes it possible to be extremely stealthy. I always work toward being low key in capturing images at events. I jumped up in the esteem of the President/Director of the Sedona Film Festival because of a couple features on the Lumix GH3 and Lumix GX7.
Here’s the inside scoop.
Feature one – Using the auto bracket on the cameras allows you to capture the large dynamic range of the scene by blending the various exposures together. You have the choice of three, five or seven image brackets in 1/3, 2/3 or full stops at the twist of a button or a quick visit to the menus depending on which camera you are using.
Bright white rooms with lighted accents and dark table dressing can be difficult to get detail in all areas. The multiple exposures makes sure you can find the information and put it to use. This is the party room at the Sedona Rouge Hotel. Scene of the SIFF party on night two.
Feature two – Silent Mode. Being able to turn the camera to perfectly silent mode has been a feature I’ve always wanted to have and now it’s available. I was standing right beside the guy who hired me capturing the scene. When we moved out to the lobby he asked when I was going to get the photos. I told him I already had and showed him some on the back of the camera… He said, “You are amazing! I didn’t hear a thing…”
This was photographed in the Mary D Fisher Theater in pretty much a dark setting with high contrasting stage lights. Recovered using multiple exposures. Shot in Silent Mode available on the Lumix GH3 camera to not disturb the audience.
I keep finding more and more reasons to choose the Lumix Micro 4/3rds system and loving it!
