Try Softer, Not Harder

I’ve never been one to find much comfort in Yoda’s great axiom, “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” Sometimes you give things your every little bit of energy, focus, and determination, but you can’t get it done. You know what I mean, right? I “do” but I fail. No amount of determination or trying harder ever seems to change the situation (or in my case, the ability to accomplish). Since it seems that I can’t succeed, do I give up and resign myself to the “do not“?

Or maybe I’ve been missing Yoda’s point. Maybe it’s not about the effort or intensity that we put towards a task. Maybe “doing” isn’t just a matter of attaining the desired outcome. Maybe it’s a matter of trying softer.

“Colorista Free” Video Color Correction Plugin

Life has been CRAZY the last month so it’s been hard to make time for the blog. But I discovered something that is awesome and worth posting.

Red Giant Software recently released Colorista Free, a free multi platform tool for color correction (I heard about it from Stu Maschwitz—I great guy to follow on twitter, @5tu). It’s basically a repackaging of their original Magic Bullet Colorista 3-way color corrector minus a few features. It’s incredibly easy to use and it’s something that can be used on a Mac or PC with Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, and Final Cut Pro (Mac only).

I used decided to give it a whirl with a little quick personal video I did a week ago with my T2i/550D. I had a shot that I completely messed up my settings (notably, white balance) but wanted to throw into the piece. SO… I fired up Final Cut and compared it’s default 3-way Color Correction plugin with Colorista Free.

Developing Skills: Don’t Listen to Yourself, Kinda

Filmmaking and working with video is one area that I really want to grow in. That’s part of the reason I started this blog: to document my journey and the things I learn along the way. But I want to talk about one of the things that keeps me back.

I suffer from what I call negative self-talk. It manifests itself in different ways, but most often it’s me telling myself “You’re not good enough. You aren’t going to be able to get to the level you want.” And Mr. Negative came out this weekend.

Magic Lantern for T2i Will Save You $60

When I got my Canon T2i/550D, I was really happy with it. Being my first DSLR, I really didn’t know there was anything I was missing. After several projects and a lot of time on the internet, I realized there were a few things that I wasn’t getting with the T2i. First, I wasn’t able to manually dial in the white balance (kinda a big deal). Second, I wasn’t able to select the camera sensor’s native ISO (which has it’s pros & cons).

About a year ago, I read about the Magic Lantern firmware for Canon’s DSLRs. Originally, it was to add functionality to the 5D that Canon left out, like controlling audio levels. Recently, they’ve ported Magic Lantern to the T2i/550D.

I decided to install it and now I can’t imagine not having Magic Lantern. It let’s me dial in my white balance & select whatever ISO I want; it gives me a histogram, false color, peaking, and gain controls in video mode. I LOVE IT! You need to download it and give it a try.

Another feature that I didn’t expect to see was an intervalometer (they let you setup the camera to take photos every X seconds). It’s perfect for doing creating timelapse videos. Anyway, I thought I would have to pay $60 for a remote control for the Canon T2i/550D to do this.

I tested the intervalometer yesterday and this is the product that I came up with.

Glidetrack Shooter HD: First Impressions

On February 18, 2011
By James
In Video
2

Yesterday, I received my Glidetrack Shooter HD. The Glidetrack is a simple, portable dolly that you use for camera movements when shooting video. There are quite a few options out there for these slide-type dollies, but I choose Glidetrack because of it’s price point, it’s size (perfect for DSLRs), and from what I had read, their customer service.

First: I ordered this on a Tuesday at 4:00 PM (PST) and the package arrived less than 48 hours later. From the UK. That’s stinking awesome!

Second: I now understand why a lot of people online were saying that you only really need about two feet of length. I ordered the 0.5 meter version and it’s more than long enough for nice, slow moves. Also, if you mount your Glidetrack to a tripod, the shorter version maintains it’s stability better as you go end to end.

Third: It’s going to take a bit of practice to learn how to best use this tool. Below is some test footage I shot last night with my Canon T2i/550D. You’ll have to forgive me for shooting at a higher ISO, but my house just isn’t lit well.

UPDATE: After using the Glidetrack for a bit, I’d recommend getting the plain Glidetrack HD instead of the shooter. I’ve never actually used it in the shooter configuration.