I know that nobody really reads this, but did I mention that I was taking up a hobby? No? Well, let me tell you about it.

For a while, I haven’t felt like I had a real hobby. All this learning and doing design/motion graphics stuff was all about getting better at something. Which is great, if you have other hobbies. It all was seeming too much like work. And so I put it on the bench for now.

Instead, I’ve decided to make photography a hobby. It’s only natural since I happen to have this DSLR that happens to be great for taking photos, not just for video (who knew, right?). I’m actually using the camera what it was meant for.

As part of the hobby, I’ve decided to turn it into a 365 photo project as well. I know… You are probably thinking, ‘Right. He couldn’t even halfway complete his design 365 day project.” All I have to say is that this is way easier. And I’m doing it for the sole purpose of having fun. It’ll be great to look back in a year and see the moments and objects that I’ve captured. It’ll also be cool to see how much I’ve grown.

I welcome you to follow me on this journey. I’ll post things up here every now and then, but you can follow my flickr to get the latest and greatest. Below are the first four days to start us off.

It’s been about a month and a half since I got my T2i. About two weeks after getting it, I took off to Ethiopia to do some filming. In the short time between getting the camera and leaving for Ethiopia I had to scramble to put together an audio solution for the camera that I thought was acceptable (one of my initial tests).

It took quite a bit of time reading reviews, testing solutions, and looking at my budget before I decided what route to take. Take a look.

Microphone: Rode NTG-2

I mentioned this mic before in my audio tests, but the reason that I went with the Røde NTG-2 is because it was sub-$300 and battery or phantom powered. The battery part is important if you aren’t using a recording device that supports phantom power.

When there wasn’t critical dialogue or great sound, I would just plug the mic directly into the camera with an XLR to 1/8″ (with a line-in-transformer). This provided decent enough audio if I wasn’t being picky (and I wanted to try to pull some of the extra noise out in post).

Audio Capture: Zoom H4n

For capturing the audio, I decided to go with the Zoom H4n. You can find a ton of reviews online and quite a few endorsements from professionals (like Philip Bloom). I was impressed with the features that came with the $300 price tag. The unit provides phantom power, 96Khz 24-bit recording, SD card memory, and rather easy to use controls.

I found the unit really easy to use. For the most part, I’ve been using it as part of a one-man documentary-style setting. I have a little case that holds the recorder that I can attach to my belt and plug in the shotgun mic, which is mounted to the camera using the hotshoe shockmount. The audio that is recorded on the camera is used as reference material for syncing up the audio later. I found it to be an easy setup to use to get pretty darn good audio.

Samples

Okay, so I don’t have time to find samples right now, but I’ll include them later. I promise.

So, my 365 Project may have failed miserably, but I’ll still post items occasionally that I create. Just read this one—you’ll figure out the story.

Since getting the Canon Rebel T2i DSLR, I’ve been a little more avid in taking photos—even though I got the camera solely for it’s video capabilities. Today I came across a great post on Phototuts+ that’s a video overview of how to use & understand shutter speed and aperture.

I already had a good understanding of the topic, but I thought it was great for those starting to get into photography.

Check it out at Phototuts+: Introduction to Digital Photography – Part 1.

With any new setup, it’s important to test it’s capabilities and limitations. Over the past couple weeks I’ve started testing the Rebel T2i to see what I can do with it. Today’s test has is about some basic audio.

The Canon T2i comes with an internal mic like all the other Canon video DSLRs. It’s pretty crappy. If you handle the camera at all, the internal mic picks it up. It’s really of little use except for home movies.

With my setup, I didn’t want to record the audio on a separate unit and spend tons of time syncing audio in post. To get better audio, I purchased a Røde NTG-2 shotgun mic with a shockmount that can be mounted to the camera’s hot shoe. The reason I went with the NTG-2 was because of two factors: cost + battery-powered. I wanted something that I didn’t need to use phantom power with. I also got an XLR to mini cable so I could plug it directly into the camera with no XLR adapter box.

In the video below, you’ll see what the audio was like with the Røde NTG-2 and with the camera’s internal mic. Two things to note before watching. First, yes… I forgot to white balance. Second, the first clip is with the NTG-2 plugged directly into the camera; the second clip is the same as the first, but cleaned up in post; the third clip is the camera’s internal microphone.

Conclusions

I the amount of noise from the mic into the camera is pretty bad. And I don’t want to take the time in post to clean it up, while losing overall sound quality because of it. However, it is still a better solution than the internal mic because it is directional and you get a cleaner audio of your subject.

If I can manage before I head out on a trip to Ethiopia where I’m going to be filming, I’ll try to get ahold of one of the Beachtek XLR adapters. I’ve read a bit about them and they help reduce the noise quite a bit.

UPDATE: I ended up getting a Zoom H4n digital recorder instead of the Beachtek adapter.

Ok, so my 365 Project of creating/designing something everyday has crashed and burned miserably. You’re not surprised? How was I to know that my wife would become pregnant and that would throw a wrench in my plans? Oh well.

The good news is that I am feeling like I have a few things to start sharing again. I recently become the owner of a Canon Rebel T2i that shoots some amazing HD footage. This little camera is becoming my object of learning as of recent. Especially because I am going to be using it to shoot a week and a half worth of documentary-style footage with it in only a couple weeks.

Here is my first little project with it as I was starting to get the hang of the camera.

There will be more of video related content coming soon. I promise.

One of the problem with learning programs like Adobe’s After Effects is that it takes way to much time to put together a substantial product. I’ve noticed that the videos that I have been making have been really short and leaves you feeling like there should have been something more to it.

I think that is especially the case with the project I did last night. Can you spot the thing that really makes it leave you unsatisfied? Watch it and see if you get it.

You don’t know? The elipses. It’s kinda like you thought I was going to say something else about bubbles, right?

Anyway, about the video: There were two things I learned from this project.

• I learned how to better manipulate and create particles using the CC Particle World plugin.
• I had to come up with a way to reveal the word “Bubbles” only using the tools in After Effects. No stock footage was used to make the water-like reveal effect.

In conclusion, I think my 365 Project is turning into a 52 Week Project with After Effects. And I’m okay with that.

Let me know if you have any suggestions are ideas of things I should try. I’m always having a hard time knowing where to start.