The sound of video....Tick Tock Tick Tock

So why is it taking so long to get the video off a little consumer camera? Because I bought the camera half a generation too soon.

Now to be fair, the process only really started a few weeks ago after the holidays were over. Work, holidays, etc made it go on the back burner. The first two videos were from the opening day where I only used the one, newer camera. Those were a snap to edit together, although I still have to deal with the audio and titles.

But the holidays ended four weeks ago.

Once I got back to the regular show, I found I was going to need that other camera. I'll talk more about why in another post. For now whats important is that JVC's original HD Everio camera format wasn't very friendly to editing applications. The TOD files (that was the camera creates) can sometimes be imported and sometimes can't. To shorten this a bit, I found I was going to have to do an old fashion playback from the camera and capture into the computer, the same way you do with older pre-digital video cameras. I could loose quality and just use analog out, but instead I purchased a recorder that would let me record the HDMI (digital signal) straight from the camera. It has its own problems, mainly that it needs a super fast hard drive system. To make that happen, we have been moving enough data around to free up four hard drives that will be combined to get enough speed. I got that done, only to find my computer, or more specifically the motherboard, didn't like this. At one point, I thought I was going to have rebuilt the whole thing. So now I have to order yet another part. A little raid controller to run the four hard drives. That means yet another week gone. Well, at least I can spend that time getting back to photography. Considering this is my third post, and I haven't really talked cameras, photos, or photography, nor have I even posted a photo, I intend to get that fixed tomorrow.

What will I post?

So, you may be wondering what I'm going to be talking about in this blog. To some degree, that will depend on the feedback I get. What I'm planing on doing is alternating between simple camera lessons and what I'm currently doing.  When it comes to lessons, I boil things down as much as I can. I like thinking about complex subjects, but I like to make them as simple as possible. For my ongoing work, I'll be talking about photography and anything related. So that may include video work, programming, my personal daily photography lessons, and more.

Today is a "what am I doing" day. My wife and I went to the Shiba National in November of last year. She did in-ring shots and the win photos. Normally she just does in-ring work, but, like many events, they can't always get a pro in. As Shiba owners, we were attending anyway so we just did business as usual. However, we also wanted to make sure there was video of the event, so we were "hired" to video the show. For the past two years a professional dog videographer came in, but we weren't able to repeat that in 2011, so I took those duties. Using a relatively inexpensive consumer camera, I parked myself at the corner of the ring opposite where the judge was, the typical location for a videographer, and videoed the whole show.  I also had an older stationary camera mounted high in another corner to get another view. However since it was unmanned, it had to remain zoomed out and didn't provide great coverage. Anyway it's now 2 months later and I still don't have a product we can show. So I'm busy at work trying to get the last of the video into Adobe so I can get to work.

More on the experience and the progress soon, and in the meantime, please let me know what you would like to hear about.

What am I scared of?

With a name like Dog Photobia, you would think I'm scared of dogs or cameras or taking pictures of dogs, but that's not it. I'm afraid my pictures aren't as good as Lynda's. Lynda is my wife and we can debate who got her into photographing dog shows, but I was doing SLR photography long before she was interested. And I used to think I was good, not great, but good. Now she, who 2 years ago couldn't tell the difference between her aperture and her elbow, is definitely taking the better dog shots and making some money to boot. I'm not unhappy about the money. It pays for some of the gear and I get to play with it, but technically "her" camera is better than mine...and in the long term, that just won't do.

So I'm on the hunt to improve my photography and take back my crown, or at least get to the point I can wear it three days a week. I'm hoping to take a few other people along, talk about cameras, and figure out what makes good photography and good photographers. And, if my wife learns something too, I guess that ok.

So I'll be back a little later this week talking about the basic principles of photography and talking about my photographic past. I hope you'll join me.