Island Times 008

 Well I have officially kept up with this for 8 weeks now, as I have posted the 8th edition of Island times. This week I did some hiking and worked on honing my drone skills. The latter has been a lot of fun. 

I recently purchased a used DJI Spark from eBay. It is a 5 year old model so video is only 1080p. The still shots that I got today (not in this video) were quite good quality. I didn't want to obtain the latest and greatest fearing that not being of the gaming generation, I wouldn't be coordinated enough to be able to fly it. Still haven't worked out enough of the kinks yet to get good video and fly it at the same time but I am told that that comes with practice. Even started a Part 107 course to see if I want to pursue a certificate from the FAA. Hope to have better content from this gear in next weeks post. Enjoy.

 

Island Times 007

I posted a new Island Times yesterday. To prepare this video I spent most of the prior week trying out a host of new video techniques, some of which didn't actually make it into this particular post. I had way more content than would fit in a 10 minute video.  Quite a lot to learn about making quality video content to come up with a watchable post. I will make use if the unused content next week....maybe.

Birds and Bikes. I recently purchased a GoPro mount for my bicycle. I had heard about how shaky video was, riding with a camera mounted to the bike frame or handle bars. Most YouTubers recommended using a body or helmet mount. Not something I was interested in using on a small island populated by "noticers". I did place my mount on the wrapped portion of the handle bars in hopes that the wrap would cushion some of the vibrations. I was pretty pleased, for the most part, with how stable the footage turned out. All of what is in IT 007 is not stabilized. I also learned how to do some "speed ramping" in Final Cut, changing the speed of the playback. Quite a powerful tool.

I also put the GoPro into my bird feeder and filmed at 2.7K @ 60fps. Settings I wished I had used on my bike ride. At 60 fps your ability to apply slow motion FX achieves much better results. I got some interesting shots from the feeder and was able to find out which bird was the neighborhood bully. Enjoy!

Island Times 006

 Another Island Times story is posted. Can't believe that I have stayed with this for 6 weeks. It has been quite a creative outlet for surviving the COVID sheltering. I am starting to become better at finding my way around the editing software and becoming much more experienced in understanding the capabilities of my different cameras. 

Weather on the island has started to improve so I have taken several opportunities to take a sketch pad out and about with me. That has been fun to take some small steps towards falling back in love with painting. Trying to make sketching a part of my every day schedule exercising mind and muscle memory. 

Today, the first day of spring, is a top ten weather day with temps in the 50's and plenty of bight sunshine and most importantly, no wind. This past week it was more like winter than spring with high winds, cold grey skies and snow squalls. Any way enjoy this weeks story.

A Memorial

 I did post an "Island Times Story 005" this past Saturday. Not your usual video log about the island. But a memorial to my wife in the form a slide show of my soulmate who shared her life and introduced me to the island that she loved so much.

Island Times 004 is Up

 

The past video log was a difficult video to create. I received the return box from Apple for my old computer and sent my iMac back expecting that I would have to create this video on my MacBook pro which only has a 13" screen. A challenging thing to do on such a small screen. But, while backing up the iMac, I transferred all of the files I would need to the MacBook and started the editing process. Lo and behold the new computer arrived unexpectedly a day early. So I hurriedly set it up, transferred the files back to the new computer and then remembered that I had to reinstall all of the software I would need in order to edit the clips. Also, the new iMac came with a two generation old operating system on it....Thanks Apple. So I had to wait seemingly forever to bring the OS current. Whew. But in the end things got back to something more normal and I was apple to cut something together. While waiting for the OS to upgrade, I did some digital sketching and was able to to create a new little intro animation. Hope you enjoy.

Island Times 003

I am finding that it is taking forever to produce a weekly video log. I can’t imagine having to produce a daily YouTube. The learning curve is spectacularly huge. I have watched literally hundreds of YouTube videos on how to post a YouTube video, and I still don’t think I am doing it correctly.

Then there are the learning curves for each of the cameras (Canon 77D, GoPro Hero 4 Black, and dji Pocket 2), the learning curves for each of the apps associated with those cameras, and finally learning the software to post-process and produce cogent final content to upload.

Two of the most problems I have had are with:

• Creating a workflow for aggregating all the clips and stills from the week into  a useful file structure

• Post processing the individual clips. Lately I have taken the approach to work on the clips individually ie. color grading and stabilizing and trying to make each clip stand on its own prior to producing final content. Have been doing the former in DaVinci Resolve 17 and the latter in iMovie. iMovie is totally inadequate and unforgivable for in-depth post processing but very easy to put out the final product. DaVinci Resolve has been fun to learn on a clip by clip basis. Bottom line, I need to get better at filming the clips to start with.

I didn’t get into the studio this week to paint. Totally infatuated with having all this fun learning!

Enjoy this week’s “Island Times 003”

A New Start

Have been spending much of my time during COVID learning about the camera gear that I have acquired since my last post. That has also necessitated learning how to use many new software applications. So I got this idea to do a weekly video log of sorts creating content to post on YouTube. Not for caring about the whole social aspect of the platform I have tried to focus just on using my gear and using the software to generate content. Hope, in the process that I am creating something others enjoy. 

I have entitled these posts Island Times Stories. Developed weekly and about living on an island off the coast of Maine, I have managed to produce two so far. Keeping my expectations low, but it has provided something creative to do during the pandemic. Here are the first to links for viewing.Also by way of studio news, I have started a new acrylic portrait. Progress is visible in Story 002.

Story 001

Story 002