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

Progress

The weather on the island continues to be unsettled and not very summery. Until yesterday early afternoon we had been in the midst of a week long showery and foggy time. The fourth of July was pretty quiet what with all the canceled fireworks and parades because of the pandemic social distancing. Then yesterday the clouds blew out, the sun appeared and the air became noticeably cooler and drier. I was up at about 4:30 and the moon was out, still pretty dark but the birds were all abuzz (kind of weird). So I went out to get a few snaps of the early morning moon. The morning started with clear skied and lovely sunshine. I thought it was going to be a continuation of yesterday afternoon, but at the time of this posting it has disappeared again behind overcast skies.

While waiting for my seascape to dry for detailing,  I used the last couple of days to paint the requisite yearly self portrait. I thought it turned out pretty well, and this morning it was dry enough to varnish. Hope to spend the day back painting the seascape I started a number of days ago.

"2020 Self Portrait," 9x12inches, acrylic on canvas panel

This morning's moon

Osmo Pocket

The open box DJI Osmo Pocket that I purchased on Ebay arrived in yesterday's mail, a day earlier than expected. Cool little (and I mean little) video camera, gimbal and action camera all in one. It looks like the camera DJI  uses on some of their drones, only made to fit in your hand. This Osmo can shoot in 4k, 60fps and will basically allow you to all the things that their gimbal for your cell phone would let you do. It comes with an iPhone and Android adapter that works with their app that you can download. I found some great YouTube videos on how to get the most out of using it. It will fun to use in preparing Instagram stories. The pocket is also expandable with a whole host of accessories. The app is quite good and have found the camera to very compatible with my Samsung Note 10+. Hope to take it for a test drive later this afternoon on a walk.

I have also been fooling around with my Samsung Gear 360 Immersive and wide angle photography has always interested me. I have been looking to use photos taken with the 360 as references for paintings. It takes beautiful stills. Here is a couple of snaps taken in my garden.

Progress

Have spent some time over the last few days switching gears from painting with acrylic paints to painting with oils. The biggest thing to get used to, for me, is the dry times. The acrylics dry so fast which enables you to move from one area of a painting to another while different parts of the canvas dry. Now that I have blocked in all the color for this oil painting, its all wet, so I am going to wait a couple of days for it to skin over before working on the details. Otherwise, I will in all likelihood produce a muddy mess. In the mean time I think that I will start a new painting and get that going. I can keep painting and then switch between the two. A few progress pictures follow:

Blending In

With the longer lens attached to old T4i, I was able to take advantage of its ready-to-go status and take a couple snaps of a neighbor's cat, Quinny. He is usually out all night and can be found to be skulking home, along a side street, at about the same time every morning. During the afternoon I noticed he was uncharacteristically out and about. It appeared as if he was trying to blend in, stalking some of our favorite songbirds hiding in a thicket.

I continued to make progress on a new landscape painting, completing a value study and blocking in some of the main colors. Setting the photography aside, as we are finally getting some much needed rain, it will be a good day to paint.

Visitors

Had a few visitors to the garden. My neighbor feeds the birds and I reap the benefits of being able to see what comes along for a meal. Yesterday a pair of cardinals were about all afternoon. I had, just a couple of hours before, dug out a second camera body I had (Canon T4i), deciding that it would be convenient to hook up my seldom used 70-300 zoom lens. In the past when I have thought about catching some close-up snaps of the birds, I would have to go through the process of changing out the lenses. By the time I had done that, I had missed the shot. Now the zoom stands at the ready for use on just such an occasion as yesterday. No if I could figure out how to open the screen door withoug scaring them away...

Female Norther Cardinal

Male Northern Cardinal and what looks to be a Female House Sparrow

"wheet wheet wheet purty purty purty chew chew chew"

Have spent the morning working on a new painting. A seascape, in oil on canvas panel. I got the a quick sketch worked up with a thin wash of burnt sienna. Trying out the oils in my studio for the first time and have decided that I will need a fan going all the time.