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I have been doing digital photography for almost six years and have used a decent number of cameras in that time. Initially as a beginner, I started with the Canon Digital Rebel XT which is profoundly different from any other consumer digital camera out on the market. At the time, it was one of the highest megapixel resolutions of any of the DSLR cameras with it’s 8.2MB capacity. This was a great camera to use for a beginner like me. It cost more money than I was use to paying for a camera, but it came with all of the manual options that I had always wanted. After that, I used a Canon Digital Rebel XTi, which had an improved resolution capacity and just a few new features. My next purchase was the Canon Digital Rebel XSi which had a 12.2 MB capacity. The Canon XSi has many new functions, including a Live View mode. Of all the cameras I have used and owned, none of them have even come close to comparing to the new Canon 5D Mark II.

The Canon 5D Mark II is equipped with a full sensor, unlike the Canon Digital Rebel XT and the Canon Digital Rebel XSi which are only equipped with a 1/4 sized sensor. The improved sharpness, color, and overall resolution make this camera a stand out compared to nearly all of Canon’s other models. I now use this camera as the main camera when I take all of my nice photography photos, including wedding photos.

On Saturday, May 1st, I had my first Northwest Indiana wedding photography gig of the year and was excited to use my new camera for it. I’ve included a couple of the wedding photos below, taken in a low light environment. Let me know what you think!

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Commercial photography and videography mixed with social media make for a potent poison to other small companies. Websites like YouTube, Flickr, Photobucket, and others have jumped on the bandwagon by offering SEO services involving videos and photos for businesses. However, it is usually up to the business itself to do the research to see what works. Here at World Hyundai, we use many social networking sites. Since fall 2009, World Hyundai has been improving its online presence with photos and videos. World Hyundai now has nearly 1,000 fans on Facebook and World Hyundai’s YouTube channel now has over 400,000 views coming from people around the country (and also internationally).

How do you know if something works?

There is always the obvious…someone came across a video or a photo that you posted and they told you directly, either through an email, word of mouth, or some other way. The other way to know that it works isn’t as concrete, but the general fact that the company is getting more exposure, more leads, and more web traffic (particularly when no other marketing campaigns are occurring) is a clear indication that it is working.

Custom build your Facebook Page

There are many third party applications out there that allow you to tweak your personal profile Facebook page as well as your Facebook Fan Page. Many marketing companies offer to create a customized Facebook Fan Page for businesses. If your business fulfills a smaller niche, then this may be the perfect way to advertise. With a smaller company and a niche product, there is less competition from other companies, giving you an open area to quickly get your businesses’ webpage on page one in Google’s search results. The hard part is to find a social media marketing company that is able to do what they would consider ‘a small project’. But there are companies out there.

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YouTube, StupidVideos.com, MSN Videos, and Flickr

The past decade saw websites such as YouTube, StupidVideos.com, MSN Videos, and Flickr explode into massive public forums where anyone with a digital video camera could upload videos of anything that can be thought of. If you want to see a video about how to change your car’s oil…there is a video for that. If you are interested in having a raccoon as a pet…there is a video for that. Millions of users login to YouTube everyday to browse videos. Some go to the sites to look for useful information and some go there to be entertained. Whatever your purpose may be, you have the ability to write, film, produce and distribute to an audience of millions all at the palm of your hands.

Determine your goal

For serious amateurs interested in posting videos online, you’ll want to figure out what your overall goal for posting videos is. Are you selling something? Offering a service? Just want people to actually view a video of your dog doing tricks? How you set up your video is crucial and I will be discussing how to set up your produced video in a later blog. If your intention is to try and send a video viral, it’s important to just have an idea to start. Sometimes the less scripted and thought out a video is, the more raw it appears. Viral videos (videos that get a large number of views from being passed on by other viewers) are a relatively new thing and there are no rules to determine what goes viral and what doesn’t. If you are serious about making videos, I would suggest sitting down and doing your pre-production: planning, storyboarding, scripting, and arranging.

PSSA (Planning, Scripting, Storyboarding and Arranging)

Pre-production is crucial to those who are serious about making videos. If the video that you are about to create is a staged video, you may need to get release forms from anyone in the video itself, property releases if you are not working on your own property, and a number of other hurdles, including local permits and licenses, that may come up before you even take one minute of footage. You’ll need to do a bit of planning for the other parties involved as well as for yourself! Write down everything that you’ll need for the video shoot and have it ready. Have extra batteries or backup power options ready if needed. Script out your video as best as you can. Make sure to not only write the spoken words, but also the stage directions. This is important and will save time if you don’t have to explain each video shot to your actors. Storyboard your script as best as you can so you can have an idea of the shots that you need. Remember…you don’t need to draw out every single shot. Once you’ve got your planning, permits, scripting and storyboarding done, you’re almost ready to go! I always go by the motto of “never underestimate the double-check”, so once I have everything figured out, I double check and confirm everything so there are no unanticipated hurdles that I unknowingly need to jump. When you’re all set, go out and get ‘er done!

Digital Video Specifications

There have been a lot of terms and acronyms created in the past decade referring to digital video in one way or another.

• HD = High Definition
• LCD = Liquid Crystal Display
• LED = Light-emitting Diode
• 720p/1080p = Lines of resolution

When creating a video, the first thing to determine is what software you will use to create it. There are many software brands out there – most notably Final Cut Pro, Avid Express, iMovie, Adobe Premiere, Sony Vegas, and Windows Movie Maker, just to name a few. It is also important to determine how you will for

mat your end product. Will you create your video in HD? Standard Definition? For a mobile device? The best way to determine what video format is best for you is to consider how the video will be used. Will it only be displayed on the computer? On websites? Are you burning it to DVD or Blue-Ray? Unless you plan to export the video and burn it to a Blue-Ray disk, creating a video in a standard format (NTSC 720×480 Widescreen) is your best bet. You can always shrink how the video exports later.

The video posted to the right is one of the first short productions that I created. I used Avid Pro Systems to do the editing (back when Avid Pro was considered the industry standard). I actually made it when I was in college, almost eight years ago. I added multiple camera clips, sound effects, and an audio soundtrack. The rabbit in the film was actually my pet dwarf rabbit, Buddy. He was my college roommate during my last three years of college.

Exporting Digital Video

When you have finished creating your digital video, you will need to export it from the time line. Before you export, determine how the video will be viewed. Is it going tobe

posted to YouTube? Emailed to a friend? You’ll need to determine the best fit for you. Even if you only plan to make a small sized video to embed on a webpage, don’t forget to also export a large version for you to hang on to! If you use a PC, exporting it as a high quality MPEG is probably the best. If you use a MAC, either DV

AVI or Quicktime MP4 might work best for you. Once you have your video exported, you are ready upload your video and display it to the world!

Posted by: Joey Lax-Salinas

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There is more to digital photography than just taking pictures. Recent technology has given us the power to capture what was once only able to be captured by a professional photographer with a good camera. With today’s technology, an amateur photographer can now capture photos using a wide range of photographic techniques that now come standard on most DSLR cameras.

However, it’s not only about the kind of camera you have: it’s about the eye and instinct you have for picture taking. Anyone can take a picture, but everyone can’t be at the right place at the right time or capture the right moment as it happens. Take wedding photography for example; we’ve all been to weddings and know what happens throughout the day. Every wedding that I have photographed through my business has been pretty standard. You have a 30-minute ceremony, drive around in a limo, go to the reception, bridal party introductions, first dance…you get the idea. It’s great to capture these moments on camera, but sometimes the most memorable part of that moment was what the best man whispered to the groom just before the bridal party walks out. The image of the laughter in that hallway at that exact moment is priceless.

I have one rule when doing digital photography – keep on snapping! It’s not 1992 anymore…you don’t have to spend money on film that only gives you 24 photos. With today’s technology, an 8GB SD card can capture well over 1,000 images. Plus, you can see what you’ve taken immediately after you take it, so if you don’t like the photo, you can delete it and reshoot it.

The key for any amateur photographer is to anticipate the shot. Analyze your situation and location and the scenarios that could potentially happen. When photographing wildlife, anticipate an animals moves. This can be hard to do! Make sure that you have the correct lighting and aperture settings on your camera so that you don’t take a blurry shot! Be ready for anything. Sometimes the perfect moment only lasts for one second, so when you are in position and ready, stay there and wait for it. With enough patience, you might even amaze yourself with your own photograph!

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