This Bird Can be Such a Card!

This photo was taken on a Panasonic PV-GS320 digital video camera. Although still images taken by this camera are not as sharp as ones shot on a dedicated still camera, its images can be manipulated to produce lovely photos like this. (It is not a still frame from video. The camera captures still images on an SD card.)

This photo was enhanced using Adobe Photoshop CS3. I created several layers, manipulated each layer with different effects, and combined the layers for the full effect shown above.

The texture effect applied to the image doesn't appear to show up as well in this smaller version of the photo. The original Photoshop file dimensions are about twice as big as the full-size version you can see by clicking on the picture above. If I enlarged and darkened the texture effect on the original file, it would be too much for that version, but look fine for this smaller version.

This is the original photo. The only changes I made was cropping it to a 4:3 aspect ratio (the camera takes photos in a 16:9 aspect), and reducing the size to 640 x 480.

Pistil Shooting in Texas Caught on Tape!

"Flowers are rainbows on a sunny day." -- Elizabeth Maxwell



Video length: 1 minute 2 seconds. Larger Flash version available on totem-media.com.

I enjoy looking at flowers and other beautiful scenes of nature. It's relaxing and reminds me that God loves us. :)

The jasmine overgrew a tall dead stump in our yard. Eleven months of the year I don't notice the stump. It's either covered in the jasmine's green leaves or leafless and brown. Then, every April, the delicate white flowers open and release their wonderful scent.

It reminds me of the scene from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (movie) and The Two Towers (book), when Sam and Frodo are entering Mordor with Gollum. They see the head of an old king's statue, lying broken and defaced on the ground. The sun shone momentarily on a crown of flowers that had grown on the statue's brow. It gave them a moment of hope before facing the severe trials they would endure.

All video is from the Texas Hill Country, which is in the south central part of the state. I shot the jasmine and daisies in April 2008 using a Panasonic PV-GS320 mounted on a Velbon tripod. The bees were enjoying apple blossoms in February 2008 using a Sony DSC-W50 still/video digital camera. The two still shots of the purple vinca and the yellow cactus flower are from Spring 2007.

The song, Anjelica, is a royalty-free track purchased from shockwave-sound.com.

I edited the video using Adobe Premiere.

Pistil: Female part of the flower comprised of the ovary, style, and stigma.

Latest Video Contest Entry - Technical Report

I've entered the following video in the Ultimate Stargate Atlantis Super Fan Contest.



I recorded my portions using a Panasonic AG-DVC60 and a Sony wired lavaliere microphone. I edited the video in Adobe Premiere and added some FX with Adobe AfterEffects.

I had been using a Matrox RTX.100 video card and software in conjunction with Premiere, but had a software crash that caused me to have to reload Premiere, thereby losing the Matrox plug-ins. (There's a technical reason why I didn't reload the Matrox software.) I missed some of the transitions, color correction, and keying features of Matrox, but not enough to deal with reloading the software.

Currently, I'm using Premiere Pro 1.5, and I find the transitions lacking in scope and customizing. I purchased Pixelan's SpiceMaster, which has many of the transitions and effects I need, at the very reasonable price of $40 (plus $20 to get the extra transitions).

After the holidays, I'll be upgrading to Adobe CS3 Production Premium suite. This will help me provide even better quality products for my clients and myself.

NOTE: As I said before, I was happy with the features offered by the Matrox RTX.100 card, when combined with Adobe Premiere, but by not reloading the Matrox software, I had a significant reduction in software crashes. I would say at least a 75% reduction.

Wurst Fest 2007

A group of us went to WurstFest, a ten-day celebration of sausage (and all that goes with it) in early November. Wurst Fest is in the pretty small town of New Braunfels, TX. The gang we went with, as well as other friends we met at the festival, are all fans and friends of Saint Arnold Brewing.

We had a great time, listening to polka and German folk music, eating ham hocks, sauerkraut, and German potato salad, and drinking Warsteiner dark beer.

We drove our Jeep, with the top down and the doors off. I was at first a little nervous, despite I was wearing my seatbelt and holding onto the support bar, but it was fine. Driving home that evening was cold, though, because the air temps varied between 58 - 65. We had the heater on full-blast, which helped a little bit. It felt at least a little adventurous. :)

I filmed the video handheld with a Panasonic PV-GS320 mini-DV recorder and edited it in Adobe Premiere.



A slightly larger and brighter version of this video is on my personal YouTube channel.

Video Quick Fixes

I created this video from footage I shot in mid-October in Denver, Colorado. I used a Panasonic PV-GS320 and recorded the video in 16:9 widescreen. I edited the video using Adobe Premiere and made the Quicktime file with Adobe AfterEffects.



This video is as an educational tool, but it is also a calm, quiet pause during a hectic day.