YouTube

I never use royalty free music or secure permission to use pop songs in my movies, and as a result the audio is sometimes blocked by YouTube and the companies that own the rights.  There was a simple way around this (change the pitch slightly up or down) but it seems some greedy music owners are on to this tactic. 

Another way around this situation is to take a few easy steps into YouTube’s digital rights procedures.  You find this place when you discover your video has been silenced.  YT provides you a path to a menu of possible redress options.  It doesn’t help to cry about non-commercial use of something you bought (or stole online), but it does help to copy and paste some legal verbiage about Fair Use of Copyright protected materials.  You can spend an hour searching threads on the net to find this key, or contact me if you find your self in this pickle.  Or make silent movies.  They were very popular for decades.

YouTube

I am posting a mix of old and new movies on my channel.  During the past four years I spent a lot of time following the Duluth High Swim and Dive team, and I am up-loading a few movies from the 2009-2010 season.  Other newer stuff is from last summer’s Multimedia-I class (the internationally acclaimed statement video) and a short look at the first Fashion shoot. I also have a new avatar for the channel.

Fashion/Fantasy

I cobbled together smaller crew for a second location shoot of the fashion assignment.  Katie Dehlinger and Mary assisted.  By this time I had installed Lightroom 3 and we were able to shoot tethered: big difference in viewing the results.  I again used mounting board and speed lights to illuminate Katie C as she waltzed by a huge steam engine and Katie D monitored the shots on the PC.  I wish I had realized I was selling a fur coat and lost the stupid hat box.

looking back at Multimedia II - part 2

Our class is built around success as a user and content provider on the www.  Last time I was on this subject I ended by raising the potential of achieving nirvana in web communications (a much promised state….if you “buy” my software) and efficiency in web communication, i.e. spending yotta pixels and electrons but saving trees.   Not only saving trees, but what about all those postage stamps?  Why didn’t the US Postal Service dream up Pixelpipe? 

Setting aside all the typical political complaints (from the tea party and libertarians), it probably is a case of marketing myopia and the inertia of a huge organization.  The USPS knew it was in the information delivery business, but it never took advantage of the potential of the net. It is probably safe to say kilos of companies failed this way, even many that were trying hard to make web access into a money machine.  So it is really hard to succeed in a business way on the net.

What did work was megas of small entrepreneurs developing small applications that added up to communication connectivity that was quick, wide spread and usually cheap (not free).  Large organizations are all about planning but nobody really planned much of the internet beyond hardware needs.  That lack of planning helped get us where we are today. And that thought reminds me of how we use and create our web presence: just dive in  and find a way that works for you. 

looking back at Multimedia II - part 1

Perhaps looking back is not the perfect title to this subject but our instructor thought it would be appropriate to post ideas about what we have learned in MM II. 

I am in the middle of the last assignment now, basically tying it all together by following or subscribing to interesting posts (read- all classmates, the outside world, et. al.).  I think most people struggle when they first start using web multiumedia simply because it is a new way of communicating.  The systems and machines are so different from face to face or paper and pencil. 

And then, at the end, there is Pixelpipe, the Nirvana of self publishing, at least according to one reviewer.  Pixelpipe attempts to liberate your media by simultaneously publishing photos, video, audio, text and files on over 100 online destinations.  As far as I have seen, this pipe ain’t perfect, but I do appreciate all the trees we are saving from the papermakers.   

Shoot Tethered with Lightroom 3

If you are tired of looking at small previews on your camera’s LCD screen, if you have a relatively new Canon or Nikon DSLR, if you have a laptop with Lightroom 3 loaded (LRS), if you don’t suffer from SSKD (severe stumbling-klutze disorder) then you will want to check out shooting tethered.  All the software is in LR3.  Tethered isn’t a good technique for all situations.  However your productivity will improve when you instantly review minute details of your compositions, focus, lighting, and exposure via this new function in LR3. 

I shoot with a Nikon D90, but many other Nikons and Canons will work.  One fast way to determine compatibility is simply plug your body into a computer running LR3.

To do that, find the access door on your camera body.

Look for the USB port and attach a cable.

NBOC New Building on Campus

Most of us have probably noticed new construction is blocking some traffic flow around campus, but do you know what that new thing behind the automotive garages is?  GTC is building a 78,000 square foot Life Sciences Center.  It will be a three-story classroom and laboratory learning facility where Gwinnett's future healthcare providers and professionals will train (yes, I pasted in that last part).  President Bartels and Sean Murphy, Gwinnett Tech Foundation Chairman, talk about funding on the GTC site.

New construction is a perfect place to shoot design elements because it displays many different examples of repetition, shape, and texture.  It’s not all drab gray concrete either, so don’t forget color.