Pocket Cam: This Puppet Thinks "You're Beautiful"

Here is an entrancing scene I captured right next to the Sacre Coeur in Montmartre, Paris.

iPhone Friendly Youtube Version

I am definitely not a James Blunt fan. However, something about this song being sang by a Marionette makes it much more tolerable. This is a perfect true life scene to me. My favorite part is when I finally pan up to reveal the puppeteer. You can really tell how much he enjoys what he does. If you are ever in Paris and run into this guy, be sure to toss hime some change.

Photo Blog # 36: Bonus Paris Edition

I love these Metro signs.

Sacre Coeur

Mona Lisa. Smile!

Drama unfolding at the Louvre

Paris Punk.

Selling Miniatures

Phantoms of the Louvre

Venus De Milo, You dont care nothin' about me.

Tourists.

A bird flies through the Latin Quarter.

Pocket Cam: Scenes from Paris

I have just returned from a trip from Paris with my wife and brother in-law. Over the 4 days that we were there, I shot lots of photos, video and a time lapse or two. Over the next few weeks I will be posting the best of it. First up, the second installment of Pocket Cam. This time it's a montage of little scenes I captured in the streets of Paris. Enjoy!

CameraBag for iPhone. It makes the iPhone Camera Usable!

Those of you who follow me in Twitter might have noticed me talking about an iPhone app called CameraBag and noticed some unique shots on Twitpic. I had heard of this app for a while and finally decided to drop the $2.99 and buy it. It is now one of the apps I use most.
CameraBag is a simple app that processes photos from the iPhone camera or photo roll with one of 9 different effecst. All of the effects are meant to mimic vintage camera or development process. Such as Helga(a Holga Look), Instant(- Polaroid style), or 1962(a high contrast black and white look). Check out these examples:




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I never really used to take pictures with the iPhone camera because a.) it sucks and b.) I always have my Canon g9 with me. With CameraBag however, I have started to take a lot more pictures with the iPhone. I now find my self thinking things like "this shot would look great in a square crop like a holga" or "this would look great in black and white". Now I can take a shots with a CameraBag setting in mind.

I think the brilliance of CameraBag is that it is not trying to improve the images, but degrade them in a artistic way. CameraBag let's you shoot with your iPhone for the same reason you would shoot with a Holga or Polaroid - for that unique, lo-fi look.

One caveat with this app. In the settings you can choose what resolution the files are processed in. I have noticed that if you use the highest setting, the app can be buggy and crash. I have had no problem with the 800 pixel setting however.

List of CameraBag effects and my opinion of them.

  1. Helga
    Simulates the look of a Holga toy camera. Complete with vignette and square crop. Adds contrast and desaturates a bit. Its a good one.
  2. Instant
    This is a polaroid simulation. As you see in the examples about, it even adds the polaroid frame. This adds contrast and a brownish tint. I also like this one a lot.
  3. Mono
    A simple black and white conversion. Also adds a white border. This one can be nice when you want a smooth Black and White look.
  4. 1962
    Another B&W conversion. This one is much higher contrast. It can be nice in certain situations. The first image example used this effect.
  5. Fisheye
    This one is basically worthless to me. It would be better if they added some other kind of processing to it istead of just warping it and making a circle crop. There is not example of this on my post because it's too lame.
  6. Infrared
    Simulates shooting on infrared B&W film. Camerabag does a great job at this. Daytime skies go pitch black, greens glow white. High contrast. The second shot in my examples is infrared.
  7. Lolo
    I assume this is a play on Lomo. This is a square cropped, punchy saturated effect with a white border. I like this one a lot.
  8. Cinema
    A bluish, contrasty, desaturated look in a 16:9 crop. I'm not a fan of this one.
  9. 1974
    Slightly sepia and desaturated with a border. Not my favorite.

In conclusion, if you find yourself not using the iPhone camera, give this app a try. It might just be what you are looking for.

 

How to Hack your Canon G9 Firmware for HD Timelapse.

Photo: Karla AriasLately, I have been shooting a lot of time lapse footage using my Canon G9 that has been hacked with the custom CHDK firmware. This user-developed firmware works on a variety of Canon Point and Shoot cameras and enables all kinds of extra functionality (expanded ISO, higher shutter speeds, RAW capture, and more.) The best feature of CHDK is the ability to add scripting to your camera. One of the script possiblities is an intervalometer -- which programs your camera to take pictures at a desired interval, which you can later make into a movie in your computer. This allows you shoot greater than HD (up to 4000x3000) timelapse footage that you can downsample to full 1920x1080p for the highest possible image quality. The G9 is the most professional camera that this hack currently works on. It has high resolution, easy manual control, and a good lens. But in order to use CHDK, you must first install it -- which is not the most transparent process. So, with out further ado, here's how to hack your G9 (note: I use a Mac, so some of this is specific to OSX. A link at the bottom may help Windows users).

1. Determine what firmware version your G9 is running. You do this by creating a blank text file and saving it as ver.req (make sure it does not have a .txt extension). Copy this file onto your SD card with a card reader and put it into your camera. Turn your camera on in playback mode, then hold down (func. set) and press (disp.) This should display your firmware version. For Example 1.00G.

2. Download the appropriate version of CHDK. You can find all versions of CHDK here. Make sure you get the Full Version.

3. Prepare your SD card. This got a whole lot easier with the release of an apple script that does this for you. Download this script. Insert your SD card into a card reader. Run the script and select the SD card drive when it asks. (note: Be very careful not to select the wrong drive because it will ERASE it.) This will take a few minutes to process. Be patient. When it is done, you will see that the SD card has been made into two partitons. One is the boot partion, where CHDK is booted from. The other is for storage of pictures and CHDK files.(CHDK's How To Page for Mac)

4. Copy the DISKBOOT.BIN file and the PS.FI2 to the boot partition and the CHDK folder structure to the storage section of the SD card. Both of these will be in the CHDK version your downloaded in step 2.

5. Download this intervalometer script (and the optional motion detection script) and put these files in the Scripts folder on your CHDK prepped SD card.

6. Eject the card and lock it with the switch on the side. This sounds strange, but CHDK won't boot if the card is not locked. Don't worry, it will still be able to save your images.

7. Insert the SD card into the camera and turn your camera on. If you did everything correctly, you should see the CHDK boot logo appear. Now you have CHDK loaded onto your camera. The next steps will explain how to enter the CHDK menu and set up for a timelapse.

8. Enter the CDHK menu. To do this press the (direct print/shortcut) button that is on the upper left of the back of the G9. You will see <alt> appear on the bottom of the screen. Now when your press (menu) you will see the CHDK menu instead of the Canon menu. Feel free to play around with the options in this menu. It takes some experimenting to figure out.

9. For a time lapse, navigate to the scripting menu. Load the intervalometer script. Move down the the settings and set them as desired. I like to only set the interval in seconds, and then set the Endless option to 1 -- this will make the script run until you stop it or the battery dies.

10. Exit <alt> mode by pressing the (direct print/shorcut) button again. Now you need to set up your shot. Enter manual exposure mode and set your exposure. Also set your focus to manual. Use a tripod. Once your shot is set enter <alt> mode again. When your press the shutter button, the script will run.

11. That's it! Your G9 is now shooting timelapse! When you are done, press the shutter button again.

Once you transfer your shots to the computer you can compile them into a movie. There are several ways to do this which would be an entire other post.

Note: When you fill your card, do not format it to erase them. This will erase CHDK as well. Instead use the Erase All Images function in the camera menu.

Have fun shooting timelapse!!! If you have any questions about this, please ask in the comments section.

You can download all files mentioned in the article Right Here.

Link for Windows Users.

BONUS: Here is a time lapse I shot using this method at the Geneva Motor Show for Image Engineers.

Pocket Cam: Stand by Me in the Niederdorf

 My Photo Blog is the result of having a photo camera with me at all times, but I also always have a video camera with me as well. In this Pocket Cam segment of my blog I will showcase entertaining bits of video I have captured during my day-to-day life.
Last night Karla and I were walking in the Niederdorf when a lively group of men began singing acappella tunes at random moments as they strolled down the street. Eventually I pulled out my Canon G9, switched into video mode, and captured this little gem:

The video from the G9 is obviously not the greatest quality, but there is something very charming about this grainy little video. I really like how the different people walk in and out of the scene, especially when the couple holding hands moves over the camera. I also really like the framing, with the Grossmunster in the background and the one street lamp backlighting the singers. A perfect first entry for Pocket Cam (although this post probably qualifies as well).

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AUS.LAUF Images

This weekend's film shoot was a success. AUS.LAUF, directed by and starring Nadia Migdal, is now in post-production. Expect to see in in film festivals in the near future. As director of photography, I was very happy with how the images turned out. We did the whole thing in one giant 35 minute steady cam shot. Here are some samples images:

Special thanks to my excellent camera and light departments: Urs Schmid, Julie Fischer, Fabian Gamper and Monica Amgwerd.

Intervalometry: The National Mall

Here is another time lapse I shot on my recent trip to Washington D.C. This was not the most comfortable thing to shoot because I was crouched over my camera with an umbrella, in an attempt to keep it and myself dry. The sound in the video was recorded on my iPhone -- which is a great ambient sound gathering device. One little thing I like in this video is the little birds who seem like they are grazing in the grass.


UPDATE: A problem with vimeo is making this unplayable. View it directly on Vimeo.

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AUS.LAUF

Next weekend a friend of mine is directing and starring in her master's thesis project from the ZHDK. I will be the Director of Photography. We are doing several experimental things in this project, the most obvious being that it will all happen in one take -- all 30 minutes of it. We will be shooting on a Sony EX1 with a 35mm adaptor. The whole thing will be done on a steady cam rig. Luckily for me, we have a pro steady cam operator which will add polish to the shot and save my back. It should be an interesting shoot, with all kinds of lighting and camera problems to solve. I will report back when the shoot is over. Here is a still from our pre-vis which I shot on my little FlipMino HD. What a great pre-vis tool!

P.S. AUS.LAUF is the name of the film.

Back from D.C.

Pre-screeing at the Swiss EmbassyI just got back from a great trip to D.C. We premiered "Legacy of the Great Aletsch" at the Swiss Embassy as part of the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capitol. I was very impressed by this festival. It was huge, taking place in 52 venues and screening 141 films. Even with these huge numbers, most of the films had great crowds. I have been to "big" festivals where this was not the case. I am also impressed by the history of the festival. I don't think you can find another environmental film festival that has been running as long as this one -- it's in the 17th year. I had the pleasure to meet Flo Stone, the founder of the festival. I think she had a lot of foresight to start this festival at that time.

On top of our sold out screening (nearly 200 people), my trip was packed with other events. I visited family, had various festival related meals, saw a film about cuttlefish, shot some time lapse footage(coming soon), stimulated the US economy, and had not one -- but two -- mini high school reunions.

D.C. is a great town. I recommend visiting.

Here is a little write up aout the screening on the film's website.