I had so much fun doing a self-portrait in the style of the “Gotham” promo photos that I decided to do another. This time, I’m using as a stylistic reference the extremely cool b&w portraits done for the Netflix hit…
Tutorial
“Gotham”-Style Photo Tutorial
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I’m a big fan of the new “Gotham” TV show. I also like the promo images that were done for each of the main characters. I couldn’t find any information online about who took the images,or how they were done,…
Waveform 101
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Back in the early days of video, tehcnicians relied on two main instruments: the waveform and the vectorscope. Even though we now have fancy flat-panel monitors, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with these venerable tools – especially the…
Basic Audio Processing in Adobe Audition
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A friend of mine recently edited his first TV commercial, and got this note from the TV station: I wanted to let you know about the latest spots I just put in the system. The quality, especially of the audio,…
Quick Tip: Title-Safe/Action-Safe Guides in Premiere Pro
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I can never remember how to turn these guides on, so I’m posting this as much for my own benefit as for yours. In the upper-right of the program monitor in Premiere, there’s a fly-out menu that allows you to…
How To Format An External Harddrive in Mac OS
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The end of the year is a great time to tie up loose ends that accumulated through the year. In the modern era, a big loose end for many of us involves computer data. External harddrives are more affordable than…
Photo Processing & Color Grading Tips
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Working in the intersection of photography and video production, I’ve noticed that the tasks of color-grading and photo processing have become more and more similar. What used to be limited to basic adjustments of brightness, contrast and hue is now…
Subtractive Lighting In Urban Areas
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My previous post on using subtractive light to take great natural light portraits got a very nice response, so I thought I’d follow up with another tip. If you’re shooting in a heavily built-up urban area, with lots of high-rise…
Subtractive Lighting – The Secret to Outdoor Portraits
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Everyone struggles with outdoor portraits. Every once in a while, the light is perfect, but all too often either the sun is shining into your subject’s eyes, or it’s flaring your lens, or it’s directly overhead causing unappealing shadows, or…
Everything I Know About Color Grading
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A colleague recently complimented me on my skill with color grading. I was a little surprised, since I don’t feel that this is a particular strength of mine. However, I do feel reasonably confident in my ability to make footage…