Basketball At TPMS

   This weekend me a some friends went to play basketball at Takoma Park Middle School and I was thinking that I hadn't taken pictures for fun in quite a while, so I decided to bring the camera along. I planned to take a couple specific pictures such as the one of John Ramsey dunking below, however I also just wanted to enjoy myself and capture some of our "intense" games we play most weekends. This was something I enjoyed doing because I can see myself being a sports photographer. I'm not saying that is my ultimate goal in life; however, I think it would be a career that I would really enjoy.

    I'm now going to explain how I shot and edited the picture John dunking. First I had him dunk while I took  a lot of pictures in high speed burst mode. In order to do this you need to keep the camera very  still and be careful not to let the background change behind the subject. I myself had trouble with this because I didn't bring a tripod. Using photoshop, I then pasted the images into separate layers and cut out everything except for John and the ball in each picture besides the last. I then flattened the image and played around with the background so that it look like one picture, not a stack of multiple. Postprocessing for this picture alone, took me about an hour. Here are some other shots I took this weekend that I thought came out well. (Click to view larger)

Cinematography Technique: Lens Whacking

    Today I was watching some youtube videos on cinematography techniques and came across one called "lens whacking." This is when you film with your lens detached from the camera and move the lens back and forth causing a blur and lighting affect. I thought this was an interesting idea and I had seen this look in movies before so I decide to take my camera into the yard and try it out on my own.
   With the little knowledge about the technique I have, I thought it went okay. I found that moving the lens in certain directions created different affects. Trying this actually lead to me better understanding how a lens works. The one thing I did have a little issue with was keeping it steady. Even when I wasn't moving the camera, the movement of the lens caused it to be shaky at times, although I could fix this in postprocessing. Also depending on the way I moved the lens the shot would be covered slightly by the side of the lens. You can see that happening in the last two shots of the short film I made, showing my attempt at lens whacking. One other slight issue I had was getting the focus I wanted but that will come with practice. I plan to use this technique more often and make more films like this one, showing  new techniques that I have learned about cinematography and photography.

Watch in HD if you can...

Nationals NLDS Game 4: Emotions Captured

         Recently my primary interests outside of school have been photography and baseball, so I immediately knew that I was going to document the Nationals playoffs through photography and film;  however, this was before I knew it would be such an incredible experience. 
         When I entered the stadium this Thursday for game 4 of the NLDS with camera in hand, I had a goal of capturing the emotions of the crowd and not the game itself. This is the first time the Nationals have made the playoffs in their not so long existence and they needed a win to stay alive, so naturally the crowd was dedicated to watching every pitch hit the catcher's mitt. 
        Instead of trying to take not so interesting shots of the players, I focused on the audience. Whether it would be a depressing or thrilling game, it was important for me to show that in my photos and video. I often used the technique of only focussing the lens on one fan, with the field in the background, instead of attempting to capture it all with one shot. This created a more dramatic effect and conveyed more feeling. 
        I am confident that I summed up the emotions and intensity of the game quite well, while capturing the greatest moment in Nationals baseball history on video. When Jayson Werth hit the walk off homerun in the bottom off the ninth, I and everyone else in the stadium went into hysteria. The only difference between me and everyone else, was that I had the moment caught on tape. I hope you enjoy seeing the game of baseball from a different perspective as I did tonight.

Dystopian Script Process

    As the script comes along I can start to picture the trailer in my mind. Although It still needs some work to build on detail, I feel that it has good potential and we will have a dramatic sequence of clips. We have set it up to initially explain the destruction of nuclear war. It then describes the society of the surviving land and how the dictator, Coltrane, keeps his power. Then the catalyst comes in and it slows down a bit. Once the catalyst is introduced the remainder of the trailer is very fast paced with quick cuts and text slides until the final scene where it slows again.
   The trailer has six scenes including both dialogue and voice overs. Dystopian elements can be seen through Coltrane's speech, the use of propaganda posters and the use of guards and surveillance throughout the scenes. The story line is clear as the premise is set up followed by the protagonists struggles, then action scenes showing how he will disrupt the system. Overall I feel that our script could use a tad more cleaning up but it is just about ready to be shot.