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Photo Fusion: A Wedding Photographers Guide to

1. OEO FIGURE 12 15 Click on the crop ks ise au E E symbol in the upper left corner of EEEE the highlighted cllip FIGURE 12 16 Click on the sprocket widget in the highlighted clip to access the cropping menu FIGURE 12 17 Use the green outline to see where iMovie will crop your image Trimming Video Despite the preparation you did to get your video ready for your edit there are times when you may need to edit a clip The simplest way to edit is to click the sprocket icon within the clip once the clip is highlighted and choose the clip trimmer Your video will open in the lower window where you can easily adjust the start and or end time of your clip Adding Audio Vows and Speeches You have your timeline all set and now it s time to add the audio How you recorded your audio will effect how you add audio to your project If you have synced your audio with your video by using lavaliere microphoness you have audio in your project However you probably want to have your stills overlay some of the audio so working with a separate audio track will make it easier In Chapter 11 we talked about extracting audio tracks from the video and naming the tracks according to the clip In order to use audio in iMovie the audio needs to be part of your iTunes or GarageBand library The first thing we like to do is add background music The background music sets the tone for the piece and allows us to blend our other audio t
2. i a aa I i O ipm F g i T a lt a E1 S FIGURE 6 6 Side light presents challenges as you balance your exposure QO As with backlight you need to play with your exposure This particular image is not overexposed at all and you may find you need to underexpose by a third to ensure the groom s face is not blown out As you can see in Figure 6 6 the groom s face has a highlight on the left as he comes down the aisle and some of the detail in his jacket was lost We were all right with this scenario since the power of the moment was more important that that detail in his jacket With your camcorder this scene is probably going to be a little tougher to balance One of the reasons we advocate using a camcorder with full manual controls is so that you can override the camera s built in settings You will have to closely look at these kinds of scenes as you won t always be able to trust the camera if it is set on automatic Your HDSLR will have similar challenges you will want to take a still image first evaluate your highlights they will blink at you if they are blown and determine what level of blown highlights you are comfortable with In some cases you may be left with no choice but to blow some of the highlights on the dress or the groom s shoulder if you are going to maintain good exposure on the skin We are fine with blown highlights in our video and our stills as we feel the momen
3. At 720 and 890 respectively we again suggest that you try before you buy investing in a solid tripod first and looking at these stabilizers second We found the Quick Release Run and Gun from iDC shown in Figure 7 8 is complementary to our style of shooting We have used the Run and Gun since it was first developed and we can quickly put the entire unit on or off a tripod We can easily pan our subjects make stills while the rig is on the camera and we don t find the equipment cumbersome which is important to us We don t bring gear bags and assistants on our shoots so being able to use a rig that won t slow us down Is very important FIGURE 7 7 The Cinevate Uno left and The Cinevate DSLR on the right Photography by Cinevate 110 There are a number of companies making similar rigs e Cinevate www cinevate com e RedRock www redrockmicro com e Cavision www cavison com e Switronix www switronix com e iDC www idcphotography com e Zacuto www zacuto com The various support systems range in price from 170 to 5000 and can be costly to say the least Investing in a support system Is a personal decision and will depend on how much video you plan to produce If you are keeping your stills to video ratio around 80 20 or 70 30 the odds of needing an expensive rig are slight You may want to try one of the lower priced versions we use the iDC U Boat Commander for the 5D MKII priced at 170 as they are more affordable and
4. from stabilizers to sound recording In this chapter we ll describe these options as well as help you choose the equipment you really need to get started with Fusion and the equipment you might not need but might want to have 98 Following our keep it simple approach to Fusion can be challenging given the number of accessories you can use in your capture The fact is though that much like accessories for making stills you don t need many extra accessories for Fusion Want is of course something else altogether In each section we list items that are inexpensive and helpful in your capture There is a section for money is no object accessories as well We suggest as you are starting that you choose the minimum equipment you need to do the job x up and want all the gear available for Fusion You do need equipment and you will We urge you to rent before buying as It is easy to get caught want some but the gear is expensive and we advocate that you research each option thoroughly before committing to buy any equipment Forums blogs and many publications are embracing the Fusion movement and have great discussions about the pros and cons of the different equipment There are great online resources for the Fusion community including but not limited to www dvinfo net www cinemadd com and wwwdslirnewsshooter com Tripods and Monopods At the very least using something
5. AWedding Photographers eme Q Fusion Jennifer Bebb WILEY Wiley Publishing Inc Photo Fusion A Wedding Photographer s Guide to Mixing Digital Photography and Video Published by Wiley Publishing Inc 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis IN 46256 www wiley com Copyright 2010 by Wiley Publishing Inc Indianapolis Indiana Images and Illustrations Copyright 2010 Bebb Studios Inc All rights reserved Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN 978 0 470 59776 7 Manufactured in the United States of America 10987654321 No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic mechanical photocopying recording scanning or otherwise except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without either the prior written permission of the Publisher or authorization through payment of the appropriate per copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center 222 Rosewood Drive Danvers MA 01923 978 750 8400 fax 978 646 8600 Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department John Wiley amp Sons Inc 111 River Street Hoboken NJ 07030 201 748 6011 fax 201 748 6008 or online at http www wiley com go permissions Limit of Liability Disclaimer of Warranty The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or com
6. shown in 13 12 which gives you information about the length of the clip and options for looping locking the slide time to the video length and adjusting the speed of the clip slow or fast motion effects Click the Trim Video button on the right to open the Video Trimmer There are several things going on here at the top is a Preview of the video the larger image on the left and the Starting and Ending panes on the right Use the Preview window to see how the video will look as you begin trimming The starting and ending positions show you the exact frame where the clip starts and stops You are capable of trimming your video at the exact point you require shown in Figure 13 13 At the bottom of the window the Video Timeline shows you particular frames from the video as well as the total duration of the clip Use the Timeline to select what portion of the clip you want to use Below the Timeline are buttons you use these buttons to choose where to start and stop your video The flag button facing right sets the starting position and the flag facing left sets the ending position The play and pause buttons allow you to preview the changes you make The reset arrow allows you to start all over again Once you have trimmed your video the way you want click OK and you will be returned to the Slide Options FIGURE 13 13 Trim your video clips in the Video Trimmer window 199 Where Producer stands apart from
7. 14 sa4en6 enn Gtnict oy bea d5 on pene dcegera dace 126 Chapter 9 Filming a Wedding Day ccc eeu ane e neues 128 When and Where to Film 0 ccc eee ees 129 The Basics Vows and Speeches 00 e eee eee eee ees 130 Advanced Adding More Coverage 0 cee eee eens 136 Tripod Monopod or Stabilizer Where and When to Use 146 Team vs Single Photographer Coverage 00ec ee eee 148 Chapter 10 Fusion and Other Photography c0000uuaes 154 Families and Cnulerenscicc ec pacceeetarieeeee idee eades eaes ee 155 Engagement SESSIONS sdnccs nccacaheneaacss at hanes hoedae tan 158 Interview Tips and WICKS 22 4hee0esn oot beer denceesceedcenes 160 Selling Engagement FUSION s denn teccear ates doko tengeawaanes 161 xiii XIV Part 4 Editing FUSION 000ces een e eens 162 Chapter 11 From Camera to Computer c00ccceeee eae 164 Downloading and Storage 00 c cece eee 165 Downloading Tape and Non HDSLR Cameras 167 Getting the Audio Files into Workable Format 0 05 170 Chapter 12 IMOVIE Q9 ccavivee bien esiaiaene sans seusaaesceyanianas 174 Getting eG nu5 255046 sdncsn erase epneets oeaeseeureendsas 176 PORN Ie Old ec oceqcanyates oe S244 bad cece desea tones 178 Using the iLive Applications Together 000c eee e eens 179 Working with Native Video FileS 0 200 e eee eee 180 Placing Stills and Video into the Tim
8. Agreement are held by any court or tribunal to be invalid illegal or otherwise unenforceable each and every other provision shall remain in full force and effect 234 Index Numeric 3 pin microphone input 58 A accessories filters 104 fluid video heads 99 100 follow focus 104 105 LCD viewfinder loupes 106 107 lenses 101 102 monopods 99 100 overview 98 99 supports and stabilizers 108 111 tripods 99 100 Adjustment Effects tab ProShow Producer 201 203 Adobe Premier Elements 77 Adobe Software Inc 75 AGC Auto Gain Control 57 61 62 63 AIFF files 172 Aperture 3 0 77 Apple Inc Final Cut Pro 75 iMovie 72 iPad 232 Audacity 172 audio coverage value of 18 22 audio files adding to iMovie 184 185 adding to ProShow Producer 203 205 extracting 170 labeling 171 172 ordering 171 172 from portable recording devices 170 171 scrubbing 171 172 Audio pop up menu ProShow Producer 203 audio port 51 audio recording basic setup 36 39 boom microphone 58 59 HDSLRs 57 lavaliere lapel microphones 60 61 overview 56 57 redundant backups 62 63 3 pin microphone input 58 audio tracks adjusting volume 185 background music 184 185 marking 186 matching with video clips 187 vows and speeches 184 185 Auto Gain Control AGC 57 61 62 63 122 auto white balance AWB 92 available light 80 81 Avid 77 AWB auto white balance 92 Azden ECZ 990 microphone 58 Azden SGM X microphone 58 B
9. Options 000s eee eee eee ees 54 Chapter 4 Sound Recording ccccee ee ee eee nee e naan 56 Boom MicrophongS s russer saatieybaeas cen Pee aap oo ee ore 58 Lavaliere Lapel Microphones 00c cece eee e eee eens 60 Other Audio Systems and Redundant Back Ups 62 Chapter 5 Hardware and Software 0cccce enews 64 EL at ea a eae ae oe ee ee ee ee ee 67 SONE aehatkt ohne tea seadananw eh eben eae eee dace ene rede 70 Chapter 6 Light c4 c0 04i40s cee teed dabeaeedatanes ad tiene tetas 78 Natural and Available Light 2 0 e eee eee ees 80 SUNG EESE EET EPEE E EEE T EET 82 Sonne a ESATE TENT EEOAE ETETE E EE 92 Supplemental Light for Video 0 eee es 95 Chapter 7 Equipment You Might Need ccc eee ees 98 Tnpoads and Monopods 12 604 bntheen tees Ghee aneoee Lees meee 100 Lenses Filters and Follow FocuS 0000c eee eee eee eens 102 Bits and Pieces That Come in Handy 000 eee eens 108 Table of Contents Part 3 Making FUSION 00000seeneennennee 112 Chapter 8 Wedding Day Set Up 0 ccc ees 114 Checking Your Equipment 6i40n2c anadasncascdiccar hata aaeas 115 MOKOA ria tans eedede tenes eernegeeeahes tpas eee ereh pias 117 How to Set Up for the Ceremony and Reception 119 POVANCCCenaateaeiedeaets enehakeecdas gees bee ae ated bonne as 122 When You Need More Thana Non HDSLR 0 05 125 TrOUDICSNOOUNG
10. an HDSLR such as the Canon 5D MKII We do suggest though that if you have any doubt err on the side of the still image first and the video recording second FIGURE 2 10 Expand the way you tell the story 41 Gear it is the most exciting part of our job for some of us and the least exciting for others Some photographers have conversations so technically oriented that the rest of us are left wondering what exactly they were talking about Others just want a camera that works Put two photographers in a room and the talk will eventually turn to gear cameras computer systems monitors video cards Wacom tablets and more Of course we talk about photographs too and the people who make them but the topic of gear always seems to come to the fore And why not There are a lot of choices sometimes an overwhelming number of choices Wading through the morass of stuff and determining what we really need versus what we really want is time consuming and confusing In our studio we go through phases where we just know that a new piece of equipment will make a difference and phases when we simply shake our heads at all the options Whatever your placement on the tech geek or gear head scale this section is for you We will take you through everything you need to know gear wise and give you an honest assessment about whether you need it or it is just nice to have Chapter 3 The Cameras Th
11. background music 184 185 backlight 79 82 83 backup camera 117 118 BeachTek adapter 62 beat markers 186 Blackberry 207 blogs embedding Fusion shorts in 221 blue waveform Precision Editor 187 Blu ray disc burning to 191 207 Index creating for Mac users 222 creating for Windows users 222 drawbacks 221 vs DVD 221 222 boom microphones 58 59 119 121 Breeze Systems 166 bride filming 136 138 getting ready 136 138 shot ideas 136 Burns Ken 4 C camcorders backup 118 downloading 167 169 light 125 limitations of 125 options 54 price 125 specifications 55 zoom 125 Camera Bits 165 cameras Canon 1D MKIV 50 Canon 5D MKII 46 49 Canon 7D 50 Nikon D300S 53 Nikon D3S 52 overview 44 setting up on tripod 38 specifications 51 Canon 1D MKIV 50 51 55 Canon 5D MKII aperture control 48 drawbacks when recording video 48 49 ease of use for Fusion 47 high ISO capability 47 microphone input 58 60 quality of video 46 49 shutter control 48 specifications 51 55 Canon 7D 50 51 55 Canon 24 105L f 4 0 IS 102 Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital Field Guide McLernon 49 capturing video basic rules 31 35 rule of thirds 31 vows and speeches 36 40 Cavision MHE 52 RCM 107 ceremony advanced setup 118 basic setup for 118 capturing sound 119 121 capturing video 121 filming 130 133 shot ideas 140 141 checking equipment 115 116 child photography 154 157 Cinevate Digital SLR Shoot
12. combined with the mounting system the Z Finder is certainly winning the race iDC idcphotovideo com the maker of the U Boat Commander mentioned in the next section has developed a rig called the iDC Viewfinder with a Hoodman loupe permanently attached Cavision cavision com has also created a loupe attachment rig Both the U Boat and the Cavision MHE52 RCM attach to a tripod mount and can also be mounted to a more comprehensive grip system At 199 and 170 respectively at B amp H Photo these rigs facilitate using a loupe without the challenges of attaching it directly to the camera To be effective at a shallow depth of field a loupe is a must have piece of equipment You re not restricted to using it with your video you can also use a loupe to ensure sharpness and focus of your still images Because you can use Live View to make stills as well as video these loupes are particularly beneficial in bright conditions like a sunny wedding day 108 Supports and Stabilizers Flying with video sometimes called gliding is an art form also known as tracking we ll be using the term flying throughout this book Flying allows sweeping movement and dramatic video effects and the cinematographers who have mastered this art form truly stand out in their field There are two major players in this segment of the video market We have tested these units and they take both time and patience to master On the nice to have list the
13. ensure that the red scrub bar runs the vertical length of the window otherwise you will hear nothing and that the first and second menu buttons are activated see Figure 12 24 to allow you access to your mark and the audio wave form The blue waveform n l is the audio part of FIGURE 12 24 Highlight the Waveform and Show Hide Extras your video track and buttons when lining up your audio tracks in the Precision Editor is already in sync with the video The green track is the audio that you are trying to sync with the blue waveform Again you only need to do this kind of sync if you are planning to run stills over a longer audio section than the video showcases In other words you have an audio track of 49 seconds for example but a video clip that is only 5 seconds and you need to run the independent audio track under the stills before or after the video You will sync the independent audio with the existing audio video track so that you can hear the audio before and after the video clip plays The audio is synced with the video you are working with to align everything Listen to your blue waveform and note where the audio you want to match begins then drag the blue bar to match the mark on the green audio file It might take some trial and error to get everything in sync but once you have done this a couple of times it becomes easier Watch that the audio matches what your subjects are doing in the video as well as
14. groom alone still ring detail still note grandma s ring BrideWalk clip couple together still audio bride vows DadHug clip note very important We don t always edit the piece immediately so a basic outline or idea file helps jog our memories when it is time to produce the piece If there was a particular image or event that we know was important to our couple we make note of that at this point as well An outline is also beneficial if you plan to outsource your editing if you have a strong sense of what you want the final product to look like your editor will have an easier time creating what you want 1 Step 5 Once you have edited your A stills and narrowed down the selection FIGURE 11 4 A quick outline reminds us where we add them to the individual scene or want to use stills video and audio in our final edit category folders You ve done such a great job organizing the video footage moving the stills into the appropriate folders will allow you to access everything more quickly choosing to work with one folder at a time rather than importing hundreds of images to sort through separately 169 Photo Fusion Getting the Audio Files into Workable Format You will likely have two audio sources depending on your audio set up the audio on your portable recording devices the Olympus or the Zoom H4n and the audio recorded on your camera via the Zoom or directly into your camera as describ
15. including some Mac Book Pros and iMacs come with everything you need to edit Fusion but here is a list of the minimum requirements e Intel processor e 2GB RAM minimum 4GB is ideal e ATI or NVIDIA graphics processor e 128MB VRAM e Display with 1280 by 800 or higher resolution e Mac OS X v10 5 6 or later e DVD drive for burning to DVD e Blu Ray burner for burning to Blu ray e External hard drive minimum 500GB e Core Audio compatible sound card for Adobe Premiere Windows With a significant market share it s no surprise that many photographers use PCs for their creative work Interestingly the Windows platform actually offers more software options for video editing listed later in this chapter For most of your Fusion work you will need a PC with the following e 3 4GHz processor e 2GB of RAM e OpenGL 2 0 compatible graphics card e Display with 1280 by 900 or higher resolution e Microsoft Windows XP or later e DVD ROM drive DVD R burner required for DVD creation e Blu ray burner for Blu ray disc e External hard drive mininum 500GB e Microsoft Windows Driver Model or ASIO compatible sound card 68 Chapter 5 FIGURE 5 3 Emotional moments are highlighted by audio and video The software you choose to edit your Fusion pieces depends on your computer This section is not an extensive how to of the software available but rather an overview of some of the more popular and accessible programs In Pa
16. is also set at 3 seconds which might be a bit long Set transition to 1 second for now The default transition is a cross fade or cross dissolve and is a great place to start You can always change these items while you are building your show FIGURE 13 4 Set your preferences in the Show Default window 194 F Pe ol Ps Py ol de yn iC ww f Pleat Gert yinal Aiia a ae en apy wheal shig C aniren you are Designing lo FIGURE 13 5 Name your show and set the aspect ratio in the New Slide Show dialog box You can configure the default image sound and video editors in the External Editors menu how often you want Producer to Autosave is in the Miscellenous tab Personally we like to have 15 steps of the show saved and Autosave at least every 300 seconds which is the default setting As you get more comfortable with Producer and you determine what features work best for you we encourage you to revisit the Preferences menu Before you make your Fusion piece you should have all your images edited and a manageable number of photos in each folder You can access your folders as you build your slideshow but it will make things faster if you have all your final images and video in one place Remember to rename your video see Chapter 11 to make your organization easier To start a new show simply click on the New button on the toolbar and your New Slide Show window will open see Figure 13 5
17. may have something else in mind They might be less concerned with the art of moments then they are with having the images mean something to them That s why you can see such technically awful photographs in the slideshows that show their lives up to that point We cringe when we see those photographs but we also realize that our clients value the memory of the moment as much as they do the image The images become a catalyst for memory and that can put us at odds with our clients if we re not careful After more than 500 weddings we have learned that lesson the hard way We will soend so much time working an image that we love only to discover the client doesn t love it all Why Well quite simply they don t feel the same emotion we do when they look at the image Women are generally concerned about two things how they look and how the image makes them feel Men won t always own up to it but they aren t all that different And so as wedding photographers we are forced to create images that satisfy our needs as artists and the needs of our clients With that in mind adding audio to your final presentation can only sweeten the photographs you make FIGURE 1 4 Every still image is interpreted by the viewer depending on their own experience This moment will make some people smile and others react differently 25 At the risk of dating ourselves we remember when a slideshow set to music was more trouble than it was worth You h
18. of the photo and there is not too much headroom FIGURE 2 4 Keep the background clean and use other elements to help frame your subject Too much headroom is not a good thing place your subject s eyes on the upper third line see Figure 2 2 Leave extra room in the direction your subject is looking or moving see Figure 2 3 Avoid distracting backgrounds see Figure 2 4 Remember to use a lead when making video Shoot a few seconds before and after the scene you want to use and ensure your segments are at least 5 to 7 seconds long 33 34 If you are a rule breaker however Fusion is a great opportunity to take chances and try something new After all videographers do things one way and photographers do things another way Creating video with the eye of a photographer is an advantage that conventional videographers don t have As a photographer the way you see light and compose your images Is something that you can take into your video coverage and will allow you to create a Fusion project that flows seamlessly from still to video to audio and back again see Figure 2 5 FIGURE 2 5 Consistency between stills and video is important when creating a Fusion piece The image on the left shows a still from the ceremony The top image shows a still taken from the video and is not consistent in terms of light and composition The bottom image shows a still from the video that is consistent 35 Just th
19. often put it on the podium to light the speakers without overwhelming them With a camcorder you need to ensure that you are fairly close to your subject with the light as a camcorder is not the best in poorly lit situations Given the choice we use an HDSLR over a camcorder at this time of day But if you only have a camcorder just make sure that you are using supplemental light when making video If you have a good light source you shouldn t have to shift your exposure compensation but make sure that you keep a close eye on everything particularly if you are in manual As you spend more time making video clips and working with your video camera you will soon learn the tricks to working with light in all its variety Remember your HDSLR will expose for video the same as it does for stills Your camcorder on the other hand is a little more work in backlit and side lit situations and you will use your manual settings In dark rooms your camcorder will struggle unless you add supplemental light so have a set of hot lights Make sure you spend plenty of time practicing in different lighting situations making note of what exposures worked best You can keep a little reference card with you to remind you of the optimum settings in each situation ensuring that you aren t experimenting with light on a wedding day As Fusion becomes more popular and a supporting industry is built around It more and more accessories are available
20. the best options in the HDSLR market FIGURE 3 4 The 5D MKII has a large 3 LCD screen 48 Perhaps the biggest con is that videographers are now using the MKII and making exquisite videos The competitive advantage offered with the HDSLR has actually narrowed the gap between videographer and photographer and that gap will continue to narrow as more professionals in each industry tackle Fusion head on To learn more about the 5D MKII check your owner s manual as well as Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital Field Guide by Brian McLernon FIGURE 3 5 Use a variety of lenses such as the 45 TSE while making video and stills 49 Canon 7D and 1D MKIV In 2009 Canon came out with the 7D and the 1D MKIV cameras both Canon with video capabilities Responding to critics of the AF system in the 5D MKII Canon made real improvements with both cameras The video in the 7D and 1D MKIV cameras is still effectively manual focus only A great all around camera at 1699 the Canon 7D has addressed many of the problems that plagued the 5D MKII such as 30 fps and Auto focus The FIGURE 3 6 Canon 7D Auto focus and metering systems were reworked which is fantastic for Canon shooters as those were the two areas Canon users had the most complaints about Both the 7D and the 1D MKIV provide Canon users the option of 1080p at 24fps which has been an issue for 5D MKII users One of the 7D s biggest drawbacks is the crop
21. you need to charge a minimum of 500 Even if you edit in house the cost to outsource is a good indicator of what to pay yourself But that is not the only cost you need to consider You must also factor in your time both shooting the footage and organizing it see Chapter 11 There are equipment costs hosting fees packaging and more to be considered Only you know the price point you will be satisfied with and we cannot tell you what to charge A good place to start is probably 1500 The second item to keep in mind is that you want to ensure that you price Fusion in line with the rest of your price menu If for example you priced Fusion at 500 and your albums at 3500 you will be FIGURE 15 6 Weddings are as much about fantasy as they are about reality sending the message that you don t value Fusion as highly as you do an album But if you price them similarly and then offer an incentive if they buy both you are giving value to Fusion on your price menu and your clients will also give it value Your clients will respect Fusion if you let them know that you respect it too Explain that Fusion requires a new skill set that you have mastered Let them know that video is very different but complimentary to photography and that you are excited to give them both the literal moments of their byn wedding day as well as BEY the artistic ones see E al i Figure 15 7 FIGURE 15 7 Your clients
22. 1920 by 1080 1280 by 720 YouTube Vimeo Smugmug 500 MB 1 HD video a week free Number of Uploads Unlimited Unlimited 5 GB week unlimited HD plus The information in Table 14 1 will change over time as the demand for longer videos and bigger files increase so we urge you to check the current restrictions on each sites For us resolution file size and length are the three biggest concerns as they are the variables most likely to change as demand increases FIGURE 14 5 Create a place to host Fusion that is as individual as you are 218 Chapter 14 Building a Custom Site to Host Fusion As you continue your journey into Fusion one of the things you need to consider is how your online presentation should look There are many sites available to host your videos online and help you present your work to clients But these sites are generic and are obviously third party hosts Rather than using a generic site why not find a way to build a custom host There is an entire industry that supplies Web sites to photographers for a very low price but their ability to showcase video particularly HD video is limited However many Web site companies realize the need for video and this restriction will change We found two companies that work well together and allow you the freedom to customize your site while still delivering great quality video Showit Sites www showitfast com and Smugmug www smugmug com One of the fir
23. 2 Obviously the faster the glass the better your results in low light and the shallower your depth of field We are partial to primes both for our stills and video because the glass is better quality A zoom lens such as the 70 200 f 2 8 IS VR is great for video particularly if you use a tripod Keep in mind however that the heavier your lens the harder it is to hold the camera steady while in Video mode The heavier zooms will impact which stabilizer you should use With a lighter prime lens for example you might be able to use a different kind of stabilizer Such as those listed later in this chapter while you will likely need a tripod if you use a heavier lens Just like selecting lenses for making stills choose the lenses for your HDSLR that you need to get the job done A nice all purpose lens is the Canon 24 105L f 4 0 IS see Figure 7 2 Nikon doesn t have an equivalent lens in their line up yet but an option is the Nikon 24 70 2 8 One of our favorite lenses is the 24mm f 1 4 If you are going to be mobile either with a monopod or other stabilizer this lens is a great choice It is a wide angle lens but has minimal distortion so everything looks great When you are moving with your subject set you lens at infinity and then ensure your subject is in the focal distance you need The 24 f 1 4 for example has infinity at about 10 feet so if your subject is at least 12 feet from you at any given time they wi
24. Monopods in your coverage of a wedding By their very nature tripods and monopods tend to slow you down so using a second camera for your stills will help ensure you don t miss anything while trying to get into position with your tripod or if you initially struggle to get your HDSLR off your stabilizer Because there is set up involved with video capture arriving at the ceremony location with enough time to get everything in place Is very important It won t take long but arriving early ensures that there are no unexpected Issues 129 130 The Basics Vows and Speeches Every wedding has moments where words are given essentially as a gift Two such moments are the vows during the ceremony and the speeches during the reception It is this gift of voices and words that we want to capture at every wedding and Basic Fusion coverage involves recording these words If you have presented audio capture with your wedding coverage to your clients without video you know the power voices carry With the Basics we are adding video as a means of delivering that audio to our couples without becoming overwhelmed in the process Ceremony We always try to arrive at least 10 minutes before the bride This gives us some stress free time to get the lay of the land so to speak We use this time to evaluate the light choose our sight lines introduce ourselves to the officiant and get the audio set up There are a few options for setting up for vi
25. Name your piece we used Fusion Sample and set your aspect ratio We chose 16 9 but you can also select 4 3 or custom if you want to set a different ratio like 3 2 Your transition effect and time were set in your Show Defaults window so you are ready to go FIGURE 13 6 Use the organization from Chapter 11 to quickly find the still audio and video clips you want to use 195 Now that you have everything ready it s time to import your video and stills Producer uses drag and drop to build your show Find the folder you want in the Folder list as shown in Figure 13 7 Producer generates thumbnails that you can simply drag to the Slide list at the bottom of the window see Figure 13 8 Video is imported in the same way simply find the files you want to use and drag them to the Slide list FIGURE 13 7 The Folders list gives you access to your audio video and still files FIGURE 13 8 Use the Slide List to build and organize your show m H 264 is the codec used by Canon HDSLRs Motion JPG is used in Nikon cameras Producer pee ea ee bb by accepts both native ih A m file formats however we suggest that you fa air he try to cut your video into small segments as a TA s S 7 m z w E Bs ies wy T ne En i 3 mentioned in Chapter 11 before you import z to Producer in order 7 to ensure that the program runs quickly We are using Producer on a Mac and have found that
26. Swap your Events and determined an overall plan If not Projects pane if you want a larger working now Is the time There are many space to build your Fusion piece ways to approach a Fusion project it can be chronological it can be parts of the ceremony then stills of the photo session then back to the ceremony whatever you think will be the best fit for your studio and your clients We re going to go through a chronological format starting at the beginning of the day and moving through the wedding day as it happened To start we place all the photos we want to use for the piece You can drag and drop images one at a time or you can put several or all into the timeline in the Project window at once The images will fill all those rectangles you see when your Project window is empty To select more than one image highlight the first photo you want to import then hold the Shift key and click the last image you want If you know you are going to add all the images at once click on any photo and use the Command A combination to select all the images 181 FIGURE 12 12 Add all the images to the timeline at once they are all outlined in blue FIGURE 12 13 Add the images one at a time and place them into the timeline where you want them image outlined in blue will be added next FIGURE 12 14 Preview your show in the Viewer on the right side of the screen 182 After you have chosen your images drag them into
27. YouTube rs You will find the same output options in Mobilehe Gallery iTunes and You Tube Simply click the output resolution size of your video Export Movie a Export using QuickTime The highest quality show you can output Export Final Cut XML is 1280 by 720 which may be all you TT need when sharing online The output file l and iMovie does all the thinking for you will be a mov file QuickTime and you here i need to ensure that your online host is i KLE compan e with mov files nce you have FIGURE 12 27 Access your output options the file online both Mac and Windows via the Share button on the menu bar users will be able to view the show 189 QuickTime Settings While the Export Movie settings are fine you are limited to the default iMovie options To have more control over your output choose Export using QuickTime from the Share menu Click on the Options tab to set up your settings as in figure 12 28 if you don t change your options you can simply use Most Recent Settings Video settings should default to H 264 which is fine Ensure the frame rate is set to Automatic and click OK You won t need to pay attention to the Filter option Click the Size button and enter the show s resolution typically 1920 by 1080 You can also enter a custom size if you don t find the dimensions you need It will take some time for your Fusion piece to be complete but iMovie works in the background and allow
28. ability to work with certainty at shallower depths of field Each loupe attaches differently as we explain below There are two loupes currently leading the HDSLR market Both offer at clearer view of the LCD screen and a built in 3 diopter e Hoodman Loupe 3 0 www hoodmanusa com Providing a 1 1 ratio this loupe is fantastic But the loupe is attached to the camera with elastic like straps and can shift position and has been known to break At 115 for the kit though it is relatively inexpensive and we use it The price is good and the benefits from using a loupe make it easier to tolerate the way it attaches to the camera The only drawback FIGURE 7 5 iDC XL Follow other than the straps is that the edges of the frame can Focus with loupe going into the appear distorted If you are keeping your focus point away from LCD on the back of the camera the edges though that distortion isn t necessarily going to be an issue If you are unsure whether a loupe would be beneficial to your video capture the Hoodman is a reasonably priced product to try 106 Zacuto Z Finder v2 www zacuto com At 395 certainly more expensive than the Hoodman the Z Finders is the preferred choice of cinematographers and Fusion ographers due In part to its mounting system The v2 mounts with a frame that permanently attaches to the camera while the loupe can be taken on and off thereby negating the issue of straps With a magnification of 3x
29. also allows them to hear the vows spoken and the speeches given Just with that little bit of audio added you have forged a connection between your new clients and the people in the presentation Add some video not a lot about 20 percent and the story you have been telling with just still images is suddenly a robust and intimate look at a wedding day The piece is organic in nature highlighting the moments that are best served by video while showcasing the power of your still images And it is different from what the photographer down the road is doing The power of Fusion is not in the capture or delivery though that does matter The power of Fusion is in the legacy we create and the gift that we give For many of us it s about more than the issues involved in the capture and presentation of your final piece It s about family legacy history and so much more Imagine being able to go back to your own wedding day FIGURE 7 Creating compelling imagery may not be enough to help you stand out in the saturated wedding photography market and see it unfold in a literal and artistic way your vows the emotion with which you spoke them the sincerity and hope in your voices heard again without the shortcomings of memory The speeches from a loved one now passed away or a friend not seen for too long right there viewed as they happened bad hair and all Photo Fusion A Wedding Photographer s Guide to Mixing Digital Ph
30. audio It isn t enough to merely have a backup unit available since you probably won t know you have a problem with your sound until you play it back Having a redundant backup allows you to make a second good quality recording of the audio just in case you need it Hopefully you will never have to use that audio but if you do you want to ensure that it is as good as it can be As we take you through a wedding day set up Chapter 9 we will describe two ways to set up audio We use a redundant recording system in addition to our main microphone and we use a combination of the Zoom unit with wireless lavaliere microphones and an Olympus DS 40 to ensure we always have great audio and a redundant backup 63 Chapter 5 Hardware and Software Some people like gear especially gear related to computers But if you are anything like me you want to be able to walk into a store and buy a computer Mac or PC load it up with software and know it will do the job you need it to The last thing you want to worry about is sound card graphics processors or how many gigs of RAM you re getting Unfortunately we can t ignore those are things when making Fusion is your priority Instead we need to know the minimum requirements for our computers and we need to know what software we need to edit our Fusion if Now if you love this stuff get ready this chapter is for you We have all the specs you need to make your computer Fusion friend
31. clients have chosen to light their room And that can mean that we occasionally have to deal with pink or blue faces Chapter 6 FIGURE 6 10 Balancing two different light sources is challenging but can create stunning imagery Recently we were making Fusion at an event that had pink lights everywhere Outside in a large tent these lights were used strategically to mask the ugly white walls of the tent and create an intimate environment shown in Figure 6 11 But what the lighting designer may not have realized was the lights also meant all the people had a pink cast to their faces When we made still images we used our flashes to light their faces appropriately while leaving the ambient light in the background With video however it was more challenging Fortunately most reception venues will have a light source directed toward the podium Generally this light will be a tungsten source you can work with to ensure your skin tones are as close to natural as possible In Figure 6 11 you can see the pink background and the tungsten source pointed at the podium By choosing a relatively low shutter speed 1 60 we are able to keep the ambient scene pink while exposing for the bridesmaids making the speech i FIGURE 6 11 Gelled lights can create a stunning backdrop but are challenging when making Fusion Supplemental Light tor Video Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we need to add light to the scene Most oft
32. defects in materials or workmanship WPI will replace the defective Software Media b WPI AND THE AUTHOR S OF THE BOOK DISCLAIM ALL OTHER WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE WITH RESPECT TO THE SOFTWARE THE PROGRAMS THE SOURCE CODE CONTAINED THEREIN AND OR THE TECHNIQUES DESCRIBED IN THIS BOOK WPI DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONS CONTAINED IN THE SOFTWARE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR THAT THE OPERATION OF THE SOFTWARE WILL BE ERROR FREE c This limited warranty gives you specific legal rights and you may have other rights that vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction 6 Remedies a WP s entire liability and your exclusive remedy for defects in materials and workmanship shall be limited to replacement of the Software Media which may be returned to WPI with a copy of your receipt at the following address Software Media Fulfillment Department Attn Photo Fusion A Wedding Photographer s Guide to Mixing Digital Photography and Video Wiley Publishing Inc 10475 Crosspoint Blvd Indianapolis IN 46256 or call 1 800 762 2974 Please allow four to six weeks for delivery This Limited Warranty is void if failure of the Software Media has resulted from accident abuse or misapplication Any replacement Software Media will be warranted for the remainder of the original warranty period or thirty 30 days whichever is longer b In no ev
33. editor thank you for helping me clarify the technical aspects of this book and for reminding me that we must always be open to learn something new no matter how long we have been doing something To Erik who made the book truly beautiful thank you for your appreciation of our art and for making Photo Fusion a truly extraordinary extension To my extended family friends colleagues and clients Thank you for sharing me with this project for supporting me as fulfilled this lifelong dream and for understanding when had to focus on this task You are truly an amazing group of people and am humbled to have you all in my life Mom and Dad you watched me grow up writing and though you may have wondered if it would ever get me anywhere here we are Thank you for your support even when you thought I was crazy for the choices was making And Jackie and Trevor the world s best in laws you gave me your son and with that a lifetime of support and love Thank you A special thanks to our clients Alicia and Alex and Lindsey and JP for letting us use them as guinea pigs when we first started Fusion And to Stef and Jim for reminding us why what we do Is so very important Thank you to all the people in the wedding photography videography and Fusion ography industry for answering my questions clarifying my research and letting me put many of your products through their paces can t thank you enough for your patience as worke
34. everywhere pulling it out at every opportunity Make sure you have included your studio name in the Fusion piece so that everyone learns who you are Also affix a sticker to the back of the iPad that has your contact information clearly visible Your bride won t mind and it will make it easier for people to get in touch with you This is an exciting time for those of us on the Fusion journey The industry that supports wedding photographers is working hard to support Fusion ographers as well and it won t be long before there are a number of products available to us Remember that you want to stand out to differentiate yourself from the rest of your market so don t be afraid to look outside the wedding industry and find new innovative ways to share Fusion with your clients And above all enjoy yourself as you give your clients an incredible legacy that will be there for generations FIGURE 15 8 Fusion is a gift that grows in value over time 232 Appendix A Checklist of Equipment As we discussed in Chapter 7 having your Fusion gear organized and all in one place makes it much easier for you to access everything quickly For more details on all these items please refer to Part 2 The Equipment e CF SD cards e CF SD card wallet e Charged camera batteries e Battery charger e Spare camera batteries e Tripod e Monopod e Stabilizer e LCD viewfinder loupe e Shotgun microphone with cord s e Lavaliere wireles
35. factor of 1 6 This effectively means that your 24mm lens Is now operating as a 38 4mm lens You are now closer to your subject but that may effect the way you use your existing lenses Because the 7D is not a full frame camera but rather a 1 6 crop your lenses will no longer be the focal length they are in a full frame camera For example a 15mm is a 15mm in a full frame camera like the MKII but in the 7D it is 24mm 15 x 1 6 So your subject appears closer but there are times when this limits how you can use things like your wide angle lenses The 7D is also not quite as good in low light as the 5D MKII and 1D MKIV though it is still a fantastic choice To learn more about the 7D and 1D MKIV check out Canon EOS 7D Digital Field Guide by Charlotte K Lowrie 50 Chapter 3 Table 3 1 Canon and Nikon HDSLR Cameras Canon 5D MKII Canon 7D Canon 1D MKIV Nikon D3S Nikon D300S 21 1 MP 18 0 MP 16 1 MP 12 1 MP 12 3 MP ISO Low 50 Low 100 Low 50 Low 100 Low 100 High 25 600 High 12 800 High 102 400 High 102 400 High 6 400 30 fps Video 1080 e an meas 29 97 25 23 976 eee EO n a n a with firmware fps upgrade Video 720 59 94 50 fps 59 94 50 fps 24 fps 24 fps Video 640 30 fps 59 94 50 fps 59 94 50 fps 24 fps 24 fps CE With an expanded ISO of 102 400 the 1D MKIV at 4999 competes directly with Nikon s D3S and opens the possibilities of working in low light even more than the high ISO capabilities with the MKII It al
36. has tripod feet that help stabilize the camera and it has a fluid head and pan bar It is lightweight at just over 4 pounds and easy to use see Figure 7 1 We are also able in a pinch to use Our monopod as a way to fly our camera for short periods of time We simply shorten the length and use the monopod to help counterbalance the camera as we move e Tripod Manfrotto 055XDB 140 e Fluid Video Head 503HDV or 501HDV 354 and 186 e Monopod Manfrotto 561BHDV 275 B amp H Photo Video FIGURE 7 1 Monopod with HDSLR attached Lenses Filters and Follow Focus As still photographers we have amassed a nice collection of lenses Both Canon and Nikon have lenses that are adaptable to Fusion Most of us already have a number of fast lenses with an aperture of f 2 8 or better We encourage you to experiment with the lenses you have before spending money for new lenses The nice thing of course is that if you have an HDSLR Canon or Nikon you can use your lenses for both still and video so investing in better lenses is good for your business as a whole Lenses Our mantra is to buy the best glass that we can afford We have not invested in additional glass for our HDSLRs but if you re just getting started with an HDSLR there are a few things to consider Fast Glass what does that mean anyway Simply fast glass is slang for lenses with an aperture of f 2 8 or better i e f 2 8 f 2 0 f 1 8 f 1 4 f 1
37. more of the movie studios make their products for Blu Ray You may not need to produce Blu Ray at this point in time but we have no doubt that you will soon need to start Assess your clients and their needs and then decide whether you need to purchase new equipment to produce Blu ray We don t suggest you make the necessary purchases until you know you will need to make these discs but be ready when you do 223 ferent FIGURE 15 1 Use Fusion to create something unique for each client and their wedding day NO But committing to Fusion isn t enough is it You have to be able to make money doing this otherwise it won t be a viable long term product you can offer Whatever your current segment of the market whatever price point you offer being compensated for the work you do Is important And think after reading through the past 14 chapters you have realized that Fusion is work In this final chapter we re going to take you through strategies that you can use to sell Fusion to potential clients their families and friends FIGURE 15 2 In order to continue making Fusion you need to be able to sell it ND ND NO FIGURE 15 3 The emotion of a wedding day is what helps you sell Fusion Showing Fusion is the key to selling Fusion Sure you will get the odd client that will buy anything your offer but most clients are ona budget and need to hear why they should allocate more of that bu
38. only time in Steve s life shared his powerful feelings about his only child And we had no recollection of this tremendous gift we had been given In that moment we realized the shortcomings of what we do as photographers We can give our clients a near perfect record of their day recording it as it happens one frame at a time You can even argue that we make art out of ordinary moments showing our clients the moments they missed during the excitement of their wedding including the emotions of family and friends and the little things that made their day special the who what where and when of their day What we don t give them is the why A wedding is such an emotionally charged event that expecting to remember much is unrealistic at best As such the gift of words that our couples give to each other and their families give to them are lost in the imperfect memories of the weeks and years to come So often those words are only given once on that day never repeated again see Figure 6 Too often they are lost Fusion the mixing of still photography with audio and video is the vehicle with which we can give the why to our clients At its simplest it is merely recording the vows the speeches and other parts of the day on video and mixing that with our still images At its most complex it is cinematography But the core of Fusion is the ability to tell a story in a more complete way 10 FIGURE 6 While th
39. rig 110 Cinevate Durus Follow Focus 104 105 Cinevate Uno IMG 110 Clip Adjustment option iMovie 185 Clip Trimmer iMovie 184 Color Compressor 74 CompactFlash CF card 115 116 compression 51 computers Mac OS 68 overview 67 Windows OS 68 consumer digital cameras 8 235 236 copyright 189 Corel VideoStudio Pro 77 Create Output window ProShow Producer 208 209 Creative Suite 5 Master Collection 75 Creative Suite 5 Production Premium 75 crop 51 cropping 177 183 Cyberlink PowerDirector 77 D Default transition ProShow 194 depth of field 132 diffuse light 84 digital images adding audio to 185 adding Ken Burns effect to 183 culling into manageable number 176 placing into Timeline 181 183 197 198 direct sun 88 89 Downloader Pro 166 downloading audio from portable recorders 170 171 with Downloader Pro 166 non HDSLR cameras 167 169 overview 165 with Photomechanic 165 166 tape 167 169 dual card slots 51 DV Pro light Two light Kit 95 DVD vs Blu Ray 221 222 exporting for 191 208 HD 221 DVD Studio Pro 74 E Edit Fades and Trimming window ProShow Producer 204 editing Fusion converting audio files into workable format 170 172 downloading and storage 165 166 downloading tape and non HDSLR cameras 167 169 labeling and ordering audio 171 172 naming and organizing footage 167 169 Engagement Fusion 161 engagement sessions ambient sound 160 background 160 intervi
40. shorts in 221 exporting for 189 190 206 Showit Sites 219 220 Smugmug 216 218 Vimeo 215 YouTube 214 wedding day coverage ceremony 130 133 140 141 get away 142 night shoot 145 photo shoot 142 143 reception 144 scene setters 143 shot ideas for bride 136 shot ideas for groom 138 139 single photographer coverage 148 150 speeches 135 team coverage 150 153 using tripods monopods stabilizers 146 147 vows 130 133 when and where to film 129 wedding day setup advanced setup for ceremony and reception 118 basic setup for ceremony and reception 119 121 checking your equipment 115 116 making a plan 117 118 overview 114 115 troubleshooting 126 wedding photographers job of 9 10 use of Fusion 3 wedding photography as art and historical record 25 competition from digital photographers 2 before the digital days 2 overview 1 3 single photographer 148 150 team coverage 151 153 Windows 68 Windows Media 207 Windows compatible formats 190 wmv format 190 207 X XLR to RCA cable 124 XLR to XLR cable 124 Y YouTube 7 214 Z Zacuto Z Finder v2 107 Zacuto Z Focus 104 105 Zeiss lenses 102 zoom effect 201 Zoom H4n 62 63 122 124 126 zoom lens 141 Jennifer Bebb q78 0 470 59 Visit our Web site at wwwwiley com compbooks ane WWI LEY PHOTOGRAPHY Techniques Digita Wah 9 780470 597 767 wiley com 3999 US 4799 CAN
41. sometimes underestimate the power of those words and the importance of their capture 22 There is power in language not only in the vows our couples speak to each other but also in the speeches given during the reception We have all heard incredible speeches at the weddings we photograph we ve probably cried behind our cameras more than once And we ve probably all looked around and realized there is no one recording those words Why not That gift of language is one of the most important gifts our couples receive on their wedding day statements of love and support from family stories and anecdotes laughter and tears words that will likely never be spoken again Simply capturing the audio from those times in a wedding day is not a difficult task as we ll show you in Chapters 4 and 8 Blending that audio with your still images Is as easy as creating a slideshow set to music As artists we can see the nuances that separate our work from that of our competitors But it is only the most discerning clients that can also see those nuances particularly in a world full of similar Web sites blogs blog sites albums slideshows and more So what sets you apart and makes a client choose you What can you do to make their wedding and your photography stand out from the crowd FIGURE 1 3 Using unique compositions and elements is one way to stand out from the crowd Starting your journey with the addition o
42. the editing process more efficient Assuming you are only importing your definite footage you should be ready to start your piece fairly quickly FIGURE 12 7 Your video will be organized in the Event Library Using the iLite Applications Together Look at the entire iMovie window and you will see a series of buttons on the right shown in Figure 12 8 Use these buttons to integrate with the other iLife applications Starting on the left are music iTunes GarageBand and Sound Effects photos titles transitions and maps and backgrounds For the most part you will probably be most concerned with the Music and Photos tabs using the other three sparingly Music Working with iMovie gives you access to your entire iTunes Library which includes non licensed as well as royalty free music We encourage you to use royalty free music in your Fusion pieces The debate about music usage and copyright is ongoing but as the law stands right FIGURE 12 8 Access music photos titles transitions maps and backgrounds via the buttons on the far right of the central tool bar now using royalty free and or licensed music is the only legal way to create Fusion A great resource for royalty free music that doesn t sound awful is Triple Scoop Music www triplescoopmusic com and use the code bebbmusic for a discount There are a variety of sound effects included in iMovie and iLife that you can use Most are n
43. then get your equipment out of the way until the ceremony begins We cover video recording in more detail in Chapter 9 FIGURE 8 9 Place the mic on the groom s lapel and tuck the recording device into his pocket Advanced The set up in the Basic section is a great starting point In this section we re going to talk about an alternative way to record audio This alternative involves a little more gear and requires greater financial investment on your part But the power of great audio is important When we first started making Fusion we didn t fully comprehend the issues involved with Auto Gain Control AGC and the 5D MKII We plugged our wireless lavaliere microphoness directly into the MKII and recorded audio It was fortuitous that we did not have any issues with our audio but we have learned a lot since then and we no longer advocate using lavaliere mics plugged directly into an HDSLR Without getting too technical AGC can be explained like this it wants to balance the sound so if your groom is talking and someone in the background coughs or makes another noise the AGC will kick in and try to make both sounds equal This can lead to crazy sounding audio one minute your groom s voice Is recording at a normal level and next it is super loud and has some competing voices added You really don t know when the AGC will kick in and what the audio will end up sounding like it s a bit of a gamble You don t want to disable so
44. to stabilize your camera is a must The ability to hold your camera steady will not only reduce your work in post production but also set you apart from those who simply run and gun In other words shaky footage is often an indicator of an amateur at work And while there are cinematographers that utilize shaky footage in their productions for the most part it is the steadiness of your footage that will set you apart We talk about when and where to use tripods and monopods in Chapter 9 but keep in mind that purchasing this equipment can be expensive Some tripods for video have wheels and are generally heavier than tripods for still photographs Because you are using an HDSLR or a camera of similar weight you don t need a tripod designed for a large video camera The tripod must be stable and it will therefore be heavier than a conventional photographer s lightweight tripod but you also need to consider the head Using a head designed for video allows you to easily make smooth pans of a scene Let s talk about the head for a moment When we set up a tripod for our still images we lock it in position and only move the head to set up another shot With video though moving while filming is a way to create dynamism in our shots After all you rarely see static and still video segments there is almost always movement in the frame whether created by you or your subjects The last thing we want is choppy or jerky movement while we p
45. ultimately depends on your computer system You can try before you buy Adobe and Photodex offer a 30 day free trial and you can check out FCP at any Apple store 76 Chapter 5 Other software options The software discussed in this chapter is a sampling of the popular options There are however many other applications available as well Some of the following applications are purely consumer based and priced accordingly and others are used in the professional sphere It pays to do your research and decide which program is best suited for your needs We ve made note of the platform for the following programs Windows software can be used on a Mac if need be but Mac programs cannot be used on a PC Be sure to look closely at the system requirements and supported cameras for each system before you invest Many offer free trials and we urge you to take advantage of these freebies before buying as well e CyberLink PowerDirector Windows cyberlink com e Corel VideoStudio Pro Windows corel com e Adobe Premiere Elements Windows adobe com e Pinnacle Studio Macintosh and Windows pinnaclesys com e Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 Windows sonycreativesoftware com e Avid Mac and Windows avid com e Aperture 3 0 Macintosh www apple com e Animoto online www animoto com FIGURE 5 10 With the right hardware software combination you can create Fusion that will thrill your clients 77 If photography is literally drawing
46. with light then Fusion ography must be making moving images with light Without light we cannot make still or moving images so knowing how to work with light is the most important aspect of our photo and video coverage Light is one of the first concepts we must learn about as photographers and finding new and different ways to use light is always one of the major challenges With Fusion and the additional task of filming video it might be tempting to use light in the safest way possible which is fine But if you are willing to push your limits as a photographer you will have a lot of fun trying to make video in different lighting as well Whether you specialize in making still images with available light or alternate light sources knowing how to use that light with video will ensure that your Fusion pieces are consistently well done and flow beautifully between mediums If you are using anon HDSLR camera you may find yourself limited or challenged with the kinds of light you are able to use well Backlight for example proves to be challenging with a camcorder We prefer working with HDSLR cameras because they are familiar to us and because we know how to use them in different lighting situations For instance making video images in a backlit room involves the same settings as making still images in the same room Knowing where to meter what ISO aperture and shutter speed to use gives us the opportunity to make spectacular m
47. words are being spoken to ears too emotionally saturated to truly hear them and they are lost in the passage of time and life experience FIGURE 5 This wedding guest is recording the speeches for his friends but the audio quality will be compromised by his distance from the speakers and the ambient noise of the room We experienced this during our own wedding Photography was of course given top priority and the idea of video never even crossed our minds The idea that we would ever forget anything about that day seemed impossible and we thought that the photographs would be enough to help us remember Memory is never perfect but is tempered with time and experience Some of our memories are rewritten with a different ending while others simply fade away The wedding day fades as well becoming a shared moment but no longer part of our daily lives It wasn t until we started really thinking about Fusion again that we tried to recall the details of our wedding day Our photographers only stayed for three hours so there are no photographs of the speeches made by our friends and family We have a vague recollection about who spoke and what they spoke about and we even argued about whether Steve s dad had given a speech Coming to the conclusion that he had not because neither of us could recall it we asked him The look of disappointment and hurt that crossed his face was devastating to witness he had spoken and for perhaps the
48. works well but you need to balance the light on your subjects with any distracting highlights in the background Be aware of ambient sound If you are in the city for example you might inadvertently record people talking vehicles going past etc If you are at the beach in the middle of summer you will pick up children laughing and more Trying to find a location with relatively little ambient noise is important Position the microphone carefully For an interview we suggest using a redundant mic system that includes wireless lavalieres and a portable recording device Pin one mic on each individual to give you backup but also give you great sound from each speaker If you only mic one person you will not get the best sound from the individual without the mic and you will have to resolve the sound quality in post production Once the interview is over if possible leave the mic on the male partner If you use the portable device on him and let it run you might get great audio of them laughing or whispering to each other that you can use in your final piece We approach engagement Fusion with the idea of creating something incredible for our clients while at the same time creating a powerful marketing piece for ourselves Some of our clients use their Fusion piece as part of their Save the Date or Invitation Others save it for a surprise on the wedding day However they choose to show off the Fusion itis a way for new clients to learn ab
49. you money that may have not been budgeted for this make it personal and help them connect with the idea of Fusion Your passion and commitment to this work will determine how successful your sales efforts are There will be times that you don t sell Fusion despite your best efforts and that is all right When this happens to us we still take our audio equipment to the wedding and record their vows and speeches for them surprising them with an Audio Presentation when they come to see their images While we haven t made video of the day the audio is so compelling and so emotionally rewarding that we are able to potentially sell them a DVD copy of the audio show or extra album pages or wall pieces Approximately 92 percent of all photography purchases are made or driven by women If you move the bride and give her the chance to connect with Fusion even if only the audio you will find that your overall sales will increase with that client Remember you can t sell what you don t believe in yourself Show your Fusion work with pride share the stories of its making just like you share stories of your still images and personalize the experience for your clients Fusion will almost sell itself but with your help will be sold more easily 227 Pricing Fusion The idea of Fusion the telling of the whole story and the giving of a gift that gets more valuable in time is a relatively easy sell You are selling to your cli
50. 167 168 ranking 168 Fusion advanced 40 41 basics 36 39 defined 4 power of 12 13 pricing 228 229 products 230 reasons for using 4 10 selling 12 13 226 227 technology in 7 types of 16 29 Fusion piece G choosing music for 188 consistency between stills and video 35 engagement sessions 161 exporting for DVD 191 exporting for the Web 189 PC friendly formats 190 QuickTime settings 190 uploading 212 220 GarageBand 29 171 172 gelled light 94 GeniusDV 74 get away filming 142 Glidecam 4000 4000HD 108 Glidecam X22 System 109 green track Precision Editor 187 groom filming 138 139 shot ideas 138 H H 264 video format 180 190 196 HD DVD 221 HD video cameras 8 HDSLR cameras audio recording 57 audio recording in 57 backlight 79 Canon 1D MKIV 50 Canon 5D MkIl 46 49 Canon 7D 50 lenses 101 102 Nikon D3008S 53 Nikon D3S 52 overview 44 specifications 51 Hoodman Loupe 3 0 106 hosting sites Showit Sites 219 220 Smugmug 216 218 Vimeo 215 hot lights 95 iDC Follow Focus 104 105 iDC Quick Release Run and Gun 110 111 iDC U Boat Commander 111 iLife 181 iMacs 67 68 image type 51 iMovie 09 access to iPhoto 179 access to iTunes Library 179 adding audio 184 choosing themes 177 creating new events 179 cropping video 177 Event Library 178 exporting for DVD 191 exporting for the Web 189 190 features 72 getting started with 176 impor
51. Because your priority is the speeches you need to focus most of your video recording on the speakers The still images you make of people laughing and crying will be a wonderful complement to the video of the speaker As you become more confident in your ability to record video off tripod see the section on stabilizing later in this chapter you might want to try moving through the crowd to record the guest s reactions Some video clips you might want to try at the reception are e glide to the front of the venue ties in with the glide into the church e pan through the room while people are seated great chance to show how much fun the guests are having e try gliding through the reception e cake cutting and first dance Receptions typically have down time for photographers particularly when the guests are eating What a great time to use video You could try gliding through the reception or panning across the room Take advantage of this time to make stills There are many ways to cover the first dance Circling the couple while maintaining a consistent distance is a great dynamic shot It also means you won t have to worry about adjusting your focus lf they are dancing slowly you could focus on their hands or faces and then let the focus drift as they move You could even hold your shot steady and if you are at f 2 0 or better they will move in and out of focus for you You are limited only by your imagination At this po
52. Coined the Ken Burns Effect by videographers who embraced his technique this became a popular means of integrating a still image with moving video For photographers however the idea of Fusion was daunting Now with the accessibility of equipment the ease of recording audio and video the editing software and the quality of work we can produce Fusion is an idea whose time has come No more complex than photography itself and certainly no more stressful to produce than the first wedding you photographed professionally Fusion is simply the logical progression in the way in which we tell our clients stories Fusion itself is quite simple Making Fusion however is a little more complicated This book will take you through everything you need to make Fusion a reality in your studio Why Fusion Fusion can seem overwhelming especially in your first attempts But it s no more overwhelming than the first time you picked up your camera for a paid shoot At least it shouldn t be The first few weddings you shoot you are full of nerves disbelief that you are being paid fear of messing up and a sense of excitement that comes from doing something FIGURE 2 Wedding photography is as much about capturing images for posterity as it is about making art out of those moments you love This hasn t really changed all that much for us in the past 10 years we might be a little less nervous but we still pinch ourselves that we get to d
53. Fusion workflow will help stave off the frustration of working in a new medium and facilitate an easier transition to Fusion ography It is daunting at first but once you are organized the actual edit is much easier Downloading and Storage There are many ways you can download your files and there are many programs you can use to do it Ultimately you should be able to create a workflow that assimilates nicely with what you currently use to download your still images If you use an HDSLR camera you are writing your video files to the same kind of media as your still images As a result downloading is fairly straightforward and as simple as dragging the files to your desktop and backup drives There are many software applications available to help you ingest your files and many photographers choose these instead of using the simple drag and drop method In order to integrate these programs into your Fusion workflow you need to ensure that they can ingest video files made on HDSLR cameras If your favorite program is not compatible with video files the drag and drop method is likely your best choice Two popular applications that allow you to download movie files and still files are described below There are many other popular programs you can use to get your files on your computer and as the Fusion revolution continues more and more applications will add the capability to download movie files directly from compact flash CF or secure digita
54. It breathes life into the nuances of each moment the moments your viewers want to remember always And it delivers the audio the gift of language as well as the accompanying ambient sounds in a way that ties everything together perfectly Video as a storytelling medium is different yet complimentary to photography There are rules about videography and ways to compose sequences that can vary from photography and there are many that are quite similar If you are a rule follower we encourage you to learn about those rules and set up your video coverage to work within those parameters When you first start to add video Fusion there are a few things you can do to make it easy on yourself 30 Chapter 2 FIGURE 2 1 Our subject has been placed according to the rule of thirds both horizontally head body feet are each in a different third and vertically she is in one third of the image Here are a few basic rules for capturing consistent high quality video e Use a tripod monopod or other stabilizer as we discuss in Chapter 7 to ensure your footage is steady e Divide the frame into thirds both horizontally and vertically placing your primary subject along one of those lines just as in photography see Figure 2 1 e Never cut off your subjects at their ankle knee wrist etc FIGURE 2 3 Give your subject room to walk through and then out of the frame 32 FIGURE 2 2 Her eyes are in the upper third
55. KII upon its release anyway The video feature was already included so the equipment cost to adopt Fusion was negligible Cost might be one of the reasons that Canon users warmed to the Fusion idea first it was easy for them to access the technology and start playing with it But let s talk more about the camera itself and how to use it for Fusion There are many reasons the 5D MKII is embraced by photographers and videographers For photographers the ease of use is a major consideration Because the video is set within the familiarity of a DSLR the buttons and setup of the camera are comfortable You can define which buttons you want to use for Live View and Video but the camera Is ready to use The camera also has high ISO capabilities Most video cameras cannot perform well in low light and require constant light sources for supplemental lighting And while supplemental lighting can also be beneficial to capture with the 5D MKIl its low light performance allows you to be selective about where and when to add light FIGURE 3 3 Creating stills and video with a shallow depth of field is one of the advantages of using the 5D MKII 47 The shutter and aperture can be controlled manually which allows you to record video in the same conditions in which you make photographs back light low light rim light and so on Until now videographers have rarely had the freedom or capability to use light the same way a
56. Manager Sandy Smith Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Richard Swadley Vice President and Executive Publisher Barry Pruett Media Development Project Manager Laura Moss Book Designer Erik Powers Media Development Assistant Project Manager Jenny Swisher Media Development Associate Producer Doug Kuhn Acknowledgments lve often read this section in other publications and wondered at how many people an author will thank Having never written a book before had no idea how many people were involved how much collaboration there was with the team or how all consuming this process can be So humbly offer my own acknowledgments for those who helped make Photo Fusion a reality must first thank Barry Pruitt who rocked my world with an e mail asking me if would be interested in writing a book Thinking at first it was a joke Barry quickly assured me that this was in fact a reality and am humbled that he reached out to me To Courtney Allen and Carol Person whose unflagging encouragement gentle critiques and shared sense of humor helped me keep moving forward Our e mail exchanges make me smile even with deadlines looming Though our relationship started as business believe we have become friends through this process and only wish we could get together in person Words don t adequately express how much appreciate the two of them and I hope to work with both of them again soon To Lonzell my technical
57. Nikon D300s 03 Non HDSLR Camcorder Options There are a number of viable camcorder options if you want to look outside the HDSLR market And at a price point often less than most HDSLRs camcorders are certainly attractive alternatives The latest crop of camcorders offer a great solution for a backup camera as well Choosing the right camera will likely come down to features and price If you plan to use a camcorder as your backup camera make sure the format is compatible with your HDSLR In other words if your HDSLR records in 1080p at 30 fps you want the camcorder to do the same thing There are camcorders with tape and those that go tapeless both have their pros and cons and which one you choose depends on your personal preference Having an input for external microphones will also prove useful If the camcorder is your backup you may decide to mount your shotgun microphone as discussed in Chapter 4 on this camera so having an external port is important One final consideration is whether the camera output is compatible with your computer and editing software There are camcorders that are platform specific Do your research when deciding which camcorder is right for you Table 3 2 lists a few FIGURE 3 9 Canon VIXIA HFS11 Di camcorders retailing for less than 1500 We have not used these camcorders however so check reviews from reputable publications or check with other C anon H photographers before buying F
58. R cable or a XLR to RCA cable and plug into the auxiliary out portal Most DJs are more than happy to accommodate but they may not know exactly how to be of assistance so make sure you test your recording before you rely on it Chapter 8 Wedding Day Set U When You Need More Than a Non HDSLR In Chapter 3 we explored some of the non HDSLR options available Unfortunately while their price is certainly reasonable and they are a great backup solution there are times with the non HDSLR cameras simply won t work as well as the HDSLRs The most obvious reason is light In soft frontal light or evenly lit conditions the non HDSLR is great bearing in mind it shoots the equivalent of f16 In our experience however these cameras do not expose well in any back light harsh side light outdoor ceremony in late afternoon or low light conditions One of the reasons Fusion has generated so much interest is because you can create incredible imagery with your HDSLRs The shallow depth of field is truly stunning and allows you to make video in a way that blends cohesively with still images A camcorder video is not as visually stunning as an HDSLR video can be at least not right out of the box Another issue is the zoom on the non HDSLR cameras Many non HDSLRs now come with huge zoom ranges yet become very shaky at the extreme zooms Such extreme zoom can degrade image quality digital zoom only gives the illusion of a zoom as It
59. Showit Sites 219 220 sidelight 85 87 single photographer 148 150 Slide List ProShow Producer 197 198 Slide Options window ProShow Producer 200 201 slideshows adjustments 202 built in styles 200 201 customizing 200 202 before the digital days 26 effects 201 new 194 playing back 198 templates 200 transitions 198 zoom effect 201 Smugmug 216 218 soft frontal light 84 software Adobe Premier Elements 77 Aperture 3 0 77 Avid 77 Corel VideoStudio Pro 77 Cyberlink PowerDirector 77 iMovie 09 72 174 191 overview 70 71 Pinnacle Studio 77 Premiere Pro 75 ProShow Gold 73 ProShow Producer 192 208 Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 77 Sony UWP V1 lavaliere kit 60 Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 77 sound effects 179 sound files adding to iMovie 184 185 adding to ProShow Producer 203 205 extracting 170 labeling 171 172 ordering 171 172 from portable recording devices 170 171 scrubbing 171 172 sound recording basic setup 36 39 boom microphone 58 59 boom microphones 58 59 HDSLRs 57 lavaliere lapel microphones 60 61 overview 56 57 redundant backups 62 63 3 pin microphone input 58 Soundtrack bar ProShow Producer 203 Soundtrack Pro 74 speeches adding to iMovie 184 adding to ProShow Producer 203 205 capturing in video 36 41 editing 172 filming 135 stabilizers Glidecam 4000 4000HD 108 overview 108 Steadicam Merlin 108 using 31 where and when to use 146 147 standard definition SD D
60. Showit is a great way to present your clients their still images and their Fusion piece Along with creating a custom platform for your total portfolio Showit also offers full integration with Facebook You can put your entire Showit site into your Facebook page allowing you to harness the power of social media within your Web site Embed your Web site right into Facebook and begin to tag your clients watch the news spread You can also embed your clients Showit sites into their Facebook pages making social media a powerful marketing tool for you As mentioned earlier Smugmug allows you to build a fully customized skin for your site You can upload your logo build the site to looks like any other Web site and remove all Smugmug branding from your pages Smugmug also integrates with Showit Sites so that every time you upload a new gallery to Smugmug it will populate your Showit gallery Embedding Fusion Shorts in Your Blog or Web Site Letting people know about your Fusion is instrumental in selling Fusion to potential clients But everyone will probably not sit through several minutes of a stranger s wedding While they might be interested in seeing some of the ceremony and reception they are not going to listen to how your bride lost her first tooth or other family anecdotes The solution is creating shorts a two to three minute one song piece that features the best of the wedding day and your Fusion Two g
61. VD 191 Steadicam Merlin 108 still images adding audio to 185 adding Ken Burns effect to 183 culling into manageable number 176 placing into Timeline 181 183 197 198 still photography storytelling in 24 25 subject 25 viewer 25 stills audio adding video to 30 35 blending audio and stills 26 29 overview 18 22 still photography 24 25 storage 115 116 storytelling in photography 24 25 subject 25 sunlight backlight 82 83 direct sun 88 89 flare 90 91 sidelight 85 87 soft frontal light 84 supports and stabilizers 108 111 Swap Events and Project button iMovie 181 T team coverage 150 153 themes 177 Timeline placing stills and video into 197 198 Toast 191 transitions 198 trimming video 146 199 Triple Scoop Music 179 206 tripod Manfrotto 055XDB Tripod 99 100 setting up 38 stabilizing camera with 100 101 using 31 where and when to use 146 147 troubleshooting 126 U U Boat 107 uploading Fusion Showit Sites 219 220 Smugmug 216 218 Vimeo 215 YouTube 214 V video adding to stills audio 30 35 capturing 31 35 extracting audio files from 170 formats 190 206 207 208 placing into Timeline 197 199 previewing in ProShow 199 resolution 189 190 208 rule of thirds 31 35 Index 239 240 storage 116 supplemental light for 95 97 trimming 184 199 vows and speeches 36 41 video clips matching audio track with 187 placing into Timeline 181 183 video coverage ce
62. a quick slideshow of your favorites stills from the wedding day You could instantly showcase your unique vision of the wedding day and it would set you apart from other photographers It would also help you sell Fusion to future brides after all it s hard to sell what your prospective clients can t see i iN NO Chapter 9 Filmi While we like to use the photo shoot for our trailers if this isn t your forte or if you re more of a pure photojournalist you can still make a trailer using footage from other events of the day It s a great marketing opportunity and you can showcase the parts of the wedding day that you love the most thereby helping to pre qualify prospective clients while affirming your brand message Using the natural elements of the location is one way to easily add movement to your final piece in the Advanced section of the DVD you will see that we panned across the pavement brought the street and car lights in and out of focus panned across the restaurant sign etc Some examples of what you can shoot as scene setters are e elements of your location alley way street lights trees water etc e glide along the ground toward your couple through glass or maybe on a cobblestone street e turn in a circle capturing everything happening around them e use the natural elements to add texture to your moving images pan across a wall for example and stop as you pan toward your couple Remember to s
63. ad to scan all the images retouch for dust etc and use an extremely slow and unreliable computer based slideshow The music was awtul the transitions beyond cheesy and the return almost nil Go back even further and you had to use a slide carousel and spend a ridiculous amount of time programming it to do what you want and then you had to ensure that you hit Play on the tape deck at the right time That was way before our time of course Fortunately technology has changed and our ability to create shows that set our photographs to music has become so much easier Slideshows are commonplace today and wedding photographers everywhere present their clients with a slideshow set to music Really other than the images and the music choice the product is the same from photographer to photographer In many ways the slideshow set to music has done nothing more than standardize the industry FIGURE 1 5 The groom gives a speech to his new wife while she looks on Imagine the power of this moment when the audio overlays the still images of her reaction and that of her bridesmaids 28 mi yn FIGURE 1 6 The groom s sister sang the song for their first dance In Chapter 8 we show you how to capture this audio during the reception Our clients are consumed with personalizing their event They scour Web sites pour through magazines and study photographers blogs all in an effort to do something different for th
64. ain how detailed you want or need your structure to be Is up to you We have found that the more footage the more detailed our organization Open the movie files with QuickTime or another program watch the first few moments to ensure you know which scene you want it placed into then save your file by using the Save As command We simply save the files using their original name in the appropriate scene folder Step 2 Once you have organized your footage into scenes or categories it s time to look through the footage more thoroughly Now is the time to choose what footage you want to use when putting your piece together and then rename the files We open the files in QuickTime Pro and simply mark the In and Out points for each scene Some clips will have more than one usable segment and you can save each clip with a name that reflects the footage without compromising the master footage For example if you filmed the processional and part of the ceremony in the same clip you might want to extract 15 to 20 seconds of the processional naming it Processional and then 45 seconds of the ceremony renaming it OfficiantTalking Choose names that will be easy to reference and find We use very specific names such as BrideVows or GroomTyingTie to ensure that we don t waste time looking for footage later With a more detailed folder structure you can break your naming convention down further With the processional for example use MOHWalk G
65. an or tilt our frame Fluid video heads facilitate smooth movement by working in the Open position making our footage smooth It does take practice to be able to move the camera smoothly and steadily in a pan or tilt but that movement is much easier with the right kind of head What tripod you choose is a personal decision and you may find that renting different tripods and heads will help you decide This equipment ranges in price from affordable to way out of our budget Determining what kind of footprint you want the weight you are comfortable carrying the mobility of your set up and your budget will be deciding factors when you choose which option is best for you There are many options available to help you stabilize your footage and the following items are relatively inexpensive easy to use and a good place to start All these ttems can be found at www manfrotto com and www bhphotovideo com The Manfrotto O55XDB Tripod and 501 HDV Head are available as a kit at B amp H Photo for approximately 300 www bhphotovideo com and will hold a camera weighing around 13 2 pounds The kit itself weighs about 8 5 pounds and folds 100 Chapter 7 1 Migh down to about 29 inches in length This is a great kit to get you started You should also consider the 5 03HDV head which is slightly larger supports more weight but at 354 is more expensive You can save money when you purchase these items as a kit The Monopod is our favorite because it
66. apabilities as programs like Final Cut Pro Apple Inc and Premiere Adobe Systems Inc For Fusion ographers though features such as a video trimmer slide styles and HD output make Producer a viable editing solution We use Producer on our Mac via VMware Fusion Installing Producer was straightforward once we had our virtual machine on our Macs but you will need the Windows operating system in order to run Producer If you already use a Windows machine installation will be quite simple This chapter will take you through the steps needed to produce a basic stills audio video piece 192 FIGURE 13 1 Producer is a great option for both Mac and Windows users Everything you need is accessible through the menu bar and the toolbar see Figure 13 2 and 13 3 and has all the frequently used options File Edt Project Show Side Audio Create Window Help FIGURE 13 2 The menu bar FIGURE 13 3 The toolbar Start by setting up your default settings Go to Edit gt Preferences and the Preferences window will open Producer will run straight out of the box but setting your preferences first will save you time later You can set all your Show Defaults see Figure 13 4 from how your Timeline is configured HH MM SS or MM SS the default slide and transition durations image settings crop fit to frame etc and more We suggest leaving the slide duration set at 3 seconds for now but the default transition
67. asy to work with in the actual lighting situation You want to watch for squinting but you can use direct sun in ways that don t impact your subjects eyes like Figure 6 8 FIGURE 6 8 Direct sun can be used to make compelling stills and video The scene in Figure 6 8 on the left provides a great opportunity for some interesting video We would use the shadow of the bride and do a pan across the scene or focus in and out on the couple ending on the shadow This kind of setting provides numerous ways to make creative clips for your final Fusion piece One thing we should note in very bright direct sun is that both your camcorder and HDSLR may require an ND filter be used We discuss these filters in Chapter 7 and explain how they reduce the amount of light coming into the lens thereby allowing you to use a wider aperture and slower shutter This is advantageous with both types of cameras but with HDSLRs in particular you want to try and keep your shutter at 1 60 to minimize the rolling shutter The ND filter will help you do that in bright conditions AA 90 Flare is one of our favorite ways to use light Flare often a combination of backlight and direct light occurs when the light hits the front element of your lens and causes reflections in your image It can take on different shapes and colors but the effect is the same It decreases the contrast in an image and often results in a hazy effect Done correctly
68. aving them walk down the sidewalk together while you are gliding behind them Maintain your distance for a few steps and then slow down letting them walk out of the frame That could easily be the final shot in your Fusion piece symbolizing the next part of their journey together as a couple Whatever advanced coverage you choose to offer have fun with it This is a chance to take your existing coverage to the next step and create something that adds value for your clients FIGURE 9 10 Hanging light fixtures video light and other alternative sources make interesting imagery during a night shoot Tripod Monopod or Stabilizer Where and When To Use When you start incorporating Fusion we strongly suggest that you use stabilizers as often as possible to keep your footage smooth and steady which will significantly cut your editing time Though your preferred editing platform will likely have a built in stabilizing filter it takes time to run and we don t want you bogged down and therefore frustrated editing your pieces Without getting into the technical details of stabilizing software we should note that these programs could occasionally introduce adverse effects to the video Keeping your footage stable therefore while you are recording is a priority We recommend using a tripod during the ceremony and reception and a monopod for most of the rest of the day One trick we have learned is that we can fly our camera on the m
69. backup camera on a tripod and place it at the end of the aisle Chapter 8 How to Set Up tor the Ceremony and Reception In Chapter 4 we talked about some of the audio equipment you can use while making Fusion Having great audio is the mark of a professional so knowing when and how to use your audio equipment to facilitate great capture is an important part of Fusion In the Basic section we share a simple and relatively inexpensive way that you can record audio In the Advanced section we offer a more complex audio solution These are just two of the ways that you can record audio on a wedding day This combination works well for us but you may want to use a different combination of devices and that is fine What is most important is that you get the best possible audio you can and that you always have a backup Basic The key to successful video during the ceremony and reception is capturing the sound When you first start offering Fusion we encourage you to invest in FIGURE 8 6 The shotgun good audio equipment but you don t mic mounted on the HDSLR need to buy the very best until you are sure Fusion is something you want to offer The shotgun mic and wireless device we use in this section are relatively inexpensive and will be a good investment When you decide to upgrade your audio equipment the shotgun mic will be moved to your redundant camera and your portable recording device will become a redundant backu
70. bate sharing the pros and cons and realities of producing each medium FIGURE 14 8 Embed Fusion shorts into your blog 221 222 DVD and HD DVD It is probably fair to state that the DVD in general is on its way out but there may be times when you will want or need to be able to produce one If your clients for example don t have a Blu ray player then a DVD Is your only option The good news Is that Blu Ray machines can play DVDs And if your clients upgrade to a Blu Ray player down the road they should still be able to play your DVD The real question is whether you can author an HD DVD After all you spent all that time creating a beautiful HD Fusion piece and you wouldn t want it to be wasted It might be hard to buy HD DVDs that you can write to now When Toshiba threw in the towel and other companies followed suit it became much harder to find red discs HD DVDs on the shelves in stores like Best Buy For all intents and purposes the ability to make HD DVDs is dead But you can still make SD DVDs for now If you are a Mac user and you want to use iDVD or Apple s DVD Studio Pro to author your output SD DVDs are really your only option You can author an HD DVD but there is no medium you can burn it to There are third party burners and software you can use to author and burn Blu Ray discs on your Mac if you are so inclined and we share some of those below You might be wondering why App
71. can do Built from a photographer s perspective Producer focuses on the still image first and the video second Audio is also given a lot of importance in Producer When we tested this program we use Final Cut Pro we found that much of what we can do in FCP we can also do in Producer and in an easier way Key framing transitions and more are all very easy to do It is the simplicity of this program with the ability to do it all faster that has us interested in making it part of our workflow And at 249 95 for the full version Producer is a nice stepping stone into the more conventional and expensive video editing platforms Features Final Cut Pro Premiere CS4 Producer AVC Intra AVCAM DV DV AVI M1V MOV QT MPE CAM DVCPRO DVCPRO Bees gua i MPEG MPG WMV GIF Input Formats HD DVCPRO 50 HDV ynoans Ex XDGAM HD DIVX VX XVID ASF MP4 XDCAM EX XDCAM HD QuicktTive wma M2TS MTS H 264 WMA XDCAM 422 MP3 WAV Blu ray DVD SVCD FLY PX Mpeg2 Mpeg1 MOV WMV AVI compressed and AVC Intra AVI DVD FLV AVHCD AVC Intra AVI Output Formats MPEG 1 MPEG 2 MP4 DVD FLV F4V MPEG 2 an QuickTime SWF WMA Features Final Cut Pro Premiere CS4 Producer Windows XP Vista 7 Windows 2000 XP Vista 7 Platform Mac OS A 1056 Mac OS X 10 4 11 Mac VMware Fusion or later to 10 6 1 Bundled with other applications color correction filters etc Foetal we 5240 55 Your software choice
72. card to simply make a copy of the first card FIGURE 3 7 Nikon D3S Unfortunately the video in the DSS is limited to 720p and the recording time is limited to five minutes These limitations combined with the codec Motion JPG used to record the video makes the Nikon offerings interesting but perhaps not good enough A Nikon shooter will be able to make Fusion with the D3S and the D300S but will have to deal with the limited recording time and the awkward codec Chapter 3 Nikon D300s The update to the D300 the D300s offers a few new features in addition to HD video Notable updates are the 7fps continuous shooting dual card slots and a dedicated Live View button Offering Auto focus and in camera movie editing the D300s is limited to recording 720p at 24fps just as the D3S The in camera editing does sound interesting if you want to provide your clients with same day editing Like the D3S the D300s also has contrast detect Auto focus in Tripod mode The recording time and codec in the D300s like the D3S the may prove difficult to make Fusion for Nikon shooters If your goal is to only record specific short clips of a wedding day you may not find these conditions limiting As long as you are recording the audio in its entirety see Chapter 4 these cameras may work for you For more information about the D300s check out these publications Nikon D300s Digital Field Guide by J Dennis Thomas FIGURE 3 8
73. cent years the number of sites offering inexpensive or free online video hosting has been increasing For a long time the quality was poor but that has all changed as online hosts offer the ability to post HD 1080p video This ts fantastic for everyone offering Fusion as It provides flexibility in where and how to host your Fusion pieces There are three companies that come to mind when we talk about hosting video online YouTube Vimeo and Smugmug Odds are you have already heard of all three but you might be confused as to what each one offers Each company has compelling reasons to choose it and ultimately the choice is yours Chapter 14 FIGURE 14 1 Your couples can t wait to share your Fusion work with everyone they know 214 YouTube Perhaps the best known video hosting company YouTube www youtube com is also one of the fastest growing sites on the Web You can find almost anything on YouTube which is great but there are many factors to consider when choosing YouTube to host your Fusion If you are making your Fusion pieces in HD YouTube will allow you to use the 1280 by 720 resolution and your file size is limited to 2GB You will have to compress your video with applications such as iMovie and Producer In fact with Producer you can simply choose the YouTube output option and it will take care of the compresssion for you We have yet to produce a 10 minute Fusion piece that won t conform to thos
74. computers will be compatible However if you struggle with the camera s output format and iMovie we recommend using a program like MPEG Streamclip www squared5 com Based solely on anecdotal evidence some people prefer to work in a format other than h 264 but for the purposes of this chapter we re going to assume that you are able to work with the native file output d i FIGURE 12 9 As you edit incorporate the tone and energy of the wedding into your piece Chapter 12 Placing stills and Video into the Timeline The entire project is built in the Project window shown in Figure 12 10 Each of the dotted rectangles represents a clip and you will fill each clip with your photos and video If you prefer to work in a larger space you can simply hit the Swap Events and Project button see Figure 12 11 on the left side of the middle task bar You can also close the box where your iLife applications are located to make even more room for editing when you want them open again just click on the relevant icon and the box will open again When building projects we find it easiest to start with the photos and then add the audio and video once we have our still images sorted Deciding the overall appearance and feel of your roject is the best place to start FIGURE 12 10 The Project window Ais ae p is where you will build your show If you followed our suggestion in Chapter 11 you may have already FIGURE 12 11
75. create a fantastic piece to show at the wedding reception There are many ways to approach engagement Fusion including but not limited to an interview like the one on the DVD included with this book Much like the photo shoot on a wedding day an engagement session provides a lot of opportunity to film video The most obvious shots include the couple walking together a close up of their hands or their faces as shown in Figure 10 5 But this isn t a time to play it safe Rather this is an opportunity to have fun with Fusion An engagement session v Fr 2 2 Sei is p a eS ee ee FIGURE 10 5 Try different ways of framing your video Chapter 10 Fusion and Other Photography is a time to play to get to know what the boundaries are with your couples to experiment with light and backdrops It s a great time to really push your Fusion too After all this is not a wedding It s a portrait session and you can take control Your couple will be more than willing to try things for you and you will probably find that they become your creative advocates particularly if you have sold the session with the idea that what you create will be shown to their family and friends We suggest doing the interview first Have them talk about each other about why they love each other why they want to get married their dreams for the future all topics that create a rush of emotion for your couple and make
76. d for you and the way you conceive your final show You can add files anywhere in the Slide List and you can add more than one to each slide Slides can also have an unlimited number of layers which is beneficial when you are creating a layered montage with multiple photos or playing a video against a textured background Once you have your files in the Timeline you can organize them any way you want by dragging the slide left or right When you look at the Slide List you will notice a thumbnail of the image the slide number and two values as shown in Figure 13 9 These values are seconds the number at the bottom of the slide is your slide time 3 seconds and the number to the right is your transition time 1 second If you want to change the time of either the slide or the transition just click on the value and type the duration you prefer remember the time is in seconds FIGURE 13 9 Slide and transition times can be found at the bottom on your slides in the Slide List 197 BEL ET f T s FIGURE 13 10 Watch your show in the Preview window on the right You can playback your slideshow at any time by pressing the space bar or by clicking on the Play icon in the Preview window shown in the top of Figure 13 10 Playback begins at the highlighted slide Transitions are automatically added for you and the default transition is a cross fade You aren t stuck with this transition though you can c
77. d also uses a USB cable to download The Olympus records in WMA Windows Media Audio format which is not a Mac friendly format and we use a program called Switch www nch com au switch which will convert WMA files to AIFF WAV MP 3 files and more There are many programs that will allow you to do the same thing Interestingly we cannot open the WMA files on our newest computer but we can open them without difficulty on one of our older machines so try opening them on your Mac before downloading any software you may be able to access them easily Labeling and ordering audio Culling your audio files is an important step in organizing your footage We use the same four steps to cull our audio files as we used to cull our video files Placing the audio files into the appropriate scene folders will again allow you to be more efficient when you edit your Fusion piece If you merely add audio to your stills it is still important to scrub through the audio files to find the segments you want to use It Is likely whether you recorded audio only or audio and video that the audio portion of your organization will be the most time consuming It is possible you could have several hours of audio especially if you left your portable recording device running throughout the ceremony and reception You should scrub through all the audio before you start editing your piece For Mac users GarageBand is a simple and easy program to use Open the program s
78. d my way through this new landscape both in writing this book and in producing the first Fusion DVD in 2008 Many of you thought we were crazy for going down this road and for a time thought so too but Fusion is a reality and I m thankful for that learned some very hard lessons along the way but we never strayed from our convictions that Fusion made sense Thank you for helping me stay the course The men in my life my husband Steve and my sons Logan and Ethan without the three of you my life would simply not make sense Steve my husband of over a decade you are my constant support encouraging me to reach beyond anything ever dreamed for myself Thank you for letting me take this on for letting me write these words and for collaborating with me in our life family and business Until you are part of what am doing it isn t truly a reality and the why of my life is so clear with you in it know that you consider this book mine but it is as much you as it is me and couldn t ask for anyone better to share it with To Logan and Ethan the heart and soul of my life could not imagine a world where was not your mother and am grateful every day that you are my children Without the two of you the sun would not shine as brightly the birds would not sing as sweetly and my dreams would not hold as much meaning My greatest hope is that in following my own dreams have encouraged both of you to follow your dr
79. day setup 115 116 Zacuto Z Finder v2 107 Lowel Pro Light 95 M Mac OS 68 Macs 67 68 Manfrotto O55XDB Tripod 99 100 Manfrotto 501HDV Head 99 100 Manfrotto 503HDV Head 100 Manfrotto 561BHDV 100 mic the mic 124 monopods Manfrotto 561BHDV 100 stabilizing camera with 100 101 using 31 where and when to use 146 147 Motion 74 Motion Effects tab ProShow Producer 201 Motion JPG 196 mov file 207 MPEG Streamclip 180 MPEG 4 AVC 207 music choosing 189 206 using 179 237 238 N natural light 80 81 neutral density ND filters 104 New Project iMovie 177 New Slide Show dialog box ProShow Producer 195 night shoot 145 Nikon 24 70 2 8 101 Nikon D300S 51 53 55 Nikon D300S Digital Field Guide Thomas 53 Nikon D3S 51 52 55 non HDSLR camcorders downloading 167 169 light 125 limitations of 125 options 54 price 125 zoom 125 O Olympus DS 40 62 63 120 126 online Fusion Showit Sites 219 220 Smugmug 216 218 Vimeo 215 YouTube 214 outsourcing 228 P Parallels 166 Photo Duration slider iMovie 177 photo shoot 142 143 PhotoDex 73 76 Photo Mechanic 165 166 photos adding audio to 185 adding Ken Burns effect to 183 culling into manageable number 176 placing into Timeline 181 183 197 198 Pinknoise 25 cable 123 Pinnacle Studio 77 polarizer 104 portable audio recorders 119 121 170 171 Precision Editor iMovie 187 pricing Fusion 228 229 Produce
80. deo at the ceremony and your choice will depend on several factors You can set your tripod up at the end of the aisle on the altar or at the head of the aisle If you set up on the alter you will probably have to stay there and man your camera during the entire ceremony or need to check in constantly to ensure your focus hasn t slipped that no one has moved out of the frame and that you are getting what you need You also need to remember that an HDSLR records in bursts of no more than 12 minutes at a time Setting up at the head of the aisle is at best a short term solution While it might be nice to record the bride walking up the aisle you will have to get out of the way quite quickly and that might prove to be difficult depending on the church In the interest of keeping it simple this is not an option that we prefer to use But this is about the Basics and if your goal is to be unobtrusive and to keep things simple setting up at the back of the aisle is probably your best choice Being at the back of the aisle allows you to be out of the way during the bulk of the ceremony and is our preferred location For the remainder of this chapter we are assuming you have set up at the back of the aisle Once you have set up your audio and decided where you will be positioned the next step is to place your tripod mount your camera and determine your sight lines In most cases you will have everything ready in a side aisle or pew and be p
81. dget to you When you share the Fusion pieces you have made you forge a connection between your new clients and the people in the show You may even find that the people you are sharing the piece with who have never met those in the video are moved to laughter and tears Hearing their voices and seeing short clips of video is both compelling and unique After all the slideshow of still images set only to music is now commonplace Even if several other photographers in your market are offering Fusion the individuality of your couples voices and movement will set you apart Chapter 15 How you share Fusion will also impact your ability to sell it If you simply turn on the video sit back and let the couple watch there will be some impact to be sure But imagine that instead of simply letting the piece speak for itself you share the story of how the piece was made what made it compelling to you why you are moved to do Fusion at all Share the fact that it is work a i ait lot of work but that the FIGURE 15 4 Connecting your clients with Fusion will increase your after wedding sales gift you are giving your clients is worth every moment you put into it We always share the story of our own wedding day and subsequent forgetfulness how we had to ask Steve s dad if he spoke at our wedding and how hurt he was that we didn t remember You are going to ask this couple to spend more money with
82. e k ae FIGURE 9 14 Having one person cover stills while the other manages video allows variety and spontaneity Photo FIGURE 9 15 Planning managing expectations and being willing to expect the unexpected are key to making Fusion on a wedding day Steve tends to shoot the ceremony from the end of the aisle once he has moved back from covering the processional which means he is in the perfect position to monitor the video capture during the actual ceremony As Steve moves up to photograph the signing of the register Jen circles back to ensure everything is out of the way We are both free to cover the recessional at that point There is never a question of who is in charge of what on a wedding day everything needs to be worked out ahead of time and then implemented on the day If for some reason there is a change it is not a problem as long as that change is communicated clearly There are times for example when Steve gets trapped near the head of the aisle either he can t get down a side aisle or the main aisle is blocked or the officiant told him not to move Because Jen is waiting at the end of the aisle she is in position to cover the ceremony We simply make eye contact communicate that Steve is stuck and Jen takes care of the video and the stills from the end of the aisle Having both members of the team proficient in setting up using and breaking down the equipment is a way to avoid panic on th
83. e Another option you will find in the Audio pop up menu see Figure 13 21 is the Quick Sync Selected Slides to Track This is a great way to line up your audio segment with the slides you want without having to worry about timing If you know for example that you want the bride s vows to encompass six specific images highlight those six slides choose the appropriate audio track and click OK The length of the slides you selected will change so that the slides will start and end when the audio starts and ends In other words the slides will automatically adjust to fit within the time constraints of the audio track you are using making it easy for you to line up specific audio segments with specific slides FIGURE 13 23 Use the options in your Audio pop up menu to sync with single or multiple slides 205 Choosing Music There are a few things to consider when deciding what kind of music to use in your show Music helps set the tone of your show fast music with a hard hitting beat will create a different experience than soft slow music Knowing your clients and paying attention to their musical tastes can assist in making the right music choice One thing we have found to be almost universally true is that our clients no matter what their wedding day was really like want their final piece to have a happy and upbeat feel When we choose music therefore we try to ensure that we keep that feeling in mind Pay at
84. e also known as a shotgun microphone Is what you typically see in TV and film productions You will also occasionally see videographers with shotgun mics mounted on their second or B cameras A shotgun mic is a good place to start and a great backup device but it has limitations that preclude it from being used alone on a wedding day particularly during the FIGURE 4 1 Microphone Input on a 5D MKII Sennheiser MKE 400 199 95 www sennheiser com Rode VideoMic 149 www rodemic com Azden ECZ 990 SGM X 54 99 and 106 95 respectively www azdencorp com 08 Chapter 4 3 pin XLR Microphone Input e Sennheiser ME67 K6 549 or in a kit at 899 www sennheiser com e Rode NTG1 and NTG2 249 and 269 respectively www rodemic com FIGURE 4 2 Boom microphone mounted on a 5D MKII vows and speeches The sound from a shotgun microphone is actually quite pleasing to listen to and in circumstances where other audio devices are challenging to use may be sufficient if that is all you have In particular using a shotgun device while the bride is getting ready during the formal shoot and other times of the day will give you a great sampling of audio to use in your final production The mics listed generally retail for less than 500 and are similar enough in recording and output quality that you are unlikely to hear any real difference between them Be sure to note what kind of input your camera has before purchasin
85. e Basics Vows and speeches There are so many things happening at a wedding that we advocate the KISS approach to Fusion Keep it Simple Silly Fusion can feel overwhelming and distracting if you don t come at it with a clear plan for your day We suggest starting small and only providing Fusion from two areas of the wedding day at first the vows and speeches When you first discuss Fusion with your clients managing their expectations is very important While you let them know that you will be capturing audio and video from specific times of the day it is just as important to let them know what you are not capturing You are not going to replace a videographer that provides a 30 to 60 minute movie for them You are not going to be recording the bride getting ready the family photos the photo session in general the bouquet or garter toss the processional recessional the first dance etc Just the vows and the speeches Your final product will likely not exceed six to ten minutes just long enough for them to enjoy and short enough for friends and family to sit through What you are producing is more like a documentary short than a feature film Once you have established the expectations go out and exceed them You will end up recording more than just the vows and speeches and you will be able to i T J a e choose whether or not you will use that footage By aA E oe defining the limits of your delivery you n
86. e Master Collection is your best option CS5 has everything you need to get started You can also purchase the standalone version of Premiere Pro but it doesn t include After Effects so if you decide to buy the standalone version we suggest you also purchase After Effects Adobe also supports Mac users and Final Cut Pro projects can be imported to Premiere You can finish your Fusion project using After Effects Photoshop and Encore taking advantage of both platforms You can also use Photoshop actions in your video footage After Effects is similar to Motion in the Final Cut Studio but our research indicates that After Effects is a better option It is much easier to use After Effects with Premiere Pro than with Final Cut Pro however Premiere CS5 requires Windows XP Vista or Windows 7 while Mac users need OS X 10 4 11 or higher FIGURE 5 9 A wedding day is full of moments rife with excitement and anticipation Producer from Photodex With Photo Fusion investing in one of the more robust video editing platforms like Final Cut Pro or Premiere is certainly an option that many will choose As you outgrow iMovie ProShow Gold and similar programs it is natural to look at the programs that video editors use There is another option though in Producer In truth we ignored Producer for a long time because it was not Mac friendly But while researching this book we took another look at Producer and were intrigued by what this program
87. e age old debate about photographic gear rages on in the Fusion world HDSLRs are pitted against the RED cameras which are pitted against camcorders and so on It s no different from the Canon Nikon RAW JPEG Mac PC debates that have also been going on forever While there are definitely compelling reasons why you should choose one platform over another in the hands of a competent and creative artist the tools matter less than the vision of the person using them But that s no fun ts it The gear really does matter when it is time to choose the most appropriate means to create a Fusion project that fits with your creative vision 44 Chapter 3 ii Si a FIGURE 3 1 As with all art the tools matter less than the vision 46 CANON oD MKII Without doubt the Canon 5D MKII is the camera that initially put Fusion on the front burner Combining HD video recording ina DSLR with the look of expensive Hollywood cameras at a prosumer price Canon set the photography and videography worlds on their respective heads Photographers were enamored first with the high ISO of the 5D MKII To photographers video seemed more like an FIGURE 3 2 Canon 5D MKII add on without any real purpose Videographers on the other hand were amazed by the quality of video the MKII produced the ability to pull focus and the price point There was suddenly a cinema quality camera available at a significantly lower pr
88. e images from the ceremony might take our couples back to the moment the words that were said would give so much more power to the imagery Selling Fusion The last thing we want to see happen is that you learn all about Fusion go out and shoot a few weddings spend hours and hours putting a final product together and make no money at all Fusion is work and you should be paid for your work With friends and relatives already making Fusion for our clients how can we sell it to them There are probably as many ways to sell Fusion as there are to sell wedding photography itself and there are many books about sales and sales techniques That being said the simplest way to sell Fusion is to simply show it Your clients and potential clients already love your still photography and are anticipating what their own wedding images are going to look like Selling them on the idea of an even more robust product is probably easier than selling them on your still images alone Imagine showing potential clients a slideshow set to music of your favorite wedding It s a delightful story full of emotion and beauty love and romance and it is just like every other photographer s slideshow presentation photographs set to music What then sets you apart from other photographers What compels a client to choose you over them Now imagine that you are presenting your clients something that not only showcases the magic of your still images but
89. e size restrictions so you should be fine as long as you stick to the YouTube time limit If you want to use YouTube and you are using a Mac to make your Fusion piece first Select QuickTime Movie gt Options In the Video section uncheck Frame Recording your Size options should be Original Size and preferably 1920 by 1080 or 1280 by 720 for 16 9 In the Prepare for Internet Streaming section select Prepare for Internet Streams and select Fast Start from the pop up menu YouTube also allows you to direct link and embed your video in blogs and other sites The link can be to an SD standard definition or HD show But there is a catch in order to link directly to the HD version you need to add amp hd 1 to the URL To embed a full HD piece in your blog you need to go to the Video Play page for the show and find the embedded code located on the right of the video player If you use the embed code as is you will be able to embed a SD show To embed an HD video you need to add the same amp hd 1 HD parameter to the code at the end of the URL in two places Then simply copy and paste the code as appropriate for your site For example your the code should look like the following the HD parameter is noted in bold however do not make that text bold when you are adding it to the code lt object width 425 height 350 gt lt param name movie value http www youtube com v O9z Jfs 1 amp hd 1 gt lt param gt lt embed src ht
90. e the HDSLR is also recording video BE a 133 Photo Setting up for the reception is similar to the ceremony Choosing where to position the tripod ensures you of getting the images and video you need Consider the podium location whether you want your tripod on the dance floor or at the back of the room the people between you and the podium and so on Every room will have different challenge so getting into the room before the event starts is a great way to get organized Remember your goal with the Basics is to simply cover the speeches during the reception so concentrate on doing that and capture everything else as still images Typically you will record video of the person giving the speech and use your still camera to capture the emotions of the people listening to the speech You will use the video to help deliver the audio If you have two cameras you can keep one pointed at the bride and groom to capture their reactions as well but remember that you will be capturing those moments as still images and your final Fusion piece will be predominantly photographs The biggest challenge when recording the speeches is something we fondly call the Roaming Mic We ve all seen the guest who decides to wander while speaking microphone in hand As photographers we often run to catch an image so imagine what this will do to your video recording If you placed your microphone on the speaker s mic as we
91. e wedding day We split the reception in a similar way Jen typically covers the reactions of the head table while Steve covers the speaker and the guests It was natural therefore for those roles to continue with the video as well While one is photographing the room the other is setting up the audio It makes sense to have the roles defined before your arrival so each person knows their responsibility There will be times if you are offering more advanced coverage when you will each want to make video on the fly If you only have one HDSLR then obviously only one can take video at a time If you have two HDSLR cameras however we suggest devising a signal to let the other person know you are shooting video if you are unable to speak to them directly We use the sign for video that is common in charades that way we re never guessing what the other one means FIGURE 10 1 Family photography is a natural next step for wedding photographers FIGURE 10 2 Family photos help us remember the days when our children were small As our wedding clients move into pregnancy and then parenthood they often take us on the journey with them allowing us to be part of their pregnancy their children s earliest days and through the lifetime of their family as in Figure 10 1 Fusion is the ideal complement to any family coverage you offer As parents ourselves we were sure we would never forget the way our infants
92. eams and to live your life s passion with humility grace and integrity Thank you for sharing me with this project for encouraging me with cheers every time a chapter was finished and for letting me love you both To my boys without whom life would not be as sweet Table of Contents Table of Contents E y slats se es 1 FUSION VRATIS IC EXIGIT 25594056554 oper tinsen ss cee eueeenen ees 4 Wy PSION eaa raa a A E ae T 4 e oaee e E EEEE TT IEE T T EE T eon ee oor 12 MOOUMINIG DOOR e rasanan AEN EREE OERA 14 Part 1 Different Types of FusSion 0000000 16 Chapter 1 Stills Audio 0 ccc ccc eee 18 The Value of Audio Coverage ccea coda sanaan aaraa a e 18 SUFRO DNY otecctceces enan E a EA N A a was 24 Blending Audio and Stills nananana anaa 26 Chapter 2 Stills Audio Video cece eee 30 Adding Video to Stills Audio o cccendwes 40 cere dee bean ddiaeeeoeet des 30 Just the Basics Vows and Speeches 0 0 c eee eee eee ees 36 Getting More Advanced Vows Speeches and More 000ee eens 40 xI XII Part 2 The Equipment You Need 0000000 42 Chapter 3 The Cameras ccc cece eee eee eee eee eee 44 Canon BK MKII scanecos otebaatatereaes odes eaneaenebuade nce 45 Canon 7D and 1D Wh e 22164 ereagenenets renee denrensisees 50 UOMO Oe cattud hte ascach aun eee oe Sera aee Gees Conese eeees 52 Nikon ID S006 s reerrersr ere e ei a R a tones ose 53 Non HDSLR Camcorder
93. easier to use than the glide systems No matter what support system or stabilizer you choose the purpose of all these rights is the ability to make smooth video You will use your tripod and monopod most frequently while you will use the other stabilizers less often As you start incorporating Fusion you won t necessarily want to invest a significant amount of money in this kind of gear so many of these items will end up on your wish list rather than your must have list We encourage you to take advantage of your local rental shops and try everything before you buy We also encourage you to first invest in your tripod fluid head monopod and loupe FIGURE 7 8 The Quick Release U Boat Run and Gun shown here mounted on a tripod Making Fusion This section is all about making Fusion in as simple a way as possible By having everything ready ahead of time even the unforeseen issues that crop up on a wedding day shouldn t distract you from what you need to do to make Fusion We ve prefaced this section with a disclaimer The first time you try Fusion should not be at a wedding or any other paying job Just like you should test all new equipment before using it on a wedding day you should practice Fusion ahead of time Become familiar with the equipment practice in different light and know how to work with real people is extremely important Grab a friend or even your pet This book will help you with what you need to do t
94. ecord and deliver more audio than with the Basics But we record more than the vows and speeches We take more video and incorporate small clips from the rest of the day into the final piece This is a time to experiment with video to try different angles different light different compositions all with an eye to a more comprehensive final edit Getting Ready One of our favorite times of a wedding day is when the bride is getting ready Being in the room with the bride her best friends and sometimes even her family as she spends her last few hours as a single woman makes great storytelling images It s also the time when everyone can become accustomed to having us around and where our cameras become a natural part of the day Once you have mastered the basics of Fusion it s also a wonderful opportunity to film video As we ve mentioned if a moment is better served as a still image shoot a still At this stage in the day you will have time to get some video of both moments and elements that you might typically shoot as stills The dress for example can be a great moving image you can pan up or down get in close and focus and then let the focus drift or make any number of clips You can do the same with the shoes rings flowers etc Just remember if you are going to shoot video of the details make each shot dynamic to help you decide if you want to use it in the final piece Some shot ideas to get you started are e the dress b
95. ect the Embedding tab There are a variety of options that allow you to customize your embed One thing however Vimeo limits the number of times your embedded video can be played and FIGURE 14 2 Customizing your page is something ou may have to buy more embed plays You will y y y pray to consider when choosing where to host Fusion receive 25 000 plays when you purchase your Plus account and can buy more in increments of 10 000 play for 24 95 Vimeo has a strict set of community guidelines that regulate different aspects of the site Founded on the desire to share creative works Vimeo is not designed for commercial applications or to externalize third party hosting costs so we strongly encourage you to read their guidelines www vimeo com guidelines to determine if your Fusion piece meets all their hosting requirements 215 Photo Fusion Smugmug To host HD video on Smugmug www smugmug com you need to purchase an account 39 95 to 149 95 annually though they do offer a free trial to get you started While the price might be a deterrent since Vimeo and YouTube are free one of the benefits of using Smugmug is that you can fully customize your site within its framework see Figure 14 3 and you can choose to have an independent URL You can also share your video and still images via links rather then hosting them on your own server There is no limit to the amount of content you can upload and we use it for both vide
96. ed in Chapter 8 The audio synced with video will obviously be part of your video files You might however want to work with the audio separately from the video and will need to extract the audio track For us it is important to have the flexibility of a separate audio track We use QuickTime Pro to extract the audio from our video clips Simply open the clip in QuickTime and select Export gt Sound to AIFF file and then Save with the appropriate name see Figure 11 5 Extracting the audio from your video clip will make it much easier to edit your piece in programs such as iMovie or ProShow In Final Cut Pro or Premiere Pro you won t need the audio separated in advance but it is nice to have the ability to work with an independent audio file FIGURE 11 5 Extract your audio files from your video footage OE i be p Aya Hini Audio from portable recording devices Downloading audio is fairly easy Just like your camcorder your portable recording device comes with a USB cable that you simply plug into your computer and download The Zoom H4n audio recorder for example records on an SD card and gives you the option to use a USB cable to download from the SD media by simply dragging the files to your desktop Alternatively you can use your card reader to extract the files from the SD card assuming you have an SD media compatible reader 170 Chapter 11 The Olympus DS 40 records directly to the device an
97. ediums the more you will begin to think differently At first Fusion is like having a brand new camera it s fun to play with but it s not quite the same as the camera you have had for years You know that it is the right choice you just have to get comfortable with it That s what you re doing when you focus only on the vows and speeches taking the time to get comfortable with the idea and the execution of Fusion Now it s time to branch out a little more flex your creative muscles and really put your stamp on the Fusion you offer You are a creative person and you are driven to 40 Chapter 2 tell a story with your images Fusion expands the way you can tell the story and allows you more Creativity in both your capture and final product Flying through different times of the day thinking like a photographer rather than videographer and working your final video segments in Photoshop are all ways to set your Fusion product apart You can break the rules making your video flow seamlessly with your stills Like your photography your Fusion will be influenced by and tied to the couple in front of you thereby infused with subtle differences every time A general rule that will help you cover more and more while not splitting your personality in two is If it benefits from movement use video if it doesn t choose a still You will find yourself moving between the mediums with more ease particularly if you are using
98. eeches e Basic example Advanced Fusion capturing the whole day e complementing stills with video throughout the day e examples of video that can be made during the getting ready stage e examples of scene setting video clips from all times of the day e audio set up for ceremony and reception e camera positions for ceremony and reception e recording the entire ceremony including processional and recessional e using a lavaliere microphone in addition to the audio covered in Basic footage from a night time photo shoot e why Fusion will set you apart e advice on making video clips lead time and editing e more advanced reception coverage not simply the speeches e Advanced Example Engagement Fusion A sample of an interview style Fusion Engagement piece Credits and Outtakes The chapter title says it all 233 Wiley Publishing Inc End User License Agreement READ THIS You should carefully read these terms and conditions before opening the software packet s included with this book Book This is a license agreement Agreement between you and Wiley Publishing Inc WPI By opening the accompanying software packet s you acknowledge that you have read and accept the following terms and conditions If you do not agree and do not want to be bound by such terms and conditions promptly return the Book and the unopened software packet s to the place you obtained them for a full refund 1 License Grant WPI grants to you eithe
99. eed his 1 ml a ay FIGURE 7 4 The iDC Run and Gun kit follow focus viewfinder and loupe a aE Bits and Pieces That Come in Handy With the Fusion industry growing in leaps and bounds there always seems to be another tool we can add to our growing arsenal of toys Some are necessary others are just fun but they all have potential uses when making Fusion Some items like the LCD loupes are quickly becoming must have items we recommend you invest in one while other items like the stabilizers listed below are items that you can add once you are sure Fusion is right for you LCD Viewfinder Loupes Because the HDSLR cameras have a relatively small LCD and because they cannot be focused in Video mode through the viewfinder a number of companies have developed LCD loupes to help ensure the focus Is exactly what you want We highly recommend investing in one of these We recently started using a loupe and see a real difference in our footage as a result These loupes attach to the LCD and allow you to get a better view of the screen see Figure 7 5 The benefit in bright conditions is obvious but they work well in every lighting condition Basically you can bring your eye closer to the screen looking through the loupe which blocks out light and making the focus sharper Some of the loupes also magnify the image allowing you to judge focus more accurately In combination with the magnify feature these loupes give you the
100. eing zipped e make up going on e hair being pinned e hugs or reactions from bridesmaids e card or gift from the groom e jewelry being put on FIGURE 9 5 The dress going on the make up being done and final moments with the bridesmaids are great moments for advanced Fusion coverage We always like to end this part of the day with a shot of the bride walking out of the room where she was getting ready It s a symbolic moment one that threads through the rest of our coverage and it can be echoed in other shots throughout the day for example Figure 9 8 al FIGURE 9 6 The moment when the bride leaves for the ceremony works well for stills and video and is a powerful transitional moment in a Fusion piece At some weddings you also have the opportunity to photograph the groom as he is getting ready groom pulling his cuffs or putting cufflinks on groom tie his tie jacket being put on shoes being tied a toast with the family or groomsmen A final shot of the groom leaving Is a great piece of footage to have If you have also captured the bride leaving you could edit the piece in a way that showcases them coming together Choosing just one or two items will help you decide if you want to capture video at this time and it will be less work once you get everything back to the studio You might have to keep reminding yourself throughout the wedding day that you are still putting the emphasis on your pho
101. eir wedding day to make it more about them We see more and more couples choosing to write their own vows They take the time to personalize the words that in effect bind them together thereby giving you the opportunity to give them something completely unique to their event By using their audio as part of your final presentation you are giving them an invaluable gift while giving yourself an incredible sales opportunity To just record the audio you don t need to be commissioned ahead of time You can bring your microphone equipment to a wedding day set it up and shoot as normal Then you can use the audio to surprise your clients when you present their images to them Imagine your clients in your studio simply to see a slideshow of images set to music and their voices become part of the soundtrack Whether you typically sell slideshows or not that couple will not want to go home without a copy of that show You could have it on DVD ready for them to take home that night giving yourself a nice extra sale Depending on what software you use to make your slideshows adding audio is an easy one or two step process On a Mac for example you can import the audio into GarageBand edit and rename the clip Once you ve done the import the audio becomes available in iMovie and you can easily access it for use in your final piece we ll show you this in more detail in Chapters 11 and 12 Where you decide to place the audio is up to yo
102. elect New Project gt Voice and then name your project see Figure 11 6 Fae Frajna Leam to Play cf Leston Sore Fhinn Flactnc Tullii Magic Garage banc iPhone Ragione ye Recent Projects W i hhh ca TR Hepbnand Collect AraM An Londewiting Guilt OBEEMAN Exiting Fin Ciiik FIGURE 11 6 Use the Voice option in GarageBand to edit your audio tracks 171 FIGURE 11 7 The split in the track shows where the usable audio begins Simply select the audio files you want to work on and drag them into GarageBand From there listen to the audio and mark the segments you want to use There are probably a few ways to do this but we like to split the track where the audio starts and then stops In Figure 11 7 you can see a split in the track This split is where the audio we want to use begins To split the track make sure it is highlighted and then use Command T to make the split There may be an easier way but we delete the segment we aren t going to use and then save the usable track with the appropriate name We save each segment as a separate AIFF file and rename the segment with a specific name StefVows or JimLaughingRing for example and save the file in the proper category or scene folders Make sure you use the Save As command so that you don t delete the original track there may be more audio you want to extract and you will need the original track Another thing we do to prep our audio is to edit the speech
103. eline 00e nee 181 GUI WIGS ge og ed T oe oes Seen ee eee ke eye anes 184 Adding Audio Vows and Speeches 000ce cece ee neaes 184 ChOosDO MUSICs aneit rtea ana E A eee 188 EXOOMING TOL 5 eee E E E E E eee E E A ET 191 Chapter 13 ProShow Producer aaasaannssnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn 192 Getling Starled asarre pr d aatan a E a oases 194 Placing Stills and Video into the Timeline 00 eee eae 197 Adding Audio Vows and Speeches nannan nananana 203 CHOOSING MUSIC is 4 22 5442244 a954 6 E A a ees E aes 206 Exporting to Devices and Web SiteS 00 e eee eens 206 Epon ng ol DV ge crea aber tenen econ ten eee ead eedeme pone 208 Table of Contents Part 5 Sharing Fusion cece 210 Chapter 14 Fusion Online 0 00 c eee ees 212 Where to Upload Fusion savcicrtakasecatetasSasccasGateade ca 212 Building a Custom Site to Host Fusion 00 eee eee 219 Embedding Fusion Shorts in Your Blog or Web Site 221 Chapter 15 Fusion to Order 00ccc eee e ene e eens 224 SoG FUSO 22445254056 soatscurese ese nnes airi nagi 226 POI FUGlOlleea 5 eocone can quence ee Sedans Beate dese yee 228 FUSION PIOGQUCISy 44 00 dec lt 4 a0 Go vawbeae hoe E behead oo 230 Appendix A Checklist of Equipment 0000eenaee 232 Appendix B About the DVD 00 ccc scene eens 233 ee rele es cece es ce eee ee ee 234 UW a os eS ae 235 XV Wedding photography is a fast growing industry w
104. en this happens at the reception but you might also find you need additional lighting in other settings as well With still images we have the ability to use flash to light each still as we make it With video though a constant light source is necessary There are lots of ways you can light a scene for video some are quite obtrusive and others are subtler The key to choosing the appropriate kind of light is two fold How much do you want to invest financially and how bright do you need your scene to be Hot lights How many times have you been working with a videographer at a wedding reception and there are huge lights in the corner turned on during a speech and turned off when it is complete Those are hot lights A constant light source usually tungsten these lights are bright and as a result can be placed fairly far away from their subject As photographers we struggle with this kind of light never knowing when they will be turned on and scrambling to revise our camera settings when they are As much as we like to poke fun at the really obtrusive lights videographers use you might need to use one on occasion If for example the podium is not lit at all how are you going to make video of the people giving the speeches You can t stand right in front of them with a little LED or video light blocking the view of everyone in the room Having a hot light may be the only answer in some reception venues Lowel makes a great light
105. ent shall WPI or the author be liable for any damages whatsoever including without limitation damages for loss of business profits business interruption loss of business information or any other pecuniary loss arising from the use of or inability to use the Book or the Software even if WPI has been advised of the possibility of such damages c Because some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you 7 U S Government Restricted Rights Use duplication or disclosure of the Software for or on behalf of the United States of America its agencies and or instrumentalities U S Government is subject to restrictions as stated in paragraph c 1 ii of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause of DFARS 252 227 7013 or subparagraphs c 1 and 2 of the Commercial Computer Software Restricted Rights clause at FAR 52 227 19 and in similar clauses in the NASA FAR supplement as applicable 8 General This Agreement constitutes the entire understanding of the parties and revokes and supersedes all prior agreements oral or written between them and may not be modified or amended except in a writing signed by both parties hereto that specifically refers to this Agreement This Agreement shall take precedence over any other documents that may be in conflict herewith If any one or more provisions contained in this
106. ents emotions and as we all know photography is an emotional buy see Figure 15 5 But what kind of compensation can you expect How are you going to make money with Fusion Without using complex sales formulas to come up with a dollar amount for Fusion one way to consider what you want to charge Is to ask yourself what market segment you are replacing Arguably you are replacing the inexpensive videographer that literally hands over the raw footage to your clients choosing merely to document rather than create an FIGURE 15 5 In the excitement of the moment so much is lost edited piece You are Fusion gives your clients the literal and artistic telling of their story giving your clients more 228 than hours and hours of raw unedited footage you are giving them a cohesive multimedia piece that will allow them to re live both the fantasy and reality of their wedding day see Figure 15 6 In our market that price point is anywhere from 1500 4000 and so we charge accordingly When putting a price on Fusion there are two other things to keep in mind The first is the amount of time you will spend producing the piece Are you planning to produce Fusion in house or outsource Either way you need to be paid for that time How much would you pay to have your piece outsourced That is a good place to start Let s say you are outsourcing at a cost of 500 per project You now have your starting price for Fusion
107. ers were doing Then digital became the great equalizer for wedding photographers Suddenly newer photographers were learning faster on the fly with the surety they nailed the shot There are hundreds of successful wedding photographers working today that have never shot film at a wedding That possibility seemed inconceivable just a few years ago and Is an indication of just how different yet similar the industry is today Here we are in a world that moves faster than anyone ever thought possible with an industry overflowing with new entrants competing for our market share and a client base that has embraced connectivity instant access and real time news If we want to compete in this new market we have FIGURE 1 Before Web sites became commonplace our styles were developed without the influence of what others were doing no choice but to adapt to develop new ways to stand out and to do it all while maintaining our blogs Web sites social networking and more No matter your market segment your stylistic tendencies or your longevity in this industry Fusion will soon be impacting you For some jobs will be lost to photographers offering Fusion Others will adopt Fusion and be on the leading edge of a trend that may possibly change the face of wedding photography Some will remain purists choosing not to include Fusion perhaps even shooting only film Whatever your choice with regards to Fusi
108. es into smaller sound bites There is often a lot of rambling ums and ahs when someone is giving a speech and we try to cut those out Use your judgment and choose the more compelling moments when editing the audio We always include the most emotional parts when we edit the speeches to give us the greatest impact in the final piece We are Mac users and therefore have access to GarageBand Windows users will not For editing sound in Windows and Mac we use Audacity www audacity sourceforge net which allows a free download The important part of this process is that you take the time to listen to the audio and break out the segments you want to use This process will make editing so much easier 172 For many years Apple s iMovie was a fantastic program for quickly editing movies In particular iMovie 6 was a robust program accessible to consumers and working pros alike That all changed with the release of iMovie 8 which was a simpler more streamlined version that took away all that made iMovie 6 so great With iMovie 09 Apple included many of the features that made iMovie 6 so wondertul while maintaining the ease of use consumers appreciated in iMovie 08 reaching a compromise that allowed fairly robust editing with a user friendly interface For new users iMovie 09 is a fairly straightforward and intuitive program allowing you to quickly and easily make movies For Mac users editing Fusion iMovie O9 integrates nice
109. ew tips and tricks 160 overview 158 positioning the microphone 160 equipment boom microphones 58 59 camcorders 54 55 cameras 44 53 checking 115 116 filters 104 fluid video heads 99 100 follow focus 104 105 lavaliere lapel microphones 60 61 LCD viewfinder loupes 106 107 lenses 101 102 monopods 99 100 overview 97 98 99 portable audio recorders 62 63 supports and stabilizers 108 111 tripods 99 100 Event Library iMovie 180 Export Movie settings iMovie 191 192 exporting movie 189 190 206 208 External Editors menu ProShow Producer 195 F family photography 154 157 fast glass 101 filming 136 137 filming wedding day ceremony 130 133 140 141 get away 142 night shoot 145 photo shoot 142 143 reception 144 scene setters 143 shot ideas for bride 136 shot ideas for groom 138 139 single photographer coverage 148 150 speeches 135 team coverage 150 153 using tripods monopods stabilizers 146 147 vows 130 133 when and where to film 129 filters 104 Final Cut Express 74 Final Cut Pro 74 192 Final Cut Pro Portable Genius Genius DV 74 first dance filming 144 flare 90 91 fluid video heads 99 100 flv format 190 focus 51 follow focus 104 105 footages adding to individual scene or category folders 169 choosing 168 creating outline 169 extracting audio files from 170 importing to iMovie 177 178 importing to ProShow 196 naming 168 organizing
110. f audio allows you to focus on what you do best making photographs You simply set up the microphone and go there are no distractions from the way you cover a wedding day Photographers see the world in moments frozen Storytelling for most of us is done in a single image or series of images that allow the viewer their own interpretation of that moment Still images never stand alone They always carry the imprint of their NO a Chapter 1 maker their subject and the viewer it s a three way relationship and people view photographs and art in general through the veil of their own experience For example a parent views an image of a child with a different perspective from someone who is not a parent A woman views an image differently from a man A child sees something different from an adult Everyone who looks at an image brings something to the viewing experience that colors their reaction to it It s why still images generate such emotion see Figure 1 4 A wedding image might for example ring false with a newly divorced person while send shivers of delight through a newly married person That s the magic of still photography Our imagery is not literal no matter how much we want it to be Wedding photography however is different It is both literal and open to interpretation because it is both art and an historical record While we as photographers strive to make art out of ordinary moments our clients
111. f work in post production Filters fall into the nice to have category and other than possibly a ND filter you don t need them to make video so first evaluate your needs and rent before buying if you can If you are already using filters with your still work it will be easy to adapt that usage into your Fusion work maintaining consistency between your stills and video Follow Focus As the HDSLR market grows and more people use these cameras the support industry is also building Cinematographers in particular seem to be driving this development but the tools they demand are also useful for photographers creating Fusion Most filmmakers prefer to use manual focus systems thereby ensuring better control and HDSLRs with their limited Auto focus capabilities force us to work with manual focus As photographers many of us use AF lenses so manual focus is a new skill to master If you use manual focus lenses such as the TSE series from Canon or if you just prefer to focus manually manual focus in Video mode will not be too challenging Unless you are moving or you want to focus on two different things in the same shot think focus on bride in background and then the groom in the foreground manual focus is not difficult Yet it is the ability to focus while moving and to pull the focus from one subject to another that set the cinematographers apart from the amateur videographers and new Fusion ographers Follow focus allows t
112. ff by the challenges The idea was good but the sheer volume of work it took to produce a five minute piece caused many of us to reject it at the time Focusing on the craft of photography to compete in this new world of Web sites and digital photographers became our priority And really who wants Fusion anyway The answer might be surprising In our experience wedding photographers are often among the last to grasp and adopt new technologies We see many changes driven first by the consumer then other genres of photography and then wedding photographers adopt it later And yet our clients have been creating Fusion for years Photography is an incredibly popular hobby At every wedding you photograph it seems like half the guests including the family and bridal party have cameras as good as yours see Figure 3 Even the little point and shoot cameras create great images in their pre programmed modes FIGURE 3 Photography is so accessible that even our couples sometimes take photos on their wedding day FIGURE 4 This wedding guest is capturing still images in one camera and video with the other Today technology is no longer an excuse Camera manufacturers like Canon make consumer HD video cameras that have built in still capabilities although there are quality limitations and filmmakers are adopting the new HDSLR crop of cameras for use in their own productions Consumer digital cameras have recorded video a
113. flare can be spectacular both in stills and in video Figure 6 9 shows flare in three images in varying degrees You have to watch your exposure when trying to get flare in your video The images above and top right were both at least a stop overexposed while the image on the bottom right was not overexposed at all It can and will take a few attempts to get flare right FIGURE 6 9 Lens flare can add drama and interest to a scene Flare adds drama and interest to a scene and is a great way to transition between stills and video Imagine a scene setter when you pan across a building or toward some trees and the sun flare streaks across the scene Then right after that video clip showcasing some of your still images made with flare That would be a stunning series of imagery Camcorders and HDLSRs alike produce great flare flare is easier to make with a zoom lens because there are more surfaces for the light to bounce off Your camcorder has a built in zoom lens which is great Make sure you try filming a couple of times to ensure that you have the kind of flare you want 91 While we often find ourselves at the mercy of the sunlight just as often we are working with whatever light is available in the church or reception location This light is usually a mix of tungsten daylight and other light source that might be filtering into a scene such as candles or spotlights Each of these light sources has a different tempe
114. g your microphone however The 5D MKII for example has a 1 8 inch input see Figure 4 1 Shotgun mics can be plugged directly into your camcorder particularly if you have a camera that allows you to monitor your audio levels see the cameras in Chapter 3 You can also plug them directly into your HDSLR but you ll need to deal with the issue of Auto Gain Control In the final section of this chapter we talk about the Zoom H4n and how you can use a shotgun mic with the Zoom to get great sound 59 L avaliere Lapel Microphones As we will discuss in Chapter 8 lavaliere microphones are used primarily during the ceremony and possibly the reception The wireless lavaliere microphone systems allow you to pin the microphone to the groom s lapel and hide the transmitter in his pocket or on his belt The sound is then wirelessly transmitted to the receiver you have plugged into your camera or other device Unlike shotgun systems the lavaliere microphone is located closer to your subject literally inches from their mouth As a result the audio quality is more consistent and predictable two important considerations when recording on a wedding day Two lavaliere kits that we have tried and like are e Sennheiser Evolution G3 100 Series 799 95 for the kit www sennheiser com e Sony UWP V1 525 for the kit www sony com Fy TENNHE EIT LN senn HANER riy Qei FIGURE 4 3 Wireless lavaliere transmitter lavaliere attachmen
115. gurgled our toddlers laughed and how our preschoolers spoke Yet we do forget we all do without the benefit of something concrete to help us remember see Figure 10 2 Much like the rush of a wedding impairs our memory of that event the daily life of a family causes memory to fade even of moments we thought were indelibly etched in our minds 155 FIGURE 10 3 The sound of a child s laughter is precious to every parent Audio is different in your family sessions there is no obvious place to put a microphone and your shotgun microphone will usually suffice If you are capturing children in their natural environment it is hard to know just where they are going to be when the laugh comes And so you can mic one of the parents with your portable device but your shotgun mic will likely prove to be your primary sound source When you edit in your audio you will use small sound bites rather than the longer audio segments used in a wedding Fusion Using these smaller sound bites will give you a lot of flexibility in how you edit and how your final piece will look FIGURE 10 4 Our children at age 9 and 6 Trust me as a parent with technology this accessible and with the advantage of hindsight would give the world to be able to go back and Fusion my way through their childhood as shown in Figure 10 4 Offering Fusion in your engagement sessions is a great way to get your clients comfortable with the idea of Fusion and to
116. hange transitions very easily Click on the transition icon AB to the right of the slide thumbnail and choose the new effect from the window shown in Figure le ra ee i l Ez ii aj if pE 13 11 There are 280 transition effects and you i io oe JE ol ad can preview each one by hovering your mouse i ek a over each icon This can be overwhelming and lat FAG distracting as you edit your piece so we suggest peep SPs that you focus on one or two transitions in each amr aTi r Pi eT T a Ba show After all the show should be about your ai 4 Pami nT ts WU Ooo ad photos and video not about the transitions If tee leone TAIT IEEE i a Cans ri i FIGURE 13 11 Choose from hundreds of transition effects 198 If you have followed our suggestion in Chapter 11 and trimmed your video before adding it to your Fusion piece you will probably not need to trim the video in Producer However you might find you need to adjust the video clip after you have laid it into your Slide List Producer has a built in video trimmer that allows you to shorten any of your clips Highlight the slide then go to the Layers tab in the Slide ee MT e i EF ss p a a l M E Be gt m l e FIGURE 13 12 Video Clip settings Options window and click on the Video Clip tab You will see a section called Video Clip settings
117. he cinematographer you to be more efficient and precise than simply using the built in camera systems see Figure 7 4 The challenge comes in smoothly changing focus using the focus ring on the camera s lens A follow focus rig allows you to adjust focus by turning a knob on a device attached to the camera which then turns the focus ring of the lens When you first attempt Fusion you won t need a follow focus rig but pulling focus and working with moving subjects will be a challenge Follow focus rigs make it easier to incorporate focus techniques into your Fusion work There are several follow focus options currently on the market and we ve listed our favorites below These are expensive units ranging from 300 and up and fall into the nice to have category They also work only in conjunction with other units as shown in Figure 7 4 like supports and stabilizers making them even more costly You may never need to use follow focus or you might decide you can t live without it It is another skill to master on a day other than a wedding day and you need to practice before using it on an actual shoot Follow focus units are useful tools for more advanced Fusion coverage and truly enhance the cinema feel RedRock Micro Follow Focus V2 545 www redrockmicro com Cinevate Durus Follow Focus 1195 www cinevate com iDC Follow Focus 358 458 www idcphotovideo com Zacuto Z Focus 1675 www store zacuto com S
118. he example of the night shoot on the DVD run through a field etc Remember to maintain a consistent distance from the subject you are following when using a manual focus system In other words if you are following your bride through the doorway you need to stay the same distance from her the whole time or your focus will slip There will be times when you will have no choice but to work off tripod and record video Learning stabilizing methods is important One trick is to have the camera strap around your neck pulling the camera away from your body until the strap is taut it won t be completely stable but you will minimize shake You can also lean against a structure or place your camera on a table As you know flexibility is key on a wedding day and you may need to move quickly finding stabilizing platforms where you can While there are many wedding photographers that cover the entire event on their own there has been a surge in the photographer team model Whether that team is a husband and wife pair a main and main combination or a main and second team the team approach is becoming the norm At the very least many photographers bring a non shooting assistant to help throughout the day If you have another person available to assist you Fusion will certainly be easier to achieve But it is not impossible for a single shooter to also make Fusion work As a single shooter there are definite challenges in getting Fusion to
119. he processional circle around to the end of the aisle and move your tripod in place Because you had everything ready ahead of time you know what your aperture shutter and ISO need to be so double check to make sure they are correct Use your Live View and magnify feature if available to check your focus and start recording when you re ready You can continue to photograph as you normally would periodically checking your video camera Being aware of time at this juncture is important if you are using an HDSLR that can only record a few minutes at a time For example if you started recording at the beginning of the ceremony but it s proving to be a longer than expected you ll need to stop recording and then start again before the vows All you have to do next is get the camera and tripod out of the way before the recessional begins In Canada the couples sign the register at the altar before walking down the aisle That is a great time to get your equipment out of the aisle just photograph the signing and head back down the aisle in anticipation of the recessional You might want to take your camera off its tripod before the recessional in case you follow the couple as they go outside never leave your equipment unattended In the U S the papers are not signed during the ceremony so you don t have that lull before the recessional begins There is usually a pause when the couple stands at the head of the aisle waiting to be officiall
120. her or type situation you either want a silhouette or you want to keep your subjects well exposed and bright If you choose anything between those two extremes you will end up with muddy skin and a poorly exposed video clip A scene that is backlit from one angle may be direct or diffuse light from another angle see Figure 6 2 If you have the opportunity to walk around your subjects you will find that what was a difficult backlit scene initially becomes a beautifully lit scene y ad FIGURE 6 3 Backlit ceremonies can create beautiful soft scenes when properly exposed In a ceremony or reception however you might not be able to move around and find a better or easier light Figure 6 3 shows a backlit ceremony No matter where we moved we had to overexpose the scene in order to keep our couple well exposed 83 Soft frontal light Also known as diffuse light soft frontal light is the best and easiest lighting scenario for shooting video As much as a lighting challenge can make our imagery interesting a ceremony or scene bathed in soft diffuse light is a wonderful thing Soft and diffuse light is even and we don t have to worry about over exposing our scene by a stop or more Both the bride and groom are well lit and your video reflects that continuity Camcorders and HDLSRs handle this kind of light easily needing only a little input from you to ensure that the exposure is balanced You will rarely find this light
121. here the barrier to entry often seems no greater than a decent camera and a Web site So often we hear seasoned veterans of the film age and newer photographers alike complaining about the rash of competition in their area and the standardization that has come to wedding photography So the need to set yourself apart as a wedding photographer has never been greater When we came to weddings in 1999 we were the crazy kids shooting on our 35 mm cameras We were running and gunning off tripod with fast glass and available light We didn t know it at the time but we were on the leading edge of a trend that would ultimately sweep wedding photography Quietly in different markets all over the world the medium format cameras were being put away and the 35 mm was becoming the choice for the latest entrants to the market Web sites and blogs were non existent Clients found their photographers through the old fashioned methods of magazine ads bridal shows and word of mouth Photographers developed their craft essentially in isolation independent of what others were doing one example is shown in Figure 1 on the next page Those of us who were wedding photographers before the digital age may seem nostalgic for the good old days when wedding photography was as much about the craft as it was about the business maareyre Before Web sites became commonplace our styles were developed without the influence of what oth
122. hoot from an unexpected or different angle to give the viewers something new and interesting to look at and to provide an interesting perspective on a familiar location Finding dynamic shots is as important during the photo shoot as it is during the rest of the day whether it is a subtle movement such as a smile or more obvious such as having them walk You can move around the couple move with them whatever you choose The simplest of shots is to have them embrace or to laugh all are moments that add value to the final piece Use pans tilting zooming and more to give a sense of space and intimacy to your video Consider the weight of moving images to still images in your final production to help you choose how much moving imagery you want to create Something to bear in mind however is that you want a lead in and out of all your footage In other words recording a few seconds before and after the clip you actually want to use will make it easier to edit your piece Much like stills capturing in camera will make everything easier in the edit Frame your shot first then start recording 143 The Reception Much like the Basic scenario ensuring your audio set up is complete and your sight lines determined are the first two things to take care of for the reception Your first priority is to cover the speeches everything else is secondary Once you know you have everything prepared though It s time to have some fun
123. hot of the bride s shoe as she steps out of the car or her dress as she moves into the building In the Advanced section of the DVD you will see several examples of different panning shots that you can do Something to keep in mind is that you may want to make multiple takes of the same kinds of shot For example if you are gliding up to the doors of the church the footage may not be stable or there may be something unwanted in the frame Making the same shot more than once will give you greater latitude in your edit In fact remember to shoot more video than you plan to use as you go through a wedding day You don t have to use all the footage in your final piece but it is better to have too much footage then not enough An important thing to consider when recording video is how you might use it in post production For example if you fly up to the doors of the church with video it might be a nice edit to have stills of the bride walking into the church taken from behind the bride of course Or if you shoot through the window while the church is empty adding stills of guests arriving might be interesting With video the 140 Chapter 9 final edit is as important as the initial recording and having a plan maybe even having a shot list with you will be important when you start making Fusion However you choose to put your Fusion piece together planning ahead will help make your video and still captures complementary and the f
124. hout the day whether we are recording only audio or audio and video In the Advanced section of Chapter 9 we describe the ways we use the Zoom H4n in conjunction with our wireless lav mics and shotgun mics For us the Zoom has proven to be an effective work around for the auto gain control issues with our cameras The Pinknoise 25 cable from Pinknoise Systems www pinknoise systems co uk was made specifically to go between the 5D MKII or 7D and the Zoom unit allows you to record audio in camera This cable reduces the output volume of the Zoom to a level more easily accommodated by the 5D MKII and 7D It does not defeat the built in AGC but it is as good as you can get without using a software hack such as Magic Lantern magiclantern com At a price of 38 this cord is certainly a viable alternative to one of the adaptor boxes If you are concerned enough about AGC that you don t want to plug anything directly into your HDSLR you can still use the Zoom to record the audio from your lavaliere or shotgun mic There are two channels available for external mics and two devoted to the built in mics You can plug your wireless receiver in the Zoom and record the audio from your lav or shotgun Having redundant and backup equipment is essential for any wedding photographer We all have backup kits in our vehicles or camera bags ready to go if something happens to our primary gear It should be no different with your Fusion equipment both video and
125. i image i ee Figure 12 6 Because you are i Cregia pee Demir Futon Sampie Caritan putting together a high quality HD V Opcimiaa videar Fill Original Sire product you want to ensure that Full 1920x1080 is selected Though Capp Mai this setting requires more storage E I ie filii and takes longer to import it is the best quality You can always change this setting in your preferences if you FIGURE 12 6 The first time you open decide to do so later iMovie you will see this dialog box 178 The bottom portion of this window is where our organization from Chapter 11 comes into play After choosing where you want to save your footage you can set how the files are imported Check Create New Event and then name your file in this case we chose Fusion Sample Ceremony as our name We like to include the project name and then indicate the scene or category as we described in Chapter 11 that way we can access our footage without searching through the Event Library shown in Figure 12 7 Because you have taken the time to select which clips you want to use you only need to import the video you plan to work with the red files from Chapter 11 and you will see each event you Created in the Event Library went Library Depending on the amount of video the import shouldn t take too long One of the reasons we spend so much time working through our footage ahead of time is to make
126. ice Both camps were intrigued by the possibilities this camera offered First to jump on the Fusion train was Vincent Laforet a photographer based in New York Or rather he was the first still photographer to jump on the video train His video Reverie was seen around the world Suddenly the possibilities the MKII presented were swirling through both camps bringing both photographers and videographers to a place where a collision of these mediums seemed like a certainty Fusion was certainly not a new concept videographers and photographers had been dabbling in it for years For wedding photographers in particular the idea of Fusion was all but forced upon us with the 5D MKIl in a way that made it impossible to ignore Suddenly people who had never entertained the idea of mixing video with their stills were faced with a camera that made it not only possible but also affordable Wedding photographers seemed equal parts bemused and intrigued by the initial wave of Fusion Some were staunchly entrenched in the idea that Fusion was simply a fad while others were interested but unsure how to implement it Still others decided to barrel ahead learning as they went creating Fusion pieces that range from rudimentary to truly stunning Much of the Fusion currently taking place is with the 5D MKII What is it about this camera that makes it so perfect for Fusion Well most photographers who used the 5D were planning to upgrade to the 5D M
127. in a ceremony more often you ll find it during the photo shoot or while the bride is getting ready see Figure 6 4 It is beautiful flattering light minimizing a bride s skin imperfections and giving you much less work in post We encourage you to take advantage of soft frontal light when and where you can he FIGURE 6 4 Soft frontal light is easy to P work with and flattering to your subject 84 Chapter 6 Light FIGURE 6 5 This ceremony scene has both backlight and side light Side light While backlight and soft frontal light can result in balanced scenes it is a little harder to deal with side light In this situation the light is coming from one side of the scene either to the left or right of your camera position and creates an unequal lighting scenario Typically one person is brightly lit while the other is in shadow which makes balancing your scene more challenging Because ceremonies are rarely at noon the side light is often coupled with another situation like backlight Figure 6 5 shows a ceremony where there was a combination of side and backlight You can see that the bride s dress and the groom s face are more brightly lit on the left than the right The light is behind the bridesmaids heads while the groomsmen are squinting The guests on the right side of the aisle are in the sun while those on the left are more in the shade All in all making great video in this scene can be tough 85 j
128. in order to use the video in its native h 264 codec we needed to create a folder on our virtual machine and import our video to that folder Once we created the folder on our virtual C drive we had no problem importing native files into Producer Producer supports over 100 file types so it is unlikely that you will need to download a driver to make a video file work with the program If you are struggling however check Photodex s Web site for information on your particular file type www photodex com 196 Chapter 13 Placing stills and Video in the Timeline As mentioned earlier after you have located your images and video folders you can simply drag and drop each file into the Slide List or you can double click the thumbnails if you prefer If you are going to add all the files you can use the Ctrl A shortcut to select all the files and drag them into the Timeline The thumbnails appear in filename order so if you have a sense of the order you want your files rename them and use the Cirl A keys to expedite moving files to the Timeline How you choose to ultimately add your files to the Slide List is up to you Some people like to get all the files in the Slide List first and then move them into the position that works best while others will add slides one or two at a time Personally we like to build our show one or several slides at a time adding audio and video where we deem appropriate You will soon discover the best metho
129. inal edit much easier to produce You are set up to record the vows which is fantastic But if you are offering a more comprehensive package shooting more than just the vows will be necessary Get your camera and tripod into position to film the entire processional You might need a second photographer or an assistant with the bride and flying behind her as she walks up the aisle Or you could position your camera at the head of the aisle initially or use the church balcony if you can If you decide to fly with the bride remember that maintaining a consistent distance means you don t have to worry about constantly re focusing In other words if you have your stabilizer set up and you have already focused the camera just maintain the same distance from the bride while you are walking with her and you won t have to adjust your focus at all Only when you are moving closer to or away from your subject do you have to worry about maintaining focus If you do choose to fly using a lens with IS or VR will be helpful in reducing camera shake We recommend using a zoom lens such as the 70 200 to get close shots of the rings and the kiss But remember to vary the focal length from your stills to ensure a variety in what you are recording in each medium You can keep the video of the ceremony simple maybe varying focal length slightly and use the variety in your still images to make a dynamic final piece A fun way to finish your
130. ing our audio and use the shotgun mic from the Basic section and mount it on our redundant camera Again this redundancy allows us to sync the audio if we find we want to use the footage For the reception we like to mic the mic In most cases If you simply place your recording device on the podium where the speeches are set to take place you should be fine Unfortunately there is always the possibility of the roaming microphone particularly if the reception venue has supplied a wireless mic for the speeches We try to place a mic at the podium at every event just in case To mic the mic all you need is your portable recording device and some black gaffer s tape Simply take your mic and place it near the top of the podium s microphone the guests will be using If you then wrap tape around the microphone securing both your mic and the body of the recorder to the handle of the microphone you will be able to easily record all the audio as shown in Figures 8 12 and 8 13 Your recording device will run for several hours allowing you to leave it on throughout the reception We use our Olympus recorder because its small size makes it less difficult for people to hold Once you have mic ed the mic you can either leave your Zoom H4n at the podium and have it available to record a redundant audio track mount it on your camera like a shotgun mic or plug it directly into the DJs sound board You will need a XLR to XL
131. ing is laid out see Figure 5 7 Some of the features include e drag and drop e precision editing for audio and video e layers that can be added to slides photo and video for picture in picture and more e video effects Slide Styles e video adjustments e captions titles transitions and effects e easy sharing e soundtrack voiceover and audio adjustments multiple tracks e one click audio sync e Blu ray DVD and many more outputs Two of the most fundamental differences between ProShow Gold and iMovie are that ProShow will allow you to create and save your own Slide Styles and the Output options which are much greater than what iMovie offers FIGURE 5 7 ProShow by Photodex 73 Final Cut Pro 7 from Apple Inc Undoubtedly Final Cut Pro FCP is the software everyone thinks of for video editing Final Cut Pro can be intimidating at first as it is more robust and less intuitive than consumer applications such as iMovie If you ve outgrown iMovie Final Cut Pro is a program to graduate to once you understand the basics of Fusion making It is an investment both in time and money but you have unlimited creative possibilities with FCP and you can create incredibly robust and layered Fusion pieces If you are willing to put in the time to learn FCP it will be worth your while After you re familiar with the interface and the structure of the program it is surprisingly easy to use There is a fantastic o
132. int start envisioning different ways to incorporate video in a creative and consistent manner One shot that we have yet to make but have story boarded is to place our camera with a fisheye or ultra wide lens in the middle of the dance floor Focus would be set at infinity and we would just record people dancing Use your video footage to augment your stills and provide an historic record but there is no reason it can t also be interesting and different from typical video capture It depends entirely on your style of still coverage 144 The latest crop of HDSLRs has incredible low light capabilities Combine the high ISOs with a video light and you have the opportunity to do something special Most couples are more than willing to break away from the reception for a spontaneous shoot If your reception venue is in the city you have amazing ambient light in the form of streetlights marquees car headlights and more Utilize your tripod to minimize camera shake you ll be shooting wide open with a slow shutter and use that ambient light to create a backdrop for portraits Your couple will be quite relaxed at this point and you may find you ll get some of the best footage of the day While having them hold each other stay still and pan to the distant streetlights hold your focus so the lights are blurry or pre focus on a point and have them walk in and out of that focus point across the frame or toward and away from you Another great shot is h
133. ion as normal making still photographs of the people listening to the speeches covering the event as you would normally Because you are keeping it simple at this point capturing Fusion is easier than FIGURE 2 7 Capture video of the speaker from a static position P 38 Chapter 2 4 FIGURE 2 8 Use your still camera to make image of the reactions to the speeches you might think For many of you the camera you use to capture video is also your still camera You are free to take the camera off the tripod when you are not recording video and shoot as you would normally Fusion is not just about capture though we have to edit Fusion too We get into editing details in Part 4 but just like your still images you can spend as much or as little time in post production as you want You have the option to learn how to edit or you can outsource your editing It depends on how much you love to edit Fusion how much control you need and how much you are charging for your Fusion pieces The average cost to outsource is about 500 per project about the same price as outsourcing the editing of your stills so be sure to add that cost into the price you charge for Fusion 39 P a r i ee ee ey a TT WA ING oe 4 hk hi 4 1 i TLE NW eqaaq FERE 11115 a I FIGURE 2 9 Use Fusion in more creative ways The more comfortable you get with Fusion and the idea of capturing in two m
134. is merely only a magnification of the center of the image after the limits of the optical zoom have been reached We try to only use the optical zoom allowance and use our non HDSLR backup camera set to a wider view than our HDSLRs Price is often part of the decision to use a non HDSLR camera and we certainly understand However if you look at it from another angle it may actually make more sense to purchase a second HDSLR over a camcorder We use our cameras to make still images as well as video purchasing an HDSLR is almost like getting two cameras in one since it makes photos and video We re not suggesting that you buy an extremely expensive HDSLR over a camcorder but we are suggesting that you consider your total needs particularly when you look at the way the HDSLR allows you to use light and a shallow depth of field We still have a camcorder available just in case but we now use both the 5D MKII and 7D as still and video cameras And with the HDSLR camera now being marketed to the consumer as well the camcorder option may soon no longer be as attractive For Fusion ographers HDSLRs really seem to be the cameras of choice We re not suggesting that camcorders are not viable options and we believe the prosumer camcorders will still be used by many videographers In the next few years it will be interesting to see how much of a paradigm shift we see as more videographers use HDSLRs and more photographers move to Fusion 125 Trouble
135. l SD memory cards Photo Mechanic Compatible with both Mac and Windows Photo Mechanic Camera Bits www camerabits com is designed to facilitate your workflow Photo Mechanic is an all in one software that allows you to import rename backup and more It is fast both in terms of the ingest the naming protocols and editing your keepers And for a Fusion workflow Photo Mechanic easily imports your video files At its simplest Photo Mechanic allows you to ingest your files to the primary and secondary backups at the same time We have our ingest set to open in a contact sheet once it is complete so we quickly scan the images and ensure that everything has been downloaded and is editable Files can be renamed at the point of ingest though we prefer to rename after we have verified everything has been safely copied to our folders 165 Cire Pri a F SE T r l E a E r ee T ie m _ e a i Hl e l cae Mo ee ee aw Perc 7 ED Wa Ge AE 8 _ ZL i Eg e Purum FIGURE 11 2 Photo Mechanic and Downloader Pro are two popuar options for ingesting digital files Downloader Pro Downloader Pro Breeze Systems www breezesys com also allows you to download organize and rename images Accepting both Camera RAW and JPEG formats Downloader Pro recognizes duplicate images so that you only download an image once It also downloads movie files from Canon and Nikon cameras ens
136. l be working with that example in the next few paragraphs Adding the audio you extracted from your portable recording device and matching it with your video is the most difficult component of working with audio Let s assume that you added your audio and you want to add more video To include additional video first mark the audio highlight your audio track and go into the Clip Trimmer Scrub through your audio until you find the area you want to mark grab the beat marker shown in Figure 12 21 and place it in the appropriate spot see Figure 12 22 When you are finished adding your marks click Done You will see the beat markers in the project timeline as lines on your audio file as in Figure 12 23 and you will use these marks to line up the video to the audio FIGURE 12 21 Use the beat markers in the Clip Trimmer to mark the audio track FIGURE 12 22 When the beat marker is placed you will see a line in your waveform FIGURE 12 23 The beat markers appear on the timeline in the Project window Chapter 12 Whether you used a lavaliere microphone or shotgun microphone or merely have audio that was recorded by your camera s built in microphone having a track that you can align your new audio with is quite helpful Highlight the video you want to line up and go into the Precision Editor A new window will appear in the bottom pane of iMovie where you can more accurately sync the audio and video In the Precision Editor
137. lbeit poor quality video for years Despite the quality issues we have seen these cameras recording video at dozens of weddings More and more we re seeing someone simultaneously recording video while taking still images When we approached one guest doing such at a recent wedding see Figure 4 she replied that she was making a gift for the bride and groom You only have to look to You Tube one of the fastest growing sites on the Web and the sheer volume of user created videos available to our clients to know that video has become commonplace And yet many wedding photographers stubbornly cling to the belief that our still images are powerful enough tow stand alone As wedding photographers our job is as much about documenting a major life event as it is about creating powerful pieces of art Where one particular photographer falls over another is an individual choice But the fact remains that we are providing our clients with an historical record with some degree of artistry of their wedding day If our job is to create this historical record this legacy if you will then it would seem to follow that we have a responsibility to do all we can to ensure that we are giving our clients an accurate chronicle of their day Yet all too often we look around the room as the speeches are being made and there is not a single recording device in sight or a friend is using a camera with little or no hope of capturing the speech see Figure 5 Those
138. le has left their users hanging like this It would appear that the company believes that the future of video is going to be online and you are certainly able to host and share your HD videos in that way Despite wanting to make DVD a viable option for Fusion ographers everywhere we are afraid that it isn t the ideal format for you Unless you are willing to burn a standard definition show or your clients don t have the ability to use Blu Ray you will need to turn your attention toward making Blu Ray the choice in your studio BLU RAY We know that HD DVD is dead and that SD DVDs are the only option for DVDs now But what is it about the Blu ray format that makes it so appealing Well for starters there is better image and sound quality larger storage capacity and higher resolutions Blu Ray is simply the highest quality video format available today There are some drawbacks to Blu Ray they are more expensive in terms of players and discs there are slower load times than with DVD there are fewer titles available right now and they cannot be played on all computers yet See Table 14 2 for a comparison DVD and Blu Ray Chapter 14 Table 14 2 DVD and Blu Ray Comparison FIGURE 14 9 Blu Ray appears to be winning the home video Blu Ray market battle DVD Disc Size 4 7 8 5 GB 25 50 GB Maximum Resolution 480p 720p 1080i 1080p Player Prices 99 and less 170 and more Disc Prices around 10 plus around 25 plus Compatible Com
139. likely the least amount you need We suggest that you bring approximately 50GB of storage for your video capture Remember your Fusion bag should have everything you need to capture audio your backup camera either a camcorder or another HDSLR redundant equipment like audio recorders cords and attachments as well as all the miscellaneous gear you need to make Fusion happen FIGURE 8 4 Make sure you have enough storage for your video Chapter 8 Wedding Day Set U Making a Plan A wedding rarely goes according to plan there are changes in the timeline spontaneous events and all kinds of things that change the initial plan for the day As photographers knowing the overall plan helps us do our job and Fusion is no different You not only need to know the timeline for the day but you also need to decide where you want to capture audio and or video Knowing locations ahead of time minimizes panic when things start to derail as they often do Also manage your client s expectations let your client know before the wedding day that you need to arrive at the ceremony location early Communicating your plan with your clients gives you the freedom and peace of mind of knowing you are both completely prepared for Fusion coverage Creating a final piece that is consistent cohesive and creative is our goal with Fusion In fact it is our goal with our still coverage too but with Fusion we need to be mindful of the fact that o
140. ll be in focus FIGURE 7 2 24 105L f 4 0 IS on a 5D MKII 102 Chapter 7 Equ The Zeiss lenses are another option These are manual focus lenses generally primes and previously required an adaptor to use with Canon or Nikon Their newest lenses the ZE line do not need an adaptor for an HDSLR Our personal favorite is the 50mm f 2 0 as shown in Figure 7 3 We have found this lens to be smooth easy to focus and well suited to Fusion The quality of glass is fantastic and the color is consistent And if you are willing to make the investment these lenses are certainly worth it They are manual focus lenses so they may not be useful for your still photography most wedding photographers rely on and appreciate Auto focus lenses FIGURE 7 3 50mm Zeiss Lens If you are using a camcorder rather than an HDSLR these lenses are great too many filmmakers and now Fusion ographers use a 35mm adaptor on cameras such as the Canon HV 30 This adaptor allows you to fit 35mm lenses to your camcorder and control the depth of field giving you a look similar to what the HDSLR produces However because the HDSLR cameras are becoming more affordable and because you have a series of lenses you can use with them assuming you are a still photographer investing in a camcorder the 35mm adaptor and lenses might not be worth the financial outlay at this point We suggest exploring the camcorder adaptor Zeiss option only if you already own a camco
141. ls from external peripherals you can get a robust audio selection We use the Zoom in conjunction with a wireless lav mic set up We pin the lavaliere microphone to the groom s lapel the same way as in the Basic section and ensure that it is plugged into the wireless transmitter attached to his belt We then plug the wireless receiver into the Zoom unit recording the audio from the wireless system directly to the Zoom as shown in Figure 8 10 The Zoom can also double as a shotgun mic mounted on your HDSLR or camcorder as seen in Figure 8 11 and plugged into the camera via the Pinknoise 25 cable We have discouraged recording audio directly into your HDSLR but as mentioned in Chapter 3 this cable is a viable workaround and allows you to record directly to the camera One of the reasons we like to record audio directly to the camera Is to have a track that syncs with the video making it easier to match the audio tracks later in post FIGURE 8 11 The zoom can be mounted directly on the camera like a shotgun microphone eet 123 Hirit Pi ISSS i Ne wie a ma eas E rir FIGURE 8 12 Place the lav close to the top of the microphone FIGURE 8 13 Wrap the microphone with black tape to secure the recording device 124 This might sound like overkill but having the audio from the Olympus and the Zoom creating a redundant backup is the only responsible way to record the vows We go one step further in record
142. ly You may want to upgrade some of the items we listed and that is fantastic If you are buying a new computer odds are it will come with most of the items we list but upgrade as much as you want it can t hurt When it comes to software part of your choice will hinge on what kind of hardware you are using Mac or PC and how familiar you are with video editing We give you details about five software options and we also have a list of other available editing software In Chapters 12 and 13 we will take you through an actual edit using iMovie and Producer and we encourage you to spend a lot of time learning all about your editing software This chapter gives you everything you need to get your hardware up to date and help you select your editing software 64 Chapter 5 i FIGURE 5 1 HDSLRSs allow you to make video in the same light as you make stills 65 FIGURE 5 2 Our computer setup at the studio Chapter 5 Hardware Though many creative professionals use Macs the majority still use PC Windows based computers The Mac PC debate is much like the Canon Nikon debate it goes on and on but the system you choose is really up to you there are pros and cons to both platforms Whatever you choose Mac or PC is less important than ensuring you have everything set up to work efficiently with the software you need our setup shown in Figure 5 2 Mac or PC the differences between them are much smaller no
143. ly with the other iLife programs GarageBand iTunes and iPhoto This chapter will take you through the steps to get started with Fusion and iMovie 09 showcasing the basics you will need 174 Chapter 12 F FIGURE 12 1 Keep your edits simple to focus on what matters most 175 Getting Started Before you get start editing your own Fusion piece while going through this chapter you need to set your preferences as shown in Figure 12 2 The most important button to check is Show Advanced Features to access Picture in Picture Green Screen and more S EF Lera WEE SE A Grin hk ie Teee irp ra j a ambr ThE et Per ire hibe sikian T aliii Paie s Sig Mi be E spm ia oe Hi M ER Cee Gie ay emer ue a eE tot fal nre sue afer pA e the fol Acer Bla Wiad baa bCrRee 34 S Thai ha dips opip kam y FIGURE 12 2 Select Show Advanced Features when setting your preferences FIGURE 12 3 Create a new iPhoto library for the images you plan to use in your Fusion piece There are also a few tasks you need to take care of regarding your images First ensure that all your still images are finished and ready for your piece Second cull your still images into a manageable number For example if you finished 600 images you may only want to showcase 250 to 300 in your Fusion piece enough to tell the story but not so many that your piece is 20 minutes long Finally import your images to an album in iPh
144. m scratch Next open Project Properties File gt Project Properties and click on Timing to set the universal settings for your piece shown in Figure 12 5 Don t worry you can change these settings for individual segments once you start editing but setting Si up some universal settings will save time once toe Tomy _ you get into your project We are specifically E A N concerned with the Photo Duration slider which Theia Fig hjile fiy tre S we set to 2 0s and the Initial Photo Placement Initial Video Placement options Because we opted to make a 16 9 show we want both the Tis photo and video to crop automatically when it is placed in the piece You can change the crop but fine tuning your crops is much faster when you choose this option FIGURE 12 5 Set the timing of your photos and their initial placement 177 Importing Footage Once your project is set up it s time to import footage The organizational structure in Chapter 11 is a great guide for importing footage Importing video is straightforward File gt Import gt Movies After you have decide which footage to import select all the files you want to import from that folder for example all the footage you want to use from the Ceremony folder you created The first time you import Movies this Sawa jp Macsntovk HO 97 CA tres E way you will see a dialog box asking how you want to import your movies Auld to eying Pept Eim
145. matches the existing audio When done correctly you will hear the audio as a single seamless source After your clips are aligned were you want them you Gan turn the VOE of the vikeg FIGURE 12 25 When you have clip down to zero by going into the Audio tab in the Clip your audio in sync turn down the Adjustments menu as in Figure 12 25 volume of the video clip 187 Choosing the background music for your Fusion piece will obviously depend on the nature of the piece itself When determining what music selection fits best you need to evaluate your clients the kind of event they had and so on If the client for example had a sophisticated event that was accented with classical music throughout you may want to use a simple instrumental piece that reflects their sophistication If they used jazz selections as their background music you may want to mimic their selection In our experience the more upbeat the music the better no one wants to view the images from the happiest day of their life to somber music FIGURE 12 26 Your music selection will set the mood for your enitre Fusion piece Chapter 12 Whatever your selection remember to add only music that you are legally able to use Your entire iTunes library is open to you but unless you have secured the rights to every song available it is important to keep your selections to only the music you have permission to re sell or sync We have already mentioned Triple Scoop Music a
146. nges in bold below lt object width 900 height 506 gt lt param name movie value http cdn smugmug com ria ShizVidz 2010012201 swf gt lt param name allowFullScreen value true gt lt param name flashVars s ZTOxJmk9Nzg3NTgzOTM3Jms9c3VkdUUmYTOxMTIZMDMzNF9MdUZQdS Z1PWZ1c2lvbmlizbm93 gt lt embed src http cdn smugmug com ria ShizVidz 2010012201 swf flashVars s ZTOxJmk9Nzg3NTgzOTM3Jms9c3VkdUUmYTOxMTIZMDMzNF9MdUZQd SZ1PWZ1c2lvbmlzbm93 width 900 height 506 type application x shockwave flash allowFullScreen true gt lt embed gt lt object gt One drawback with Smugmug though is their 10 minute maximum video length They do offer HD hosting for Pro users and like Vimeo will scale it to 1280 by 720 but we suggest you make the change yourself There is also a 600 MB file maximum but we have not found 600MB to be an issue when we upload Fusion as long as we remember to export with that in mind There is always the possibility that your HD video won t play the way it is supposed to on some computers Smugmug takes care of that problem by offering viewers the chance to watch Fusion is a variety of sizes from low def to hi def 217 Table 14 1 Three Options for Hosting your Fusion Piece Online YouTube Vimeo Smugmug Video Format MPEG WMV AVI MOV H 264 amp WMV3 h 264 they convert your are preferred files to that format 640 by 480 Resolution up to 1920 by 1080 853 by 480 up to
147. nk the CX Preamp starting at 189 is designed to work with the DN101 This unit is small forcing the auto gain control to turn down the audio by using the one audio channel to disable the AGC signal while recording clean audio on the other track That s the technical explanation all you really need to know is that the AGC is being dealt with and you are getting a clear audio recording that you can monitor FIGURE 4 5 The Olympus DS 40 149 99 with headphones on the left the Zoom H4n 299 on the right 62 Chapter 4 Other audio options are the Zoom H4n or the Olympus DS 40 see Figure 4 5 Both are portable recording devices that record independently from the capture in camera Each runs on AA batteries and can record for more than eight hours The Zoom has two XLR inputs so you can record four channels at the same time And the price point is such that it will cost about the same to purchase and use either of these as it would to buy an XLR mini pin adapter see Figure 4 4 We also recommend you purchase a lavaliere accessory to use with either unit so that you can pin the microphone on the lapel of the groom or the officiant For recording audio to simply lay over your stills these portable recording devices are the best options Setting up these recorders and then extracting the audio is easy and works perfectly with the Stills Audio Fusion we talked about in Chapter 1 And in fact we use the Zoom throug
148. nline resource to help you learn FCP at www lynda com which is how we learned to set up and use FCP see Figure 5 8 Another resource you might want to look at as you are learning FCP is Final Cut Pro Portable Genius by GeniusDV Included in Final Cut Pro Studio are Motion Soundtrack Pro Color Compressor and DVD Studio Pro The entire suite has everything you need to make the simplest Fusion project to FIGURE 5 8 Final Cut Pro from Apple Inc feature films All the 74 applications in the Final Cut Suite are useful but the one that truly stands out is Color This is a very sophisticated color grading tool that allows you to make color changes to video much like Photoshop allows us to make color changes to still images Color will take time to learn but can result in incredible edits FCP requires Mac OS X 10 5 6 or later Final Cut Pro s biggest drawback is that it is only available for Mac Windows users need to find other solutions As a stepping stone the lighter version Final Cut Express is slightly more robust than iMovie yet not as complex at FCP At 169 it is certainly a more affordable option that Final Cut Pro and will allow you to get familiar with FCP before investing in the Pro version Adobe Premiere is also part of a larger suite of programs called Creative Suite 5 Production Premium or Creative Suite 5 CS5 Master Collection If you have not yet invested in Adobe products such as Photoshop th
149. not unexpected You can either adjust the length of your show to fit the music or add another song to your piece if you only have a few seconds with no music coverage the former is probably the best option but if you have more than a couple seconds adding a second song is the right choice Whatever you choose your options are available in the Audio pop up menu see Figure 13 21 henege Se UT ck rt Tone Tardar to u Cirie T FIGURE 13 19 Drop your audio Save bharc trom CI track onto the Soundtrack bar Record Slide Tamang Quack fyra Erde Show i Ehi g Quite hret Selected Side CimsShitt Q E n FIGURE 13 20 Once imported your audio FIGURE 13 21 Find your audio will appear as a waveform below your slides options in the Audio pop up menu 203 To adjust the length of your show to fit the music use the Quick Sync Entire Show option Quick Sync will match the length of the entire show to all the audio tracks you added If you have two songs for example and you are a few slides longer than the duration of your audio using Quick Sync Entire Show will adjust the length of the show to fit your music If you are going to use Quick Sync Entire Show though you need to add your non background music tracks after you sync to ensure that audio aligns with the slides you want The Producer software manual is very detailed and will come in handy when you are working with audio For more specific information about all as
150. nt but if you purchased your camcorder recently it should have included a USB cable for downloading Naming and organizing footage One of the most important things you can do to facilitate your Fusion workflow is to organize everything right from the start Being organized allows you to find footage quickly narrow down your clips so that you are only working with footage you plan to use and outsource more easily Step 1 After you have downloaded and before you format your cards or erase your tape it s time to organize the footage into scenes We suggest breaking your footage into the following categories or scenes 001 getting ready bride 002 getting ready details 003 getting ready groom 004 getting ready details groom 005 ceremony details 006 ceremony 007 photo shoot 008 reception details 009 reception FIGURE 11 3 This segment would be labeled 006 ceremony processional bridewalk 167 168 Obviously you can use other names but this list covers the basic categories Regardless of your naming convention this kind of organization will allow you to access everything with ease You can take your organizational structure one step further if you are working with a lot of footage In each folder for example 006 ceremony you could have sub folders like processional rings vows and so on Then when you get to step 2 and rename your footage you can place it into the appropriate sub folder Ag
151. o create Fusion but it cannot give you the hands on experience you need to make it happen Fusion is an extension of and compliment to your still photography and practicing before a real event will allow you to maintain your composure and focus on the wedding day itself Chapter 8 Wedding Day Set Up Before leaving for every wedding check and re check all your equipment make sure batteries are charged cards are formatted sensors cleaned and bags packed Adding Fusion coverage means adding more gear and more checking We encourage you to check your gear closely test your audio devices to ensure they are working test record some video footage etc FIGURE 8 1 Keeping all your Fusion equipment in one place makes it easier to access everything you need 114 We check our still cameras before every shoot and test the video and audio equipment we take to the event We have found that keeping all our Fusion equipment in one place is helpful We have a small camera bag that holds our audio equipment and other items we will need to make Fusion so we re not trying to find a cord or connection and going through several bags at the last minute Keeping all the equipment together also allows us to be ready to go with gear in place quickly as things start to happen on the wedding day In Appendix I you will find a checklist to help ensure you have your Fusion gear ready to go One of the nicest features of the HDSLRs is tha
152. o this for a living Being able to photograph a wedding is as much a privilege as it is a job and our responsibility at each event is to create a literal and historic record as well as art for an entire family as shown in Figure 2 With time and practice adding Fusion will result in many of those nervous feelings being left behind There is a learning curve and the discomfort that comes from trying something new But we know that what we are doing this incredible gift that we are giving our clients is so much more important and meaningful than our nerves or preconceptions We believe wholeheartedly that the power of what we re producing the value of this product that grows over time and seeing their tears at the premiere make it worth every bit of stress we ve gone through Mixing stills with video is nothing new videographers have been doing it for years think cheesy eighties montage of photos and video We even tried Fusion several years ago when the quality of video was awful for the camera we could afford and the ability to edit it required a college degree It seemed like a great idea recording the vows and speeches for our clients and mixing them in a multimedia presentation but after realizing the amount of work it would take to produce a viable product we saw our desire for Fusion fizzle out before it ever really got started We weren t the only ones who started down this road years ago only to be turned o
153. o and still hosting FIGURE 14 3 We use two sites from Smugmug that we have customized to fit our needs 216 eit bahh Like YouTube and Vimeo Smugmug also allows you to embed your HD videos into your blog or other site They have kept the process simple actually having an embed code designed for blogs Make sure your gallery is set for External links under Gallery settings and then click the Share button at the top of your Gallery Next select the Embeddable Links tab and choose the size you want under the Blog settings The Large setting creates a show large enough for our blog but it doesn t play directly in our blog page rather it takes people back to our Smugmug site That is a great option particularly if bandwidth is an issue It also allows people to watch the video in HD from the Smugmug site see Figure 14 4 Chapter 14 FIGURE 14 4 Watch in HD from the Smugmug site However there might be times you want the show to play within your blog rather than redirecting your audience If you do you need to use the Video Embed Web option Copy the code and paste it into your blog it will be embedded in the page for you If the default embed code does not create a large enough show for your blog the default size is 425 by 240 change the dimensions to reflect the size you need Locate the Height and Width values in the code and change them to the dimension that best suits your blog We have noted those cha
154. o make adjustments to your slides When you click on the Adjustment Effects tab you will see sliders for opacity brightness contrast hue and saturation and more Any adjustments you make apply to the start and end points of your slide and are worth exploring It might be interesting to take a color image and desaturate it and then move into some black and white video You can also make adjustments to your images and video in the Editing section in the Layers window as shown in Figure 13 17 The adjustments found in the Editing tab allow you to edit both your photos and your video To colorize a video clip for example just click the Colorize checkbox as shown in Figure 13 18 and select any color in the color wheel In this example we made a color clip into a high contrast black and white and adjusted the contrast and white point sliders Again we urge you to read the Producer tutorials There are many other custom effects including masking keyframing adding sound effects adding captions such as scrolling credits at the end of your Fusion piece or the couple s name and wedding date at the beginning Adding Audio Vows and Speeches Now that you have your timeline sorted out and your effects in place we ll focus on adding audio If you used a lavaliere or shotgun microphone to recorded audio directly into your camera you already have audio embedded in your video clips If however you used only a portable
155. o shoot 142 143 reception 144 scene setters 143 shot ideas for bride 136 shot ideas for groom 138 139 single photographer coverage 148 150 speeches 135 team coverage 150 153 using tripods monopods stabilizers 146 147 vows 130 133 when and where to film 129 Redrock Micro Follow Focus V2 104 105 redundant recording system 62 63 resolution 189 190 208 Reverie video 46 rings close shots of 141 Rode NTG1 NTG2 microphone input 59 Rode VideoMic 58 room light 92 94 royalty free music 179 206 rule of thirds 31 S scene setters 143 scrubbing audio files 171 172 selling Fusion 12 13 226 227 Sennheiser Evolution G3 100 Series lavaliere kit 60 Sennheiser K6 microphone input 59 Sennheiser ME67 microphone input 59 Sennheiser MKE 400 microphone 58 sensor 51 setting up equipment advanced setup for ceremony and reception 118 basic setup for ceremony and reception 119 121 checking your equipment 115 116 making a plan 117 118 overview 114 115 troubleshooting 126 setup wedding day 121 advanced setup for ceremony and reception 118 basic setup for ceremony and reception 119 121 checking your equipment 115 116 making a plan 117 118 overview 114 115 troubleshooting 126 shot ideas bride 136 ceremony 140 141 filming a wedding day 136 138 139 groom 138 video coverage 136 138 139 shotgun microphone 58 59 119 121 Show Advanced Features iMovie 178 Show Default window ProShow Producer 194
156. ol Number 2010920647 Trademarks Wiley and the Wiley Publishing logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley and Sons Inc and or its affiliates All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners Wiley Publishing Inc is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book About the Author Jennifer Bebb is a fun loving life living hate getting up early dream weaving wife mom friend daughter sister writer photographer storyteller and business person Jennifer has certainly taken the idea that she can have tt all to heart Together with her husband Steve she was thrust into the international spotlight in 2007 when American Photo named them as two of the top Wedding Photographers in the World Traveling the globe together the Bebbs work tirelessly to educate within their industry while keeping focussed on their most important roles as spouses and parent Based in Vancouver Canada the Bebbs quickly grasped the impact that Fusion would have on wedding photographers and spear headed a revolution in storytelling Spurred on by their own wedding experience and the raising of their children the Bebbs are quietly Fusion ing their way into their clients hearts Credits Acquisitions Editor Courtney Allen Project Editor Carol Person Technical Editor Lonzell Watson Copy Editor Carol Person Editorial Director Robyn Siesky Business Manager Amy Knies Senior Marketing
157. on there is no doubt that it is a game changer and that wedding photography as it exists right now will soon be transformed forever Fusion What is it Exactly Fusion is the mixing of media more specifically video and still photography Our definition of Fusion requires that we mix these media in a way that allows us to maintain our artistic vision of the wedding day yet give our clients the gift of memory and language that will grow in value over time If you d like to see an example of Fusion before you continue reading please refer to the DVD bound in the back of this book You ll find completed examples that clearly illustrate what you can achieve with Fusion In some ways It s easier to explain what Fusion is not it s not about making movies it s not about becoming videographers and it s not about doing more work for less money We are at the heart of it storytellers documentarians of life s moments who have chosen to tell stories through still images But now with Fusion our stories can be more robust and literal coming to life and allowing our viewers a glimpse into the world of those we photograph and our clients the opportunity to visit moments past Fusion as a concept has been around for a long time Many videographers have been mixing stills with their video for years Filmmaker Ken Burns for example is well known for his use of stills with his video and the way he used movement in those still images
158. onopod We simply flip the monopod upside down make sure it is securely mounted and walk with it You can also fly in the conventional position but the upside down method is more effective for us It is surprisingly steady footage and we are able to flip the orientation in post production We like to use the monopod for several reasons It minimizes shake it is much harder to hold steady for video than for a still it is relatively light and mobile it gives us flexibility in our capture and it takes up less room when space is limited For more advanced Fusion coverage we find having the camera on the monopod while the FIGURE 9 11 Focus on the details as well as the couple during more advanced ceremony coverage 146 FIGURE 9 12 The first dance provides movement in the frame while you are stabilized and stationary makeup and hair are being done while the bride is putting on her dress and during the photo shoot is helpful And of course you can easily make still images while your camera is mounted on the monopod The monopod we use has flexible feet that allow us to pivot and move without difficulty We have provided a list of stabilizers in Chapter 7 Ultimately where and when you use a stabilizer depends on what you are hoping to capture and how much video you plan to use We like to fly the camera up and through doorways as one of our transitional themes and to run with our couples as they cross the street see t
159. ooting video with a photographer s eye We usually use an IS lens just to ensure camera shake is at a minimum but if you re using a tripod you don t have to worry as much about shaking f 2 8 is a great aperture to use to shoot the ceremony If you use a shallower depth of field such as f 2 0 or f 1 2 you will need to keep a close eye on the focus as the slightest movement of the couple may cause the focus to slip see Figure 9 2 By using a shallow depth of field we are giving our clients video that looks the same as our stills If you shoot the entire ceremony in f 2 8 you should have your video set with the same aperture Ideally we want to create a consistent look that flows between our stills and our video so that the final Fusion piece moves between still and video with as consistent a flow as possible Because the bride moves toward the groom we suggest focusing on the groom during the ceremony If you can get your camera in a position to record during the processional focusing on the groom gives you a great reaction shot as the bride walks toward him Conversely if you are setup at the head of the aisle recording the bride s face as she sees her groom is a beautiful moment to get on video Remember though if you are filming the processional it is important to account for the fact that the guests stand when the bride enters and they may block your sight lines Combining still coverage of the bride s reaction as she
160. or us Fusion makes the most sense with an HDSLR the 5D MKII specifically The comfort of a familiar platform the ease of moving between video and stills combined with the cinematic quality of the footage and the shallow depth of field made this camera an obvious choice for us And while there are certainly challenges that come with making Fusion we found this camera to be reliable and the quality of footage to be so much higher than using a camcorder Because we are photographers first and because our video is shot with an eye to enhancing our still coverage being able to shoot video like a photographer was an important consideration We chose the camera we felt was best suited to our style The HDSLRs are so good at what we need them to do that looking elsewhere did not make sense to us 54 Table 3 2 Camcorders that might be useful for Fusion Canon Vixia HF 11 Image Stabilization 64GB built in 32GB SDHC HD Capture 1920 by 1080 Manual Controls exposure and focus Storage Media FIGURE 3 10 Canon Vixia HF S11 has a large 2 7 inch LCD screen Sony HDR XR520V 240GB built in Memory Stick 1920 by 1080 1920 by 1080 AE Shift 4 to 4 Chapter 3 Panasonic HDC HS300 120GB built in SD SDHC aperture shutter and lens ring 55 Chapter 4 FIGURE 4 1 Audio takes a still image and gives it historic context No matter what kind of Fusion project you are tackling having great sound
161. ot relevant for wedding productions but you may decide to incorporate some in personal or portrait projects You also have access to GarageBand for your audio clips and voice overs Photos From iMovie you have access to your entire iPhoto library but since you have already organized your photos into the album you want to use simply go to the album and the Logo stock album ignoring the rest 179 We have created a lot of Fusion pieces using iMovie and we always use the native file format h 264 from our HDSLR You need an Intel based Core Duo processor Mac to use the native file format There is a slight issue with files from the 5D MKII and the rolling shutter parts of the frame are exposed at different times until the frame is fully exposed in some cases there might be a distortion in the footage if you moved the camera before the entire frame was fully exposed Running iMovie stabilization on distorted footage can make the distortion appear worse But If you have recorded the vows and speeches while on tripod this shouldn t be an issue iMovie works with most tape based and tapeless devices so before you purchase a new camera check to see if there are compatibility issues with the camera s storage download medium The Apple support page support apple com has a list of all compatible cameras as well as known issues with the different cameras You should not have any difficulties editing in native format with iMovie as most
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163. other editing programs is the ability to customize each slide You can adjust nearly every aspect of the still and video clips from how they look to where they are positioned While we will take you through the basic steps to customizing your slides we recommend you spend some time exploring on your FIGURE 13 15 Make your own effects for any slide 200 own Photodex www photodex com has a very comprehensive series of tutorials available to help you use all the features in Producer Most of your customizations will take place in the Slide Options window The fastest way to access the Slide Options is to double click on the relevant slide The first thing you will notice is the Slide Styles tab shown in Figure 13 14 Slide styles are all the templates effects and animations you can apply to the slides in your show You can configure everything from layer appearance motion effect sounds and captions And because you have an unlimited number of layers on each slide the potential is unlimited You can use the same slide styles over and over again with different images On the left side of the window is a list of built in styles Click on one of the slide styles for an animated Chapter 13 preview of that style You aren t committed to any particular slide at the outset To apply a style click Apply There are over 75 pre built styles to choose from but you can also make your own effects We have men
164. oto We have a Stock or Logo Files album in iPhoto and keep all our logos and other files we use regularly in that album This album allows us regular access to those files in iMovie without having to copy them into each new album we create Chapter 12 When you import your footage to iMovie organization really helps you work with your EE Ea e footage In Chapter 11 we discuss naming and E ai ao Aer Halar Wai ti miki organizing your footage and that organization p structure will come in handy when you import your footage to iMovie First open a new project Go to File gt New Project as shown in Figure 12 4 Our project is named Fusion Sample and we have selected 16 9 as our format We have also selected Cross Dissolve from the Automatically Add pop up menu This option will save you a lot of time as you start editing since it inserts a transition between each segment still or video FIGURE 12 4 Name your project select your format and add themes or transitions of your piece There are many transitions so choose one as your favorite We do encourage you to use only one or two transitions throughout your piece so that the transitions don t distract from your images and video You can also choose which theme if any you might want to apply to your movie Take some time and look at the different themes and determine which one s you like For our professional projects we prefer to build a theme fro
165. otography and Video is geared toward wedding photographers who want to expand their offerings and give their clients something more This book is designed for wedding photographers who already have an intermediate to advanced knowledge of the craft of photography With that assumption in mind we have not included limited technical information about how to use your existing camera or how to make a still image You don t need any advance knowledge of audio and video capture or edit We take you through the adoption of Fusion from the basics to more advanced ideas and the equipment you need We also delve into more intermediate and advanced topics for photographers already using Fusion We have laid everything out ina simple easy to read format that is not heavy on tech speak and will allow those familiar with the terminology or new to It to quickly understand the different terms and equipment The book moves in a linear fashion starting with the different levels and types of Fusion the equipment you will need making Fusion on a wedding day editing and finally presenting Fusion We cover both basic and advanced concepts allowing you to come back to the book as you are ready to move to the next step We have followed the keep it simple approach to Fusion because we know your time is valuable and how hard you already work Our intent is to make Fusion as uncomplicated and easy as possible 14 Different T
166. our 5D MKII as our main camera but we always have a great little camcorder with us as well While the camcorder we use is not optimal for what we want to produce and it 117 doesn t have the same footage quality we get from our HDSLR we need a backup camera We also have a 7D that we use for stills so we have another backup video camera if we need it We mount the camcorder on a second tripod and simply place it near our main camera shown in Figure 8 5 If you are permitted you could set up your second camera on the altar or at another vantage point Because you are trying to simplify your video capture to focus on your stills you may not be able or want to get to your backup camera during the ceremony Camcorders will run until the battery dies or the tape runs out allowing you to start recording walk away and not worry about it until the ceremony is over unless you are in a long ceremony It is unlikely that you will need to use any of the footage captured by camcorder which is fine at least you know the footage is available if you need it We should note that our backup camera Is essentially a fail safe We set the exposure and focus before the ceremony begins just in case we need to use the footage and let the camera run It s not ideal to leave the camera unattended and to rely on its automatic settings so if you can get to it and confirm that you are getting good footage we encourage you to do so FIGURE 8 5 Mount your
167. out you and what your studio can do We price our engagement pieces at a slightly lower rate than our Wedding Fusion The final piece is about three to five minutes in length and mixes the client s interview stills and any video we made during their session It is a great way to market to every single guest at the wedding and we encourage you to take advantage of your Fusion video FIGURE 10 5 Use your engagement sessions to get to know your clients and create a powerful marketing piece for your studio 161 The digital photography workflow is comprehensive we spend hours working our images obsessing over conversions color corrections and the final art treatments Ironically this increased creative control is one of the reasons standardization iS So pervasive in our industry And yet we do it anyway Why then would you want to add video editing to your workload Just like a growing group of photographers outsource their image processing outsourcing is a viable alternative for Fusion too Look for someone you trust to edit your Fusion pieces someone who will listen to your artistic vision and is reasonably priced Assuming the pricing is similar to outsourcing still photos 500 for each Fusion piece is certainly reasonable Many of us however will not outsource and this section will help you edit on your own Our goal is to always provide a polished finished prod
168. oving images The issue of light is a big one entire books have been and will be written on the subject In this chapter we offer an overview of some of the most common lighting situations we encounter 79 Natural and Available Light Available light for us means using the light we find all around us without changing it Sometimes that means working in direct sunlight or in backlit situations Sometimes it means that one person is well lit and the other in shadow Sometimes the light is perfect soft and even but that is often the exception Particularly in ceremonies and receptions where we are bound by pre chosen locations we must learn to work with the light that is available Whether it is candles window light wall or ceiling lights we have collectively adapted as photographers and aim to do the same with our Fusion coverage 80 Chapter 6 A FIGURE 6 1 The soft light in this scene compliments the tranquility of the moment Sunlight The biggest brightest and most natural light source is the sun We can use it to light our images in a variety of ways from backlight to direct light and more We can t control the sun and often find that it lights our scenes in ways that we would not have chosen For example the late afternoon sun might light your groom s face and cause him to squint while casting your bride s face in shadow You will be faced with a variety of lighting scenarios when working o
169. ow the video and stills to flow together easily When you are finished adding footage and you have your piece looking the way you want you can start fine tuning your edit With a 16 9 project our stills require cropping which we set as automatic we selected Crop as the Initial Placement option in Figure 12 5 iMovie automatically defaults to the middle of the frame when it selects a crop cutting off the top and bottom to fit the 16 9 frame which may or may not be the way you prefer Quickly scrub through your footage by hovering your mouse over the images you won t need to hold down the mouse buttons just skim along the timeline and stopping where you think a crop needs to be changed Click on the image and a yellow line will appear around the clip Select the cropping tool Figure 12 15 or the sprocket shaped widget Figure 12 16 to open an editing pane in the Preview window The green outline in Figure 12 17 represents the current visible image area and you can move the outline to best represent how you want your image to appear You can choose to Fit the image to the screen a black box around your full frame image and you can choose to add Ken Burns movement to the image while the Crop window is open in the Preview pane If you know that you want Ken Burns added to the majority of your photographs you can select the Ken Burns option while setting up your project and save time manually adding that later see Figure 12 5 i i Te los al
170. ow have the flexibility and freedom to give them more We subscribe to the idea that Fusion is heavily weighed toward photography rather than videography After all we are photographers not 36 Chapter 2 Stills Audio Video NEE P m Peat ce oe b cli l i ig ss Ph A H oe a a FIGURE 2 6 Record the vows from the end of the aisle 37 videographers A great target to shoot for Is a ratio of 80 20 or even 70 30 stills to video With that in mind you will go into the wedding day knowing exactly when and where you need to capture audio and video in addition to your still images Chapters 8 and 9 detail how to plan execute and make Fusion on a wedding day Let s start by putting your camera on a tripod at the end of the aisle You aren t looking to fly the camera or do anything crazy at this point You are simply going to record the vows as they happen following the rules we described earlier Once everyone is in position at the head of the aisle all you have to do is ensure the camera is focused and recording and it has enough battery power and recording space to make it through the ceremony You can then carry on shooting your still images as normal Speeches are also relatively easy to record Simply set up a tripod with unobstructed sight lines toward the speakers start recording when they start to speak and stop when they re finished You have the freedom to move about the recept
171. p A great basic way to capture sound is to use two devices the shotgun mic and a portable audio recording device The shotgun mic is mounted on the camera as in Figure 8 6 and the other device is pinned to the groom s lapel as shown in Figure 8 7 on the next page We suggest using two devices First you want a redundant system in place in case one device fails The shotgun mic is not meant to be your main capture point but if the other device fails it is your backup Second you want to be able to sync the audio from the groom s microphone to the camera footage Having two sound sources available allows you to sync your audio with better accuracy 119 TA FIGURE 8 7 Lavaliere microphone pinned to the groom s lapel There are drawbacks to the shotgun mic as outlined in Chapter 4 ambient noise and distance for effective capture being the biggest But the shotgun mic is your redundant backup so if all goes well you won t need to rely on this audio at all The portable recording device shown in Figure 8 8 is fantastic and will record up to 8 hours longer on other models All you need to do is place the microphone portion of the device on the groom s lapel as seen in the left image in Figure 8 9 ensure the wires are all connected and place the body of the device into his pocket Figure 8 9 on the far right We use the Olympus device because it is small and allows us 120 FIGURE 8 8 The Olympus DS 40 i
172. pects of Producer not just audio we strongly encourage you to read the manual You can also edit each track individually set fades crop start and end points and more There is no limit to the number of tracks you can run in a Producer show which is fantastic for adding different audio clips With the Sync Slides to Audio option you can ensure the audio clips you add line up with your video segments To edit each track individually double click the green waveform to open the Show Options window Click the Edit Fades and Timing button near the bottom of the window to launch the audio trimmer as shown in Figure 13 22 and you will see a visual representation of your audio track Use the sliders and flags to set fades or to crop your track Simply click the OK button to return to your show FIGURE 13 22 Use the Edit Fades and Trimming window to edit your audio tracks manually 204 When you are adding your audio segments once again drag your audio to the Soundtrack bar where you want it Make sure you select the slide you want to align with the audio You can also double click the slide and click on Sounds and then Select Sound located just below the Preview window and then choose the file you want You ll know that you are successful when you see a speaker icon on the slide Choose the Select Sound option only if you want the audio track to cover that single slide which is a good way to sync your audio with a single video slid
173. place on the timeline If you selected all the image they will appear in the timeline in file name order and will take some time to load as in Figure 12 12 If you selected only one image you can choose exactly where on the timeline you want it to appear In Figure 12 13 you see the image outlined in blue on the right side of the window drag the image over to the timeline and place it where it should go You can organize your images any way that you want if you have added all your images at once but they were out of sequence you can move them anywhere within the timeline To watch your project click on the clip you want to start with and then press the space bar to play To stop press the space bar a second time The portion of your piece playing will appear in the Viewer on the right side of your screen see Figure 12 14 Use drag and drop to add your video clips to your show Go to the Event Library select the relevant clip and drag it into position on your timeline Because you have already scrubbed through your footage and broken it into smaller clips Step 2 in Chapter 11 you shouldn t need to shorten or adjust the clip length before you drag into your timeline When you insert your video in the timeline you will notice a transition placed on either side of the video this transition appears automatically because we knew we wanted to add transitions when we set up our project initially These transitions all
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175. pull the battery and card out reinsert both and turn the camera back on That usually fixes the problem 126 Chapter 8 Wedding Day Set Up 127 Chapter 9 When and Where to Film Most modern wedding photographers have a dusty unused tripod sitting in the trunk of their car or in the back of their gear closet Gear isn t as heavy or as cumbersome as it was as few as 15 years ago And we all secretly scoff at the photographers we see carefully carrying their tripods from place to place Our cameras are fast high ISO great glass and we can shoot entire weddings without stabilizers like tripods Capturing video though means taking a closer look at stabilizers and you may even be tempted to invest in different stabilizers like those listed in Chapter 7 Hand holding your camera is an option but be prepared for more work in post production even if you want that shaky look that hand holding gives you Let s assume for this section that you are using a camera like the 5D MKII or Nikon D3S First things first if you are using the 5D MKII as your primary still camera you will have conflicting interests during the ceremony and reception We suggest that you use your second body or backup camera to make stills while your HDSLR is on the stabilizer Obviously you can make still images while you are locked on a tripod or monopod but you may find your movement limited if you aren t accustomed to using tripods or
176. puters MAC and PC Making a Blu Ray Disc We know that Blu Ray is the best option in terms of disc medium but how are you going to get your Fusion piece onto a Blu Ray Windows users Many Windows machines are now coming with Blu Ray burners which is fantastic This certainly makes it easy for you to create and output a Blu Ray disc And if you are using the Producer software that we talked about in Chapter 13 you are able to make a Blu Ray with relative ease all the settings are preprogrammed into Producer In the Blu Ray market Windows users certainly have the advantage Mac users As Mac users ourselves we are certainly aware of how restrictive it is not to have a Blu Ray burner built in There are external burners that can be used with Macs and again if you are using Prodcuer in a virtual PC environment that will be a good solution for you If however you are using iMovie to make your Fusion the challenge is getting it onto Blu Ray Without question you need a third party burner MCE mcetech com offers a Blu Ray burner that you can install in your Mac Pro and Power Mac Final Cut Studio 7 has the ability to burn Blu Ray directly from FCP 7 and Compressor 3 5 If you couple this burner with Roxio Toast 10 Titanium Pro roxio com you will be able to create menus and burn a disc While some of your clients may still only have access to DVD players this will change over time as Blu Ray players become more affordable and
177. r 76 ProShow Gold 73 ProShow Producer adding audio 203 205 Adjustment Effects 201 choosing music 206 Create Output window 206 207 customizing slides 200 202 Edit Fades and Trimming window 204 exporting for devices and Web sites 206 208 exporting for DVD 208 External Editors menu 195 importing footages 196 Layers window 202 menu bar 194 Motion Effects 201 New Slide Show dialog box 195 overview 192 placing stills and video into Timeline 197 198 playing back slideshow 198 preferences 194 previewing video 199 Quick Sync Entire Show option 204 Quick Sync Selected Slides to Track option 205 Show Default window 194 slide duration 194 Slide List 197 198 Slide Options window 200 201 Soundtrack bar 204 starting new slideshow 195 toolbar 194 transition duration 194 transitions 198 trimming video 199 Video Trimmer window 199 working with native files 196 Q Quick Release Run and Gun 110 111 Quick Sync Entire Show option ProShow Producer 204 Quick Sync Selected Slides to Track option ProShow Producer 203 205 QuickTime 207 QuickTime Pro 170 R reception advanced setup 118 basic setup for 118 capturing sound 119 121 capturing video 121 filming 144 recording audio boom microphones 58 59 lavaliere lapel microphones 60 61 overview 56 57 3 pin microphone input 58 recording time 51 recording video ceremony 130 133 140 141 get away 142 night shoot 145 phot
178. r Timeline into a format that you can put online To output your show click the Create Output icon in the main toolbar to open the Create Output window as shown in Figure 13 24 Once this window opens you will see all the output options available Everything is built in so you shouldn t need any third party software If you wish to output to an iPhone or Blackberry go to the Device menu find the appropriate device and click Create When we use another program to create our Fusion pieces we generally output one or two different shows to embed in our blog and social media With Producer you may want to output more than one show since Producer offers a variety of options outputting files specifically for the various ways you want to use them Before you decide which format to use you need to determine what you plan to do with your show You may end up creating more than one version of your show depending on where and how you want to share it When you output to share online keep in mind that some Web sites do not offer the capability to host full HD or high quality videos Chapter 14 will take you through several hosting sites to help you determine which is best for you Once you get the best quality show online you can use that online location to link to other sites To output a file that will be friendly to most of your viewers we suggest using one of three formats MPEG 4 AVC QuickTime mov or Windows Media wmv Keep in mind tha
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180. racks around the background selection Obviously you can add the relevant audio first and the background music second if you prefer Select the Music option from the menu bar and go to your iTunes music list Generally speaking we try to use one song for the whole piece so we don t have to worry about fading one song into another Simply select the song you want and drag it into the timeline The music selection covers the timeline in a green framework as you can see in Figure 12 18 This overlay will appear if you drop the music track into the gray area around your timeline If you highlight a clip first and then drop the audio the audio will appear as a green track below the clips it covers When you are adding your background music you want to ensure you click in the background music is located in this case it covers all visible clips in the window grey area and see the green 184 FIGURE 12 19 The audio track of the vows or speeches is indicated by the green bar that runs under the clips overlay as you are going to add your vows and speeches by dropping them directly onto a specific clip The green area shows you what area of your timeline is covered by your music and lets you know where you will need to add another song if necessary To add audio over your stills simply highlight the clip where you want the audio to start and drag the audio to it You can also just drag the music to the clip but
181. rature and you must find a way to balance not only the light itself but also the colorcast each light source creates In Figure 6 10 you see a scene where the couple is lit with a tungsten spot light with a fire burning in the background You will need to carefully select your white balance setting with both your HDSLR and your camcorder In this particular image we chose to allow the warmth of the firelight be the dominant color temperature while the tungsten light was a little bit cooler on our couple The scene though is balanced Fortunately the AWB auto white balance settings in most cameras are fairly accurate particularly in HDSLRs You need to check the settings frequently as sometimes both camcorders and HDSLRs will overcompensate when trying to balance a shot With camcorders you need to be careful when zooming in tightly on faces as different skin tones confuse the AWB Also fluorescent lighting can skew the camera s AWB Use your WB white balance to balance different color temperatures choosing which one will be the dominant is every scene or use a Custom white balance if you simply cannot make one of the preset options work for you Recently we have seen a trend towards using gelled lights at the reception which creates a beautiful atmosphere but which turns the room pink or blue or whatever color they have chosen Our challenge then becomes making well exposed images and video that don t shift the color our
182. rder and don t want to invest in an HDSLR Do your homework and take a close look at what system is most cost effective for you 103 104 Filters Before Canon s recent firmware update using neutral density ND filters as a way to fool the camera s setting was necessary to get the exposure you wanted Now that the settings are fully manual with both the Nikon and Canon HDSLRs the ND filter is no longer a must have accessory The ND filter reduces the amount of light entering the camera s lens and therefore results in a slower shutter and wider aperture For example depending on the filter you choose you can reduce your f stop between 1 and 20 stops for the techies that is ND2 and ND1000000 filters If you purchase a filter remember that you need to buy a filter for each size lens you use We recommend you purchase a filter based on the lens you use the most or the lens that requires the ND filter such as a f1 2 or f1 4 lens and see if you like working with filters before you invest in every size you might need There are a variety of filters available for your lenses ranging from the basic protective UV filters that many photographers put on their lenses to polarizer graduated neutral density and warming or cooling filters Whether you use any filter is up to you Filters are a way to ensure you get everything you can in camera A polarizer for example will make skies appear a deeper blue and can reduce the amount o
183. reat examples of shorts are the Basic and Advanced pieces on the DVD the actual finished pieces we give the bride and groom would be longer and include more speeches but to showcase your Fusion work a shorter piece will grab your audience and hold their interest You can use any of the sites we discussed earlier in this chapter to host and then embed your Fusion shorts see Figure 14 8 Personally we prefer Smugmug because we only have to pay an annual hosting fee and not buy more viewing credits as you do with Vimeo The nice thing about creating a short is that there is no time constraint and file size as a two to three minute piece will conform to Smugmug s limitations quite easily DVD versus BLU RAY If you are old enough to remember the days of VHS vs Beta then the DVD vs Blu Ray battle that has been raging for several years is nothing new to you VHS won the battle of the tape based systems and it would appear that Blu Ray is set to win the current one With Toshiba announcing in 2008 that they would no longer produce HD DVD products and heavyweights like Netflix Wal Mart and Best Buy getting behind Blu ray the popularity of DVDs in general is on the wane But what does that mean for you After all if the consumer home video market is going toward Blu ray doesn t that mean you should be making Blu ray discs for your clients It seems obvious doesn t it If only it were that simple We are going to take you through the de
184. recording device you are now faced with getting that audio into your show and lining it up with the appropriate video clips If you are only going to use embedded audio you can adjust the audio in the Video Settings tab of the Layers window which is fantastic Most of us though want to use audio segments that are longer than the video clips and that will overlay our still images Producer allows you to use many different audio files If you are using an Olympus DS 40 or a Zoom H4n as we recommend your audio files are ready to use with Producer But before editing your show take the time to go through your audio clips and pull out the segments you are going to use see Chapter 11 Save those files with descriptive names for example Best Man s speech so that you won t have to search for the audio when you want to use tt We ll start with background music first and then add the other audio segments With support for almost all major audio formats you should have no problem adding the music of your choice Go to the Folder list in the upper left corner of the main workspace and locate your stored your music Drag the song you want to use and drop it on the Soundtrack bar as shown in Figure 13 19 below the Slide List The import will begin automatically and once complete you ll see a green waveform below the slides the waveform is shown in Figure 13 20 Your slideshow will probably be a different length than your music choice which is
185. remony 130 133 140 141 get away 142 night shoot 145 photo shoot 142 143 reception 144 scene setters 143 shot ideas for bride 136 shot ideas for groom 138 139 single photographer coverage 148 150 speeches 36 41 135 team coverage 150 153 using tripods monopods stabilizers 146 147 vows 36 41 130 133 when and where to film 129 video editing software Adobe Premier Elements 77 Avid 77 Corel VideoStudio Pro 77 Cyberlink PowerDirector 77 iMovie 09 72 overview 70 71 Pinnacle Studio 77 Premiere Pro 75 ProShow Gold 73 ProShow Producer 192 208 Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 77 video footages adding to individual scene or category folders 169 choosing 168 creating outline 169 extracting audio files from 170 importing to iMovie 177 178 importing to ProShow 197 naming 168 organizing 167 168 ranking 168 video hosting sites Showit Sites 219 220 Smugmug 216 218 Vimeo 215 YouTube 214 video recording advanced setup 40 41 basic rules 31 35 basic setup 36 39 rule of thirds 31 troubleshooting 126 Video Trimmer window ProShow Producer 199 videocams non HDSLR backup 118 downloading 167 169 light 125 limitations of 125 options 54 price 125 specifications 55 zoom 125 videographers 9 video LED light 97 viewer 25 Vimeo 215 VMware Fusion 166 VOWS adding to iMovie 184 adding to ProShow Producer 203 205 capturing in video 36 41 filming 130 133 WwW Web sites embedding Fusion
186. repared to move the tripod to the aisle after the processional There will be exceptions to this scenario of course see Figure 9 1 but knowing you need to move the equipment after the processional is the simplest way to handle it Most weddings are similar they follow a prescribed set of events though the order may change depending on the faith and officiant and this formula gives you the confidence to know when you can move your tripod into position and when to get it out of the way FIGURE 9 1 Camera and tripod are set up at the back of the aisle during the processional Once you have your sight lines and the ultimate position of your tripod the next step is to check the light and choose your lens If you have a light meter use it to get a reading on the light at the altar If you don t have a meter move your camera and tripod into position and work with the Live View and camera s meter to get the correct exposure You don t have a lot of latitude with consumer level camcorders but the HDSLRs give you the same exposure options as you have with your still camera So we encourage you to use an HDSLR if you can FIGURE 9 2 The focus is on the groom with an aperture of f 2 8 using our 70 200 2 8L IS lens 132 Using an HDSLR also gives you the flexibility of choosing a shallow depth of field Just like many of us enjoy shooting our stills wide open at f 2 8 or better we shoot our video the same way remember we re sh
187. roomReaction BrideWalk or DadHug Having these small and specific clips speeds the final edit and the need to trim your video later The more you can do ahead of time to prepare for the edit the easier it is to put your final piece together Step 3 At this point while the clips are all fresh in your mind rank the footage according to what you think you will definitely use what you might use and what you probably won t use but want to keep We use a color system red is definitely use blue is maybe and grey is probably not This system allows us to select the red files first and not import too much footage into our editing program at one time Remembering that we want no more than 30 percent of our final piece to be video this ranking system means we work with the best clips first and we ll only access the remainder if we feel the other video was not sufficient for the story Chapter 11 Step 4 We do one final step that you may or may not want to implement While the clips are fresh in our minds we create a quick plan for the final piece using our word processor It might be as simple as noting where we want to use the clips or as complex as a storyboard depending on your client and your turnaround time Most often we note where we envision the video clips fitting into the timeline using point form notations An example of this might be Opening segment couple together still couple together still bride alone still
188. rt 4 we ll take you through the steps to actually edit your piece using iMovie and Producer Both Microsoft and Apple have competitive programs in the consumer editing marketplace iMovie part of the iLife suite and Movie Maker part of Window s Live Essentials both allow you to edit and share your video and both have a user friendly interface Both applications allow you to create titles captions FIGURE 5 4 The details of a wedding day are important in the final product 70 FIGURE 5 5 Fusion personalizes each client s experience credits and add music And both are relatively inexpensive if you need to upgrade and come installed on most new computers However there are real differences between these two programs iMovie and Movie Maker are great entry level applications and allow you to test drive Fusion iMovie is ready to go and will facilitate your initial foray into Fusion You will probably be frustrated with Movie Maker and we don t actually recommend using It when you are first trying Fusion The PC solution we find both affordable and easy to use is ProShow Gold from Photodex In this section we ll take you through the features of each program 71 IMOVIE 09 from Apple Inc iMovie and the entire iLife suite has been revamped in the current version with most of the features you need to easily edit and export Fusion pieces Utilizing the same drag and drop functionality that defines Apple s products iMo
189. s a great entry level recording device to put it into a jacket pocket it also doesn t bulge or become uncomfortable It is important to remember that when you attach the mic to a lapel it needs to be on top of the clothing and not rub against anything If the microphone is inadvertently covered or something rubs or bangs against it it will compromise the sound quality Also remember to do a quick test with the groom have him speak normally once you have the mic on his lapel and check that the audio is both recording and sounds good Take your time and make sure the audio is recording the way you want it Another suggestion is to mic the officiant instead of the groom Because the officiant stands between the couple his her microphone will pick up fairly equal audio from both parties If you are recording audio to surprise your clients pinning the mic to the officiant is really the only way to get great audio without spoiling the surprise Now that we have taken care of the sound recording we need to get you ready to record the video When you arrive at the ceremony check for light sight lines and where to safely place your tripod Typically you will set up your tripod at the end of the aisle so that you are out of the way and unobtrusive Confirm your sight lines making sure that you will have a unobstructed view of your couple and place your camera in position Check your camera settings ISO Aperture White Balance and
190. s a resource for great royalty free tracks and the price is certainly reasonable for the license you purchase Though the music industry has yet to crack down on photographers as a group it is only a matter of time before those who use unlicensed music are caught Whether you worry about getting caught or not it is a copyright violation and as creative professionals whose own copyright is important we should all respect the artists whose music we love Exporting for the Web Now that you have your Fusion piece put together in iMovie it s time to share it with your clients You have several options available under the Share button on the iMovie menu bar Each option is self explanatory and allows you to output the appropriate size depending on where you plan to use it We always try to output the best quality show possible usually in HD format The best quality HD resolution is 1920 by 1080 and the next step down is 1280 by 720 preserving the 16 9 aspect ratio Because iMovie is an Apple program you can easily output to devices such as Apple TV iPods and iPhones and upload to iTunes You also have the option to upload your video directly to YouTube or as a QuickTime movie ready to be uploaded to other Web sites In Part 5 we talk about how and J Window Help where to share your videos online T Tunes 4 ia L e To output your Fusion piece click Share gt pet Benker Export Movie to see the options available
191. s microphone with batteries e Zoom H4n with SD card and batteries e Olympus WS 40 with batteries e Cords for audio devices XLR to Mini pin and cord for Mixer board e Backup cords e Spare batteries for microphones e Backup camera camcorder and tripod e Hot light with stands and spare bulbs e Barn doors for hot lights e Lite panel LED light e Spare batteries for LED light Appendix Appendix B About the DVD Fusion is by its very nature a visual subject It is not enough to merely explain it all with words without samples to give concrete examples of the information we are sharing with you We have filled the DVD with examples of Fusion pieces as well as all sorts of other information shared in a conversational format with Steve and me The DVD starts with the addition of audio only and moves through to comprehensive coverage And don t forget to check the outtakes Introduction e get to know us e see samples of our work and our studio e learn why we think Fusion is such an important addition to our coverage Simple Fusion adding audio to your stills e introduction to adding audio e sample of an Audio or simple Fusion piece Basic Fusion capturing the vows and reception e audio set up shotgun microphone and portable recording device e using two audio tracks to sync in post production e camera set up sight lines lighting discrete tripod e record the vows e reception set up recording the audio of the sp
192. s photographers The 5D MKII gives photographers the opportunity to make video but think like photographers using challenging light and creating video segments as visually compelling as their stills More compelling though is the ability to use our 35mm lenses as shown in Figure 3 3 and create video with the same depth of field we use in our still images rather than the f16 equivalent of most camcorders It is this capability that creates the cinematic look of the video from a 5D MKII or any HDSLR and has really been driving Fusion The biggest con is that you are probably using your 5D MKII as your primary still camera and therefore when you are recording video you obviously aren t making stills You should also be aware that everything needs to be done manually while in Video mode including your focus The camera does allow you to Auto focus while in Video mode but manual focus is more accurate and effective If you have been relying on the Auto focus feature of your lenses you will need a little practice with both focus and zoom before you produce your first Fusion piece Other drawbacks when recording video are the 12 minute maximum recording time and the diminished battery life when in Video mode for extended periods of time With the 2 0 3 firmware update Canon has answered the critics of the 5D MKIl s initial 30 fps recording rate changing it to 29 97 and adding 23 967 and 25fps making the MKII one of
193. s you to move to other tasks while you are waiting PC Friendly Formats Movie Settings Some computers and Web sites A Videa are not compatible with the QuickTime mov format There Settings Compression H 2ba Quality High Encoding mode multi pass Dimensions 1920x1080 1868x1062 in iMovie We suggest that you download a free software that era will convert your mov files to a flv or wmv or another Windows compatible format There are many software conversions Pin Bees a options available that allow you See a A EE ee to try before you buy We don t Ac have a preference as we rarely have to make that conversion Sattings Format Integer Littie Endian Sample rate 46 000 kHz Recommended Sample tite 16 bit Channels Stereo L Ri FIGURE 12 28 Optimal settings to output to QuickTime 190 iMovie 09 allows output to DVD but not Blu ray which makes it challenging to produce a hard copy of your Fusion piece that is truly HD You can use a program such as Toast to burn your HD MOV output file to a Blu ray disc if you are willing to go without a menu on your disc Another work around is to export your iMovie project as a xml file and work with it in Final Cut Pro to make a Blu ray disc But this isn t really a satisfying or economical option if you do not own Final Cut Pro 7 and a Blu ray disc burner Making Fusion with iMovie limits your hard copy output to standard defnition SD DVD That may seem off p
194. se items can be useful if this style of filming works for you but they are not at all necessary to make Fusion We highly recommend renting before you buy these units e Glidecam 4000 4000HD www glidecam com At a suggested list price of 599 99 we found it at B amp H for 350 the 4000 series can be used with cameras weighing up to 10 pounds Depending on the counter weights you use the Glidecam can weigh up to about 6 6 pounds and range in height from 20 to 28 inches There are also Glidecam 400 4000HD kits available wwwbhphotovideo com that include a variety of accessories If you are intrigued and want to specialize in flying you will soon find yourself purchasing a more comprehensive system such as Figure 7 6 These more advanced units allow greater stability and control but are not something you need while you are first starting out But if you are ultimately planning to offer more video this is certainly an option albeit an expensive one at 7900 e Steadicam Merlin www steadicam com More lightweight than the Glidecam and folding to less than two inches the Steadicam Merlin is a compact option but retailing for around 799 it is more expensive It also comes as part of a larger kit with the arm and vest options and retails for about 2400 There are a number of other support systems for the HDSLR bodies These systems are different from tripods and monopods because they use your body as a means of support Some of the dra
195. sees her groom with the video of the groom s reaction at seeing her results in a powerful moment in your final Fusion piece If you only record video from the back of the aisle your photographs will still tell a significant part of the story The 5D MKII only records continuously for 12 minutes and the Nikons record for less time so checking the camera regularly is important Because you will likely be using a redundant audio system see Chapter 4 and Chapter 8 you won t panic if your camera stops recording for a minute or so but you need to check it frequently By promising to cover only the vows and speeches you also don t have to worry if you miss some of the officiant s words as you change cards or re start recording Anything extra you record is a bonus and you can or not use it in your final edit Once you have the camera in position and it is recording you are free to move about and shoot as normal Later in this chapter we ll discuss some strategies for single and multiple photographers but if you have your camera s set and recording there is no need to simply stand and watch the ceremony We should also note that if you are using an HDSLR to record video you can also make a still image while recording video There will be a slight pause in your video but if the moment warrants a still you are ready to make it see Figure 9 3 al Liar FIGURE 9 3 You can make still images whil
196. shooting Despite our best efforts to take care of our gear and ensure it is in working order things happen Knowing how to work around some of those problems allows us to remain calm and try to fix things quickly Remember don t panic you have redundancies in place for a reason so you will be all right Deal with any problem as quickly as you can and get back to the task at hand Olypmus DS 40 lavaliere attachment When you plug the lavaliere microphone attachment into the Olympus securely fasten it in place Because the lavaliere attachment only plugs in it can be dislodged If the groom or officiant moves funny It may pull out of the recorder Watch for the lav becoming disconnected and try to keep slack in the cord when you attach the recorder to a belt or put it in a pocket Zoom H4n Sound doesn t record When you press record once it detects audio and begins to monitor levels but it does not actually record any audio You must press record twice before the Zoom will start recording So press record one time and pay attention to levels adjusting accordingly then press record a second time to capture audio Errors while recording video When recording video on your HDSLR you may get an error message and find it stops recording This is most likely due to card speed To make sure this doesn t happen use the fastest cards available when recording video If that doesn t work turn your camera off
197. so has a dual card slot similar to the Nikon HDSLR players D3S and D300S Unfortunately movies cannot be recorded to both media at the same time but any photos taken while in Movie mode will be recorded to both cards For a comparison of the Canon and Nikon HDSLRs check Table 3 1 51 52 Nikon D S Nikon changed the photography game with the release of the D3 causing many Canon shooters to switch to Nikon One reason for the move was because the 12 1MP sensor allowed better and higher ISOs Nikon also included Live View dust reduction video and many features users had been clamoring for with the D3S Nikon stayed true to the 12 1MP format of the D3 when they released the D3S expanding the ISO capabilities from usable 12 800 to a surprising 102 400 dubbed night vision The D3S s video capabilities are better than previous Nikon hybrids with full aperture control faster AF in Live View and a stereo input The expanded ISO range provides the opportunity to capture good video in poor lighting For wedding photographers who regularly work in dark reception halls this is great news With full aperture control High Sensitivity Movie mode and improved Auto focus Nikon has made great strides in HDSLR The dual card slot in the Nikon D3S can be an advantage for Fusion photographers who worry about backing up as they go According to the Nikon specs you can make stills on one card and movies on the other or use the second
198. st Fusion reflects the spirit mood and feel of the wedding day fr J E p E 4 La gt wae re Si P _ lt P ER pn a gt Le i SS ee T a fa P D ee f a ie gt gt d f lt T Ta a au L lt Aj ee e2 Su E A ie ag ae o 4 a S a You have done it You ve made Fusion Now it s time to show it off Fusion is meant to be shared It is a way to set you apart from everyone else a way to connect with future clients and a way to give your current clients more than they every expected But how do you let the world know about your Fusion How do you show it off We narrow down the many options and provide a means to showcase your work In Chapter 14 we explore three places where you can E create a Web presence that really shows off your Fusion pr and other work and how to create shorts for your blog All with an eye to letting the world see how creative you are Chapter 15 takes you through some practical questions about delivering and selling Fusion Should you choose a DVD or Blu ray How do you sell Fusion to your clients As for selling Fusion well that is a big one isn t it After all if you can t sell it and recieve financial compensation for your knowledge expertise and creativity why do it at all We take you through ways to sell Fusion to current and future clients reaping the benefit of all your hard work In re
199. st template companies to fully grasp the power of video Showit Sites incorporates HD video within the site framework But the site isn t limited to video or to templates Rather Showit Sites can be fully customized and you can seamlessly integrate your Fusion and stills Offering a free version you can test drive Showit Sites without making a huge financial commitment and decide if the platform is best for what you need There are some limits to the free version you can only publish five pages for example but you can use all the functionality the site offers see Figure 14 6 Bebbinars Ig ee g a ee l a TEA on Se a es oa sn mg eg ee ed oe ee ee en a ree ba ia ma L EE bm i Ee 3 FIGURE 14 6 We use the free version of Showit Sites for our educational Web site 219 220 Getting your Fusion pieces to your clients in a way that represents you and your branding is really important But something else to consider is giving your clients a stake in the presentation as well We use our Showit sites to create custom Web sites for all our clients These sites showcase everything we have done for them including engagement sessions wedding photographs and Fusion We use a Web site name similar to londonandbella yourstudioname com see Figure 14 7 Having your name in the URL reinforces your branding and reminds everyone that you made that site London amp Bella babba o FIGURE 14 7 A Plus site from
200. suggested in Chapter 8 the audio will be recording so even if you only make still images of that moment and miss the video the final edit will be fine If you are using your HDSLR as your main camera during the reception making friends with the MC or DJ is helpful Ask them to give you a few minutes warning assuming there are breaks between the speeches to allow you to get your HDSLR and tripod into position to start recording You will need to periodically check your HDSLR to change cards as well The audio will be setup so that you won t have any interruptions in your recording allowing you to change your storage media whenever necessary Remember spending all your time focused on recording video will compromise your still coverage and that runs counter to the fact that you are a photographer first It will be important therefore to know in advance what you plan to record with video focusing the rest of your efforts on making still images 135 136 Advanced Adding More Coverage With Basic coverage we made the vows and speeches the subject of our attention We used the video to deliver the audio and provide our clients with the gift of language from their family and friends Using this combination also gives you the opportunity to safely and easily bring Fusion coverage to your weddings The Advanced coverage builds on the Basics The delivery of the vows and speeches is still a priority in our Advanced coverage In fact we r
201. t and receiver 60 FIGURE 4 4 An adapter is needed for the mini pin jack such as the adapter on the 5D MKII When choosing the best wireless system for you consider how you will use it If you are using a 5D MKII for example you can use your wireless system and plug the receiver directly into the camera s microphone port Because of the AGC and the inability to measure the sound levels in camera we don t recommend using the camera s mic port with your wireless system Don t despair however as there is a great work around that allows you to use these mics without dealing with Auto Gain As we discuss in more detail below you can use an adaptor box or the Zoom H4n in conjunction with your lav mic The benefits of recording with a lavaliere system outweigh the issues with ACG These mics provide great audio and are relatively small and easy to use If you use one of the workarounds they are definitely worth the investment Most microphone kits comes with everything you need to record wirelessly see Figure 4 3 Because it is easy to get confused when trying to order this equipment look for kits that include the transmitter the lavaliere microphone and the receiver ensuring that they are wireless transmitters receivers You also need to consider the size of the system We prefer the Sennheiser to the Sony system because the Sennheiser is a little smaller and therefore easier to tuck into a pocket 61 Other Audio Systems and Red
202. t is compelling enough to offset the technical flaws in the still or video Trying to balance the scene and maintain both good exposure and our highlights is always our priority Side light isn t always a bad thing though You can use it to make compelling and interesting imagery at different times of the day In particular side or split light can make a groom look fantastic Figure 6 7 shows how to use side light to make a dramatic portrait of your groom What a great video clip to pan left to right pausing on this scene and having the groom look straight into the camera like this Watch your exposure closely as you may have to underexpose by a third FIGURE 6 7 Slide light makes for great portraits of the groom 87 So far we have been discussing diffused sunlight from the side and from the back But sun shining directly on your subjects can be harsh something many of us try to avoid It leads to squinting and can be overwhelming and too bright for our cameras Yet it can also be quite powerful and interesting as well Your camcorder will respond favorably to this light Obviously you want to keep an eye on your exposure but a camcorder will handle this light well assuming the light is even throughout the scene You will need to work in manual exposure though to ensure that your camera is not over or underexposing a very bright scene The same is true with your HDSLR direct sun Is fairly e
203. t some Windows machines might not be able to play a mov file and some Macs will not be able to play a wmv file But after you have the file online and people can access it from the Web the file type probably won t matter depending on the end user If you know that your clients are on a Windows machine and you are on a Mac you might want to upload a Windows friendly format It s important to ensure that you are outputting in a format FIGURE 13 25 Use Custom settings to output your HD show 207 208 that is supported by the host you want to use Smugmug for example supports mov wmv and more and allows you to embed your shows into different sites and devices such as iTunes iPods and iPhones Click on Video File in the Create Output window and choose Custom from the Video Preset Type pop up menu as shown in Figure 13 25 In the figure we chose a Windows Media format wmv but the settings are the same for the mpg and mov formats You need to ensure that your Resolution is correct 1920 by 1080 is the largest size you will make and 1280 by 720 is a slightly smaller but still an HD option After you have selected your settings just click on Create and wait for the output Exporting for DVD While you will get a lot of use from hosting your HD Fusion piece online there will be times when your clients want a DVD If you can we suggest making a Blu ray disc as the best option but talk to your clients and find o
204. t you can take advantage of Live View Magnify function to ensure that you have nailed your focus as you can see in Figure 8 2 Because we need to use Manual focus at least part of the time using magnify allows us to zoom in 5x or 10x focus on exactly what we want much like you can zoom in on images you are previewing on your LCD the only difference is that this should be done before you start recording If you are using a loupe see Chapter 7 make sure you have tested it and are ready to go Practice taking the loupe on and off your camera to allow you to move quickly between stills and video shown in Figure 8 3 FIGURE 8 2 Use the Live View Magnify combination to confirm your focus 115 FIGURE 8 3 Practice putting your loupe on and off your camera 116 Before you get to your wedding you should double and triple check your storage medium Whether you are recording to tape or CF card having enough storage for the video you shoot is extremely important That means reviewing your camera s specs to determine how much media you need and then adding at least half as much to have more storage than you think you will need The Canon 5D MKII for example requires 4GB of storage for every 12 minutes of 1080p video When you consider that the average ceremony requires at least 30 minutes of video and the reception approximately an hour you know you need a minimum of 30GB of space we take extra storage with us And that minimum is
205. tention to the music played at the reception the songs when everyone danced and the songs they know all the words to While you cannot use those exact songs without explicit permission you will be able to find good royalty free music with a similar sound and feel Knowing whether your clients prefer rock to country or classical to jazz will prove to be important in the end There are many sources for inexpensive royalty free music Our favorite is Triple Scoop Music www triplescoopmusic com use the code bebbmusic for a discount but whatever company you work with you need to ensure that you have the right to use the music in slideshow and video productions Exporting tor Devices and Web Sites One of our favorite things about Producer is that it outputs to more than 40 different formats including QuickTime Vimeo Facebook Flash and more While you want to create a hard copy of your piece most likely on Blu Ray getting your show online is a great way to share it with a much broader audience In fact by putting your piece online you can embed the clip in your blog your FIGURE 13 24 The Create Output Window has a variety of output choices available Facebook page and more 206 Chapter 13 In Part 5 we talk about where you can most effectively host your Fusion piece and how to capitalize on having your show on the Web In this chapter we are concerned with how to get your show from the Produce
206. that gives you everything you need in a dark reception venue One of the kits we like is the Lowel Pro Light found in the DV Pro light Two light Kit 387 95 www bhphotovideo com This system is fairly compact and lightweight making It easy to transport The kit comes with everything you need including barn doors spare bulbs and stands You can use these lights to make still images as well we often circle around the couple during the first dance and use the hot light to create rim light and flare while they are dancing Remember when you are using these lights you don t want to blind the people who are speaking so don t be afraid to ask for the room lights to be turned up a little during the speeches 95 Fu Di C F La L E oe ee Dat EE FIGURE 6 12 Use Video light to make images at night E e i e Photographers have been using portable video lights for some time now We use them to light details like the ring as seen on the DVD or the dress or cake light our couples as shown in Figure 6 12 and during the first dance These lights are small easy to carry and have from 15 minutes to 8 hours of power before they need to be recharged There is one light we always have with us the LitePanel Micro 275 www bhphotovideo com With lithium batteries our LitePanel will run for up to 8 hours giving us anice constant light source We can dim the light and mount it in our camera s hot shoe or we
207. the photo session that much more powertul FIGURE 10 6 After sharing their feelings the photo session has so much more emotion 159 160 Interview Tips and Tricks Have clients talk to you slightly off camera It is rare that people speak directly to the camera particularly during an interview The only time we want our client to speak directly to the camera is when they are addressing you the viewer Interviews are always done with your subject speaking to you not the camera Choose the background carefully When you pick a location make susre it is not distracting but blends with the mood of the session If you are taking photographs in an urban setting maybe setting the clients near the entrance to an alley way or outside a cafe would be effective Our example on the DVD shows a static background that complements the snowball fight they have later Use a fairly shallow depth of field no more than 4 0 to ensure that they are both in focus but the background is slightly out of focus Lighting is of course the most importnat part of choosing your location It doesn t matter how much you love a certain background if the light is not good you will have to find another location Ideally soft frontal light is perfect it is complementary to both male and female subjects and they will not be squinting at the camera Avoid direct bright light if you can it will make them squint and it will not look attractive Shade
208. ting footages 178 opening new project 177 overview 174 placing stills and video into Timeline 181 183 vs ProShow Gold 73 setting project properties 177 trimming video 184 universal settings 177 upgrading to 72 working with native files 180 Initial Photo Placement option iMovie 177 Initial Video Placement option iMovie 177 Internet embedding Fusion shorts in Web sites and blogs 220 exporting for 189 190 2086 Showit Sites 299 220 Smugmug 216 218 Vimeo 215 YouTube 212 iPad 230 iPhone 207 iPhoto access to 179 creating new library for images 176 importing images 176 ISO 51 iTunes library 179 189 Index J Juiced Link CX Preamp 62 Juiced Link DN101 62 K Ken Burns effect 4 183 kiss close shots of 141 L Laforet Vincent 46 lavaliere lapel microphones 60 61 120 121 122 LCD viewfinder loupes Cavision MHE 52 RCM 107 Hoodman Loupe 3 0 106 overview 106 U Boat 107 wedding day setup 115 116 Zacuto Z Finder v2 107 LED light 97 lenses 101 102 licensed music 181 light available 80 81 backlight 82 83 diffuse 84 direct sun 88 89 flare 90 91 gelled 94 hot lights 95 natural 80 81 overview 78 79 room light 92 94 sidelight 85 87 soft frontal light 84 sunlight 82 91 supplemental light for video 95 97 video LED light 97 LitePanel Micro 97 Live View Magnify function 115 loupes Cavision MHE 52 RCM 107 Hoodman Loupe 3 0 106 overview 106 U Boat 107 wedding
209. tioned the Ken Burns effect already but essentially this is a broad way of describing a still image that has motion a slow pan effect for example When you are creating a Fusion piece the amount of movement you want in your still images will depend on the pace of your show but adding subtle motion to a photograph can facilitate the transition between your video and your stills To make your own effects click the Effects tab in the Slide Options window in Figure 13 15 There are two tabs Motion Effects and Adjustment Effects Motion Effects allow you to zoom pan or rotate any layer on your slide and your image is a layer on the slide These effects work by changing either the starting or the ending point of your slide You can see the start point in the left window and the end point in the right window To add a zoom effect your starting point left window will remain unchanged and your ending point right window will be zoomed in as shown in Figure 13 16 We also moved the image slightly to ensure the shoes stayed in the frame To see the effect in action click the play arrow icon on the left of the window If you want the effect to move slower or faster just add or subtract time to your total slide time in seconds FIGURE 13 16 A Zoom effect 201 it I FIGURE 13 18 Use Colorize to change your clips from color to black and white 202 You can als
210. tographs rather than video and the more video you record the longer it will take to put your final edit together FIGURE 9 7 As the groom gets ready make short video clips to augment your Fusion coverage Ceremony We ve already talked about the importance of getting your equipment set up for coverage of the vows Once you are confident in your ability to capture everything you need you can decide if you want to implement more video coverage of the ceremony After you have your microphones placed and are comfortable with capturing the basics there are some great video opportunities at the ceremony as well Transitions are important in video editing and the detail shots make for a wonderful and obvious transitional element You are already covering the overall ceremony site altar d cor pew or chair d cor flowers programs etc but you could also take video of those items Remember you need some dynamic capture focus in and out panning etc to give a sense of context and continuity to your final piece so don t be afraid to try something different Some of the shots to consider are e glide moving shot going up to the doors of the church or up the aisle e hand opening the door e trees blowing in the wind or clouds passing overhead make this speed up in post production for a cool time lapse e pan across the top of the church or ceremony site up to the sky e glide to a window and look into the empty church e s
211. tp www youtube com v O9z Jis 1 amp hd 1 type application x shockwave flash width 425 height 350 gt lt embed gt lt object gt You also have the option to change your account type to Director Musician Comedian or Guru which allows you to add a custom logo to your page We suggest you add a logo if only to reinforce your brand message Chapter 14 Vimeo Offering two account levels the free account and the Vimeo Plus account at 59 95 a year Vimeo www vimeo com is a community of people that share their video They also offer HD video hosting but scale your 1920 by 1080 or 1440 by 1080 down to 1280 by 720 so we suggest that you export your video in the appropriate dimensions Vimeo doesn t have a prescribed duration for your movie as there is with YouTube and Smugmug a definite benefit You can t however customize your Vimeo page with your logo or other brand identifying collateral so include your logo and company name somewhere in your show While the free account is a great way to try out Vimeo for long term use you need to upgrade to the Plus account The free option will not allow you to embed your video in other sites like blogs or Web sites and limits the amount of uploads available for example you can only upload 500MB 1HD video per week with the free option see Table 14 1 To embed a video in your blog simply go to the Video settings in any of your video pages and sel
212. u but it is a straightforward process When you check out our Audio in the Simple Fusion chapter on the DVD you will see how effective adding audio is to your final presentation and how you can put a slideshow together in less than an hour 29 Chapter 2 Stills Audio Video The power of the spoken word overlaying your imagery has become evident as you tested the waters of Fusion On it s own audio is a strong way to enhance your still photographs but it lacks something in the delivery Hearing the emotion and seeing it in your photos is only one part of a larger equation that includes video of those moments Adding Video to Stills Audio You have taken the first step and discovered that adding real time audio to the images from a wedding day has incredible impact on your clients It breathes new life into the now typical slideshows we see from every wedding and it gives your clients the gift of language that grows in value over time Adding audio hasn t been too difficult and you haven t had to compromise your still coverage at all to add audio Adding video to your stills is a little more complicated than simply adding audio but done right is an invaluable extension to your product line up Consider it this way Simply adding audio to your slideshow is great but it doesn t connect the moments in an actual sense Video on the other hand is a literal medium giving the viewer a real time glimpse of the moment
213. u are uncomfortable dividing your attention between video and stills hire a non shooting assistant to help you with the video portion You still need to supervise the coverage but you would have the peace of mind knowing someone was keeping an eye on the video coverage for you 150 A team approach allows you more flexibility in your Fusion coverage and more confidence in your still coverage No matter what the consistency of your team main and main or main and second planning who will be responsible for what is important The first few times we tried Fusion we were overlapping Our Coverage as we would each have ideas we wanted to try We learned quickly that when one is shooting video the other is shooting stills Communicating the expectations you have for your team will help alleviate the challenges on the wedding day Deciding who is responsible for what before the wedding day gives you the confidence to tackle Fusion and the flexibility to create great still images too We looked at the typical roles on a wedding day and divided the responsibilities accordingly For example cover the processional from the back of the aisle and then Steve joins me there That makes me the perfect person to get the tripod in position after the bride walks up the aisle Because have the tripod and everything setup set up ahead of time we can often capture the last few moments of the processional on video and then add it into our final piece if we choos
214. uct to share with our clients We will take you through a series of steps to help you get ready for your edit describe a few software options and help you get your final project to your clients With photos you can easily visualize the finished product simply by looking over the images in front of you Sure you ll improve them in Photoshop and give them your signature look but you know what that will look like With video however the opposite is true When you first look over your video footage you realize how far you are from your finished product Video editing is an art knowing what to keep and what to throw away and you will be surprised at how much work it can be to realize your vision FIGURE 11 1 Recording Fusion is merely the first step in creating your final piece 164 Chapter 11 This chapter is designed to help minimize the amount of work you have to do to create your Fusion piece though it might seem like more work at first By organizing your footage it will be easier to find the segments you want to use in your final piece and minimize the time you actually spend putting the piece together This process is similar to culling your still images before you work on them if you shoot 2 000 images you will work on maybe 400 Likewise with video Taking the time to scrub through your footage and organize it ahead of time will make your editing process faster and more efficient Streamlining your
215. und recording on your HDSLR though since the audio it captures will act as a reference when you sync the audio you captured on other devices The combination that works best for us is three fold the Olympus device the ZoomH4n and wireless lavaliere mics It sounds complicated but it is really quite simple Just as in the Basic section you want to pin the lav mic from the Olympus to a lapel i just not the groom s lapel Instead pin the lavaliere to the officiant s lapel and 7 drop the body of the recorder into their i FIGURE 8 10 Plug the receiver pocket or attach it on to their belt We 4 om your wireless system directly suggest using this unit for the officiant K a because it is small and won t bother them as much as a larger unit The reason we mic the officiant is because he is in the middle of the couple during the ceremony and you will have a more balanced Li 2 i audio than from the E groom s mic alone Generally speaking 122 Chapter 8 Wedding Day Set women speak softer than men so the mic on the groom s lapel might not pick up the bride s voice as easily as it does his own Pay particular attention to the placement of the lav microphone making sure that it is not covered by clothing or rubbing against anything that might impede the audio quality The Zoom H4n is a fantastic piece of equipment Recording up to four channels simultaneously two channels from the built in mics and two channe
216. undant Backups There are several alternatives to the conventional wireless lavaliere and shotgun microphones As the Fusion industry expands and HDSLRs become a favorite with videographers the options for great audio quality will only get better We mentioned the auto gain control AGC issue earlier Essentially AGC is a serious problem when recording audio on an HDSLR resulting in unanticipated spikes in volume and an underlying hissing noise There are two ways to handle this noise The first is to always use a portable recording device as discussed below as a redundant backup if not your main audio recorder The second is to use a unit such as the BeachTek adapter This box has XLR inputs manual level controls an auto gain override and a headphone monitor However because there is no output jack on the HDSLR you can only monitor what is going into the camera and not how it sounds in camera Confused yet To put it simply you can monitor the audio as it is being recorded by the BeachTek or any other adaptor box and know that the BeachTek is overriding the auto gain control in your camera but you cannot be sure exactly what the 5D MKII is recording With the BeachTek and the Juiced Link unit described next you can be reasonably sure that you are getting good sound just not 100 percent sure You can also use the Juiced Link DN101 139 www juicedlink com to work around the auto gain control issue Also from Juiced Li
217. ur video needs to blend in and be consistent with our stills Having moving footage that is wildly different from our stills in terms of light and composition makes abrupt and distracting transitions between the mediums We want to create a final product that moves between video and stills with as little disruption as possible It is important therefore to ensure that the way you make your moving images is similar in style and composition to the way you make stills You can t rely on fixing your video in post however While you can manipulate and edit your still images after the fact most video editing software offers rudimentary color corrections at best We see more and more photographers rely on their post production to fix their still images and that is something that is much harder to do with video and will require much more learning on your part lt makes more sense in our opinion to get it right while shooting Know how to nail your exposures and keep a close eye on your LCD and you will minimize the work you need to do in post production By the same token keeping an eye on your audio is also important It won t matter that you have wonderful still and video coverage if you have awful audio the impact will be lessened Ensure that you monitor your audio whether you are using the Zoom H4n or an adaptor box you can listen to the audio while it is being recorded You need a redundant backup of the video capture We use
218. uring that your download is seamless and easily integrated with your current workflow You must be running a Windows OS XP Vista or 7 Unfortunately Downloader Pro is not Mac OS compatible but according to Chris Breeze Downloader Pro should run on a Mac using Parallels Desktop for Mac or VMware Fusion so it s a great option for Mac users as well Note Parallels and VMware Fusion create virtual PCs on your Intel Mac and allow you to use Windows programs You will also need a Windows operating system to use your virtual machine so you must make sure that the software you are using is compatible with the Windows OS you purchase 166 Chapter 11 Downloading Tape and Non HDSLR Cameras The development of HDSLRs brought photo Fusion to the forefront but you can make Fusion using non HDSLR cameras At the very least your backup camera is probably a camcorder Using a tapeless camcorder makes downloading easy Most tapeless camcorders have built in storage or use the same kind of CF or SD card as your DSLR Download by plugging the camera directly into your computer via a USB cable or downloading the card the same way you download your still images as described earlier The idea of tape can be daunting and might seem overwhelming because it is an unfamiliar format With most cameras you just insert the tape back into your camera and download directly to your computer Check your owner s manual as each camera is slightly differe
219. ut if they are able to play Blu ray or if they would prefer a standard DVD Remember though that a DVD is not HD and one of the nice things about using HDSLRs is that you can make great HD shows for your clients For this section we are going to assume that you will be making Blu ray discs Choose the Blu ray option in the Create Output window Make sure you have a disc inserted as you will format your disc before moving to the next step You have several options available including Menus and Shows which allows you to add multiple shows to one disc a great idea if you have a quick trailer or engagement session you want to add You have the option to use a template for your menus or to create a custom menu No matter which option you choose having a menu on your disc is important A menu is the first thing someone will see when they open your show unless you have an introductory show Working just like the menus you see on DVD movies the menu is a first impression and should be polished and reflective of your brand message Once again there is a great deal of detailed information about menus in the user manual and we encourage you to look at the information closely After you have everything set up and ready simply click Create It will take some time to make your show and finish burning it to disc so you might want to burn the disc just before leaving for the day and allowing the process to take place overnight FIGURE 13 26 The be
220. utside and keeping your video clips consistent with your still images is very important Some of the most common lighting scenarios we find are Backlight A backlit setting is one where the light is coming directly behind your subject and into the camera lens causing your subject to stand out Backlight can often produce a silhouette and can create challenges in getting your exposure correct Some camcorders come with preset shooting modes including backlight which might help you expose for that particular scene If you are using a camcorder with manual settings you want to ensure that you are compensating for the light behind your subject overexposing the scene to balance your exposure On an HDSLR you will typically find that you need to overexpose your image by a couple of stops depending on the scene and assuming you want your subject s skin tones to be well exposed You might need a bit of trial and error in getting your exposure correct To compensate start with one stop first and then go up in thirds until you get the exposure you want We take a still image or a series of still images to establish our exposure before moving into Video mode so that we can see the highlights flashing at us and check the histogram FIGURE 6 2 In this one setting there are different ways to use the light backlight right backlight with a silhouette middle and soft frontal diffuse light left 82 Chapter 6 Backlight is an eit
221. utting as many of your clients might prefer a Blu ray output but don t let that discourage you iMovie is a wonderful editing platform that allows you to create the Fusion piece you want and output it in any number of ways Many of your clients will probably watch their Fusion piece online via some of the options we discuss in Chapter 14 These online solutions are HD so your clients and their families will experience your piece in full resolution We have no doubt that Apple is aware of the desire for people to move to Blu ray and that they will make a Blu ray option available if the demand increases If iMovie works with your editing needs we suggest you stick with it and output your HD shows online in conjunction with an SD DVD a i FIGURE 12 29 iMovie makes it easy to output your Fusion piece 191 Photo Fusion Chapter 13 ProShow Producer For years Photodex the makers of ProShow Producer has offered software that facilitates making slideshows Initially a PC only program Producer has enabled photographers to add video to their slideshows though they have only recently been aggressively marketing the Fusion capabilities of Producer A free trial is available at www photodex com and might be valuable to have while working through this chapter with us A step up from iMovie Producer is a robust program designed specitically for photographers not videographers Producer does not offer the same editing c
222. video capture at the ceremony Is to glide out the door either while following the couple or without anyone in front of you It is a nice transition into the next part of your coverage and finishes the ceremony segment with an echo of how you started it if you decide to glide to the doors Continuity context and consistency are the three Cs of wedding coverage and your goal is to seamlessly transition between mediums in your final product FIGURE 9 8 Making video of the couple leaving adds to your coverage 141 FIGURE 9 9 The getaway is a great transitional element to capture You might not always experience something as cool as the bride and groom speeding away ina vintage convertible Most likely they will hop into a limo and await your instructions on where to go next Regardless of the vehicle they use though the convertible is way cool a quick moving segment of the car pulling away provides another option for transitions in the finished piece Every wedding will have at least some time and priority placed on the photo shoot This is a great opportunity to creatively shoot for your final product and use this footage to create a trailer or teaser for your blog Preparing images for the blog takes time and making an entire Fusion piece takes even longer but imagine if you took some of the moving footage from the photo shoot where the couple are laughing walking hand in hand etc and integrated those shots into
223. vie is straightforward enough for an amateur and robust enough for a pro to use shown in Figure 5 6 Some of the iMovie features include e drag and drop precision editing for audio and video e themes e stabilization e project freeze frame e video effects old film toning etc e video adjustments exposure levels contrast etc titles transitions and effects e easy sharing e soundtracks and audio overlays background music and audio track overlay e easy export to iDVD e picture in picture All the new Macs including the Pro machines come with iLife installed but if you already have a Mac the upgrade is less than 100 This upgrade is a cost effective way to decide if Fusion is right for you iMovie is robust editing software and all you need to start making Fusion pieces In Chapter 12 we ll take you through editing a basic show gt EJ using iMovie i Ea O Op o ns m i raaa a a g FIGURE 5 6 iMovie 09 from Apple Inc 72 Chapter s ProShow Gold from Photodex The consumer version of the more robust Producer program ProShow Gold Is an inexpensive and surprisingly versatile option for PC users Mac users can also utilize this program with the VMware Fusion plug in The Fusion features become most useful in version 4 1 At 69 95 ProShow Gold is certainly reasonably priced At first glance this program looks quite similar to iMovie but there are real differences in how everyth
224. w than a few years ago Both platforms use similar components Intel chips buy from the same suppliers and are able to do the many of the same things Where the differences seem to lie is the interface and functionality as well as your personal preference Whatever your choice Mac or PC you will be able to make Fusion pieces However if you are new to Fusion you may need to upgrade some or all of your components in order to have an efficient editing platform If you are using an up to date computer made in 2009 or later you likely have all the components like video cards etc that you need to make Fusion work for you But just in case we have included a list of minimum requirements One other thing to consider is software Some software works on only one platform not both Final Cut Pro for example is Mac only While you can run a Windows program on a Mac using Parallels or Boot Camp or VMware Fusion 3 you cannot run Mac software on a PC Your choice of software may be the deciding factor in the computer platform you ultimately go with 67 Mac OS Often touted as the system for creative professionals Macs have been the platform of choice for graphic artists photographers and filmmakers for years But in recent years more and more regular people have been turning to Macs Fortunately for Mac users the two big names in video editing are both available for the Mac Most of the Macs currently available
225. want to remember the words that were given to them as a gift and the reactions to those words 229 230 Fusion Products As the Fusion market grows so do the products to support it In the very near future there will be albums that incorporate both still images on the page and audio video segments on other pages When these new products will be available depends on many factors not the least of which is cost effectiveness but they are in the works with more than one company wanting to be the first to deliver While we wait for the Fusion albums to be developed we need to find other ways to present Fusion products to our clients The online show and disc were explained in Chapter 14 and you should be charging for both items Maybe offer the online show for 90 days and then have them pay to host it after that the disc and all subsequent copies are certainly a valuable product and you should be compensated for supplying it Use your imagination and find your own ways to share Fusion with your clients We re not going to give you all our ideas but one that we have been looking at very closely is using the new Apple iPad as a delivery device What a great way to make your Fusion piece portable Can you imagine the first thing your bride will do when she gets it She will show it to everyone she knows co workers girlfriends family and strangers Assuming her purse is large enough to carry the iPad she will take it with her
226. wbacks with HDSLRs are the rolling shutter phenomenon that can result during movement either pans or subject movement and the shakiness of the cameras in general Being able to support the cameras and minimize these issues Is important Obviously when your camera is mounted on a tripod or monopod you are minimizing the problem but tripods can inhibit your ability to freely move with the camera Having an alternative solution that allows you to move easily while retaining stability makes support systems valuable tools Chapter 7 Equipment You Might Need FIGURE 7 6 The Glidecam X22 System allows the smooth look that comes with flying your video image courtesy of Glidecam Industries Inc These alternative support systems allow you to rest some of the camera weight on your body Typically your shoulder is utilized as the support but there are a number of systems that also utilize the front of your body Cinevate has two rigs the Uno and the Digital SLR Shoot rig that utilize your shoulder as a stabilizer see Figure 7 7 The Uno unit in particular is light weight only 2 6 lb and compact allowing the Durus follow focus rig to be easily mounted for a comprehensive system The SLR rig has a shoulder mount that allows you to carry the entire rig with the weight over your shoulder rather than resting against it The follow focus and all the other fancy accessories are separate and you have to determine how much you actually need
227. we have found it easier to highlight the clip first When we elected not to highlight the clip the audio overwrote the background music rather than becoming a complimentary part of the soundtrack When you have added the audio track correctly you will see a green bar that runs under the clips as shown in Figure 12 19 Once you have the clip where you want it you need to adjust the volume to ensure that you can hear the audio over the background music Use the Clip Adjustments option in the new audio track and adjust the volume of the other tracks see the dialog box in Figure 12 20 You can continue adding audio in this manner until you are satisfied with the way your piece is coming together using your clip trimmer and you audio adjustments as needed FIGURE 12 20 Use the Clip Adjustments window to adjust the volume of the audio tracks With iMovie you have two choices when using audio and video together The first is to use the audio you recorded with your video and not worry about the extracted audio files The second way is to sync your separate audio track with the video The first choice is as easy as making sure the volume of your synced audio is sufficient to be heard over the background track The latter choice is a little more complicated In our Basic example on the DVD we ran the audio chronologically but not the video and stills Rather we broke up the video and stills and used the audio to tie them all together We l
228. will set you apart Good quality sound equals good quality production and helps you stand out as a professional in Fusion Each of the cameras we discussed in Chapter 3 has a built in microphone but in order to get great audio we don t recommend relying on just the built in microphone to deliver your audio One of the biggest issues of working with audio and HDSLRs is that there is no way to use headphones and listen to the sound as it is being recorded Listening is important because without the ability to monitor your input levels you have no way of knowing if you are getting good audio or awful audio HDSLRs have something called Auto Gain Control AGC which adjusts the audio input automatically but does not allow you to monitor or control the input levels of your audio In addition there is often a hissing noise which is the result of noisy preamplifiers that accompanies audio recorded directly by the HDSLR HDSLR audio recording requires a little more attention to detail than recording audio ona camcorder It is much more complex than initially thought but there are solutions available to help you work around this problem This chapter will take you through different kinds of microphones and recording systems We will tell you how they can effectively be used with HDSLR and other camera systems In Chapter 9 we give more detailed information of the different systems and how they can be used on a wedding day 57 A boom microphon
229. work for you but don t despair it can be done For you planning is extremely important knowing where when and how you want to capture audio and video will free you to focus on your still images Start with just the vows and speeches and remember to keep it simple Arriving at the ceremony location early allows you to place the audio recording equipment more easily and allows the groom and officiant time to become accustomed to it Arriving early also allows you to focus on getting everything else ready Covering the details of the ceremony is important but we suggest you set up for Fusion first and then carry on with your stills Minimizing your stress Is one of our goals and by getting everything organized in advance of the bride s arrival will give you time to regroup and concentrate on your still images Now that you have your equipment ready it s time to start making still images At every ceremony you should cover as many of the details as you can before the bride arrives After her arrival your attention will turn to her and the final moments before the ceremony begins Ensure that your tripod is out of the way and that it won t impede the bride s walk down the aisle As the ceremony begins take your usual position For most the top of the aisle seems to be the popular place to stand FIGURE 9 13 Planning when to make video and when to make stills facilitates a single photographer and Fusion Photograph t
230. y announced This would be a great time to move your equipment out of the aisle grab the camera off the tripod and get ready to shoot the recessional Because you are alone and because you never want to leave your gear unattended you probably won t be recording the recessional on video We don t think you need to worry about the video you will be able to edit your stills into the final piece The reception will be similar After you have your audio devices and tripod in place all you need to do is record the speeches Make friends with the MC or DJ and he can let you know when speeches are about to begin and you might be able to plug one of your audio devices into the DJ s sound board You will probably be using your HDSLR as your still camera as well so use it to take stills during the reception and video during the speeches Simply remove it from the tripod as needed The low light capabilities of HDSLRs make them the better choice for covering the reception If you decided to use a camcorder or non HDSLR you would likely need a constant light source in order to film your video which is distracting to the speaker the guests and the couple As a single photographer stay calm throughout the day by planning your camera moves in advance The first time you try Fusion will be stressful and might seem overwhelming But just like the first few weddings you photographed seemed overwhelming it gets easier the more events you cover If yo
231. ypes of Fusion O O 8 i J Whether you have been married or not as a wedding photographer you know how chaotic a wedding day is The clich that everything happens in a blur is true The day flies by with few of the details sticking in your memory see Figure 1 1 Couples rely on their photographers to help them recall those moments and most wedding photographers are able to do that well Chapter 1 FIGURE 1 1 As she puts on her veil she is overcome with the excitement of the moment But the words our couples share with each other are often lost forever They know they spoke vows to each other every wedding has vows They know that one of them cried and one of them laughed your photographs show that emotion Figure 1 2 is a good example But what they aren t always able to recall is the way the words were spoken the way his voice broke and the way her voice held steady through the tears We can t give them that in our still images Yet it is those words FIGURE 1 2 Photography captures the expressions of the moment but the words that were spoken cannot be heard leaving your couple to rely on their memories for what was said 20 that will come to mean so much more as the years go by as life starts to get in the way and as memories fade They may have their vows written somewhere but the inflection and the power of those words are gone As still photographers we

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