Siesta Drum Part 2

Part 2

Sometimes you just have too much raw tape.

So.

We made a second edit.

Here is the second video we created, Click Here.

We shot this video with three cameras, a Canon 7D, T4i and

a GoPro Hero3Blk.

This version was edited by the lovely Miss Getawaymoments.

What am I talking about?  See my last post here.

The Siesta Key drum circle on Sunday nights is a fun experience 

you should not miss.

Below are some photos I shot with my Canon 7D.

Enjoy!

 

Siesta Key Sunset, Drums and Light Dancers

My big sister taught me the word serendipity when I was a kid.

I have been enjoying it ever since.

Sunday night we went down to Siesta Key to watch the sunset,

I shot a Panning Time-Lapse with my new GoPro Hero3 Black Edition.

No big deal.

We chose Siesta because they have a drum circle on Sunday nights,

we had wanted to check it out but always seemed to miss it.

Not this time.

I get comments on my YouTube channel all the time,

many declare "GoPro's are for sports"

OK

As I have stated many times on this blog before, I will try anything

with a camera once.  One of the nice new features of the

GoPro Hero3 is that it is much more light sensitive.

The exposure is still all automatic, but they added exposure lock
 in time-lapse interval mode.

Which makes bulb like shots possible.

So, serendipity!

Here is the video I shot entirely on the Hero3 Blk click here.

below are a few of the stills, cropped for action.

All the footage was shot in time-lapse interval mode.

1 frame every second.

If you can go out to Siesta on a Sunday night and check

out the show, do it.

You will have fun.

and who knows, serendipity might find you.

life, will find a way

You buy a house.

Ink has barely dried.

You see your first crack,

life.

As you tend to your yard you notice funny things.

Plants grow where you least expect,

sometimes in impossible places.

Places I could never coax a plant to grow.

Usually weeds, find a way.

But this summer a flower started it's fight.

For weeks I watched as a little flower

squeezed it's way into a crack in front of my garage.

It's position was perfect, centered on the right stall

of the garage, any vehicle coming or going

would pass right over.

I first shot footage of the flower for a

Philip Bloom short film challenge.  

I didn't make the deadline.

But here you go, the challenge, create a sequence.

Enjoy.

life, will find a way.

Homemade Toy Rockets

I learned how to make homemade rockets from scratch in shop class

in middle school.  Yes, I know "what is shop class" something most

schools got rid of and I think one of the reasons our country is in

trouble.  Making toy rockets from cardboard tubes and paper

teaches a young mind many things.  Not that I'm completely

against buying a kit at the store, but a rocket you build on your own

is your creation. Watching it fly, figuring out why it flew the way

it did is exactly the kind of exercise a young mind needs.

This Christmas I made a few homemade toy rockets for my Godson.

He is a little young to build and shoot them himself but I figured

the time had come to introduce him to the most fun you will ever

have in six seconds.

Here is a link to the video I shot of the launches.  Click here.

I shot the launches with a GoPro Hero3 Black Edition.

At the end of the video I slowed them down to 5% to see how well the camera captured it.

  All of these shots were captured at 720p at 120fps.
This is an interesting example because we were launching right around sunset.
It's visual stunning in person and a good test for the new Hero3 in a low light situation.

Want to see more?  My Godson is the son of DSLR expert and fellow blogger

ChadSorianoPhotoBlog.  He posted some more photos and a video he

shot of the launches with a Canon EOS M over on his blog, check it out.

Canon T4i Night Flying Time-Lapse

"Why would you want to do that?"

This was the question posed to me by a flight attendant when I told her

that I was shooting a time-lapse out the window of my most recent

commercial flight. Uhhhhh ...... cause it's cool?

I get that all the time.  If your reading this I'm guessing you get it.

I don't sit still very well, if I have a camera I will be shooting.

On my most recent night flight home, on a new 737-900, I noticed

that the paneling under the window was quite smooth, so would it

support a suction cup holding my Canon T4i? Could I get the very

elusive night flying time-lapse?  Yes and no.

  It worked, but it also failed twice.

  

Here are the results, click here.

The camera was set to ISO 1600, with an EFS 10-22 lens.

I shot 6 second exposures @3.5 every two seconds.

The camera was mounted using a Fat Gecko suction cup. Sorry

no pictures of the set-up.  It was like trying to do surgery in a phone booth.

The hardest thing about trying to pull this off is light leaks, see below, the

way airliner windows are designed it makes it very hard.  I used my

navy blue action fleece to cover the top of the lens. There are several frames

where you can see light intrusion, interesting attempt but not really

ready for prime time.  Now if I had access to a private jet with clean windows 

I could probably dial this in, but until then you get what you can.

For more information about doing time-lapses with a CanonT4i and the 

intervalometer I use check out my previous post here.

How To Make A GoPro Pan Tilt Time-Lapse Rig

 

 In my attempt to find new and sometimes silly ways to add

movement to my time-lapses, I present my Pan Tilt Rig.

Here is the link to the DIY video on YouTube, click here.

And a demo of the rig in action, click here.

Below are a few photos of the necessary parts and the complete rig.

You need: 

Two modified kitchen timers

Two 2 inch corner brackets

One 10 32 screw and nut (to attach GoPro to bracket)

One 1/4 20 screw to attach second timer to bracket

UPDATE: GoPro Magnet Mount DIY Part 3

I have made a few modifications to my original GoPro Magnet Mount DIY Project.

Please check out my original post  .... click here.

And watch my original video ...... click here.

Here is the new video .... click here.

I got  a few responses after the last post on this topic that people were

concerned that if they mounted the magnet on their car it might get scratched. 

So always looking to better a project, I started trying to find a way to

cover the business end of the magnet.  Most of the strength in a magnet

is right near contact, if you put a thick barrier in the way it will deminish the

magnets strength.  After a little trial and error I have settled on shipping tape.

It's thin and strong and has the extra advantage of being slick.

After a couple months of use I am satisfied that it is a good solution.

The second update to this project is really simple.

Just stick a GoPro mounting shoe to the top of a magnet.

Seems like a no brainer, but I hadn't made one. Then one day

I had a GoPro mounting shoe on one of my cameras and needed to

quickly put it on a magnet mount.  After switching out the mounting hardware

I decided its much easier to have both a 1/4 20 and GoPro ready magnet mount.