I’ve been saying “my new toy” everywhere. LOL.

YES, I have finally bought myself a Canon EOS Rebel Xs, and at a really good price: $550.  Office Depot was having a sale for President’s Day, and I knew this was the moment to get it. I’m happy and excited. I can’t wait to start taking more photos. I also went out shopping for a camera bag, which I found at Best Buy. The camera fits a little snug in there, but that’s good. It won’t be slipping and sliding around inside. :rofl:

I haven’ been able to shoot any video yet, but I managed to get hold of Dustin yesterday afternoon. He said we could try and shoot some video today in the evening. So… we’ll see. Hopefully I’ll get the footage I need. Honestly, I don’t need that much. My professors told me that the assigned 5-minute requirement is just an arbitrary number, and that if I manage to get the point across with 2 or 3 minutes… so be it.

Now, back to the camera! I had ALWAYS wanted to take a photo of myself holding a D-SLR camera. I know it’s cliche, but as I said on my deviantart account… I don’t give a fuck. Mwahaha. Here it is:

AND, here are some sample shots I took in my backyard yesterday:

The above three images are unaltered… meaning THAT is how they look straight out of the camera. Pretty amazing, eh? hehe. The photo of me has color adjustments, some spot-treatment, etc.

Man, I’m tired. I need to get to bed. I need to wake up in 6 hours. Bleh. Ciao, everyone.

P.S.
I don’t know if you’ll even read this, but I love you, Audi.

Audi, Life, School Audi, camera, canon, dustin, rebel, slr, video

Yes, folks, I have found the silver lining of the dark cloud hovering above me.

I started playing around in Adobe After Effects, thinking that there had to be SOME way that I could edit the video I’d shot with my digital camera and make it work. And I figured out how… I’m not sure how savvy my readers are with this program, so I’ll explain the best I can.

After Effects is just like Photoshop in many ways; one of them is that it uses layers. Whatever is on a higher layer will show up over a lower layer. The program has a feature that allows you to divide a layer into two separate layers, called “Split Layer”. This ingenious and oh-so-simple trick is what saved my ass. I figured that the problem was in the green screen itself. Every time I would edit the green screen to have more of it disappear, it would affect the beginning of the video, too. Buuuutttt, if I divided the video into different sections (i.e. layers), I wouldn’t have that problem! And it worked.

It will be time-consuming to go frame-by-frame and split the layer each time the green screen shows up more. But, until I’m rich enough to use a professional studio with a perfect green screen and lighting system… this will have to do. :rofl:

One thing I noticed is that the green screen became white in the video when I walked too far in. That means I’ll have to try to stay close to one side so the color doesn’t change too dramatically. I’ll have to do a couple of trial and errors before I get a GOOD video, but hell… at least I’ve jumped one major hurdle!

So… I’m off to relax a bit and de-stress. I think I deserve some down time. LOL.

Art, School green screen, School, video

OK… I figured things wouldn’t go smoothly for so long. Yes, I have a problem, Houston. It seems that when I record video with my Sony digital camera, the color keying doesn’t work very well. Why? Since I don’t have a controlled lighting situation in my backyard (where the green screen is), the camera automatically adjusts the lighting whenever I walk in front of it. Therefore, it looks green when I’m not in front of the camera… and bright white when I am. Fail. So, I tried my mother’s JVC digital video camera. Now, with this, the footage comes out perfect. However, I do not have the appropriate cable or software to transfer the video to my computer! Brilliant, eh?

I talked to Audi on the phone, and he helped calm me down a bit. After telling him everything that’s happened to me, he helped rationalize everything I need to do and show me that I could easily do everything I need to do if I just pace myself.

So… that’s what I’m doing. Right now, I’m working on an assignment that’s due Monday, and I’ll be working on the footage for the video tomorrow. I also realized that I don’t need to make the video huge. I can make the video 720×480, and I’d be set. So, I’m going to try again with the footage I currently have and see what I can do. ROFL. Craziness, eh?

Anyway, back to work. Ciao.

Art, Audi, Life, School Art, BFA, School, video