Quick Hit Monday: Canon 7D/5D Video, Lightroom Flashcards, My Secret’s Out, DWUC Behind The Scenes

Good Morning Everybody,

I have to admit, we were a little lazy over the weekend. Usually Friday is a workday when we are traveling, but this past Friday, we just “vegged” and slowed things down a bit in the morning.

The Friday’s afternoon highlight was the fact that I was going to catch up with my daughter, Elizabeth, who had moved to NYC to attend Pace University.  Ever since her last visit to the city, she has been stoked to get into Pace .  I’ll tell ya’ – after several months of determination and moving mountains she made it happen.  Friday she gave us the tour of her new campus. Way to go Liz!

She also invited me to my first walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and we caught about one of the prettiest sunsets ever – see the Image of the Day post above.

On Friday afternoon and Saturday, Liz, LaDawn, and I took in a lot of the best the city had to offer – Del Frisco’s for dinner, the soon to be mega hit play Memphis on Broadway, and an adult beverage at the View Restaurant and lounge on the 35th floor of the Marriot Marquis overlooking Times Square and the city. It was certainly one of my best weekends. Why? Because of the people I got to share it with. Can’t wait to do it again!

OK gang, time to get on with today’s Quick Hit Monday. Here we go…

Canon 5D/7D Video – Wow! You Have To Check This Out!

Alright, I’ve been traveling with my brand new Canon 7D with video on board and have been enjoying just “playing” with the camera. Nothing major to report yet other than the fact that I like the higher ISO capabilities of the camera. I’m finding it not as good as the Canon 5D Mark II but still darn good.

The video is fun to play with and just a bit easier to use on the 7D. And, focus is much better, too. I still want to check that feature out under lower lighting conditions. On the downside, Lightroom 2.5 does not yet import the RAW files.  I suspect that will get worked out within the next 2 weeks.

Anyway, all that being said, I ran into Terrance Randell last Thursday at my Manhattan DWUC tour.  He pointed me towards a great site by Phillip Bloom from our neighbors in the UK. 

Phillip is like a Canon 5D/7D video guru.  His site is jammed packed with videos made from both cameras, tutorials on video production with these cameras, and a complete evaluation of the 5D Mk II vs. 7D video capabilities. Folks, there is tons of valuable information on this site. You’ve got to check it out! Here is the link. Hey, Terrance, thanks for the info.

Wait, Here’s More Canon Video – High School Senior Video

I check with my buddy, Kent Smith over the weekend and our conversation soon turned into discussing video possibilities on the Canon cameras.  I’ve been featuring Kent’s studio in my DWUC tour. They are one of the most successful high school senior/family portrait studios in the country. 

They are also on the cutting edge of combining high school senior stills with videos also made as part of their senior sessions. Kent sent me two links to two videos he has featured on his web site – one for a girl [link] and the other for a guy [link] – both very cool.

They both only run a few minutes and are fun to watch.  Here is the kicker – both were produced by Animoto.  That means these two videos were produced without the need to know and learn any new video software.

Just send the stills and short video clips to Animoto and let them take it from there! Folks, this is like way easy and a super powerful way to offer your clients something completely different from the competition! It’s time for us to get tuned in and turned on to this new technology!

An what a deal – Animoto offers 3 months of commercial access for only $99 and if you use the code from my Digital WakeUp Call tour - Digitalwakeup4 - they will kick in another month for free.  And now even better news - if you feel it's not a good fit for you, no problem.  They will refund your money up to 7 days after you've signed up.  Think of it as a 7 day FREE trial in reverse. One more time – here is the Animoto link right here.

Lightroom Flash Cards

Remember teaching your kids letters, words, addition and multiplication back in their pre-school and elementary days. You showed them the cards and hoped they would get the right answer.  OK gang, now it’s your turn to get your act together when it comes to the Lightroom keyboard shortcuts.

Here is what you do. Hit the Apps button on your iPhone and search for LRKeys. You’ll find this nice little App for only $.99 that will get you up to speed in no time knowing all the Lightroom shortcuts known to man. Here is the link right here.

It’s a fun little program and will quickly ramp you up to all those Lightroom shortcuts that could really speed up your workflow and Lightroom efficiency.  Anyway, check it out and spend a buck.

A Little Animoto Fun In PPA and Rangefinder Magazine

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was involved in a very special photo shoot and unfortunately could not share with you until now as I was sworn to secrecy.  Any PPA – Professional Photographer Of America, and WPPI members receiving their latest issues of PPA Magazine and Rangefinder saw me in the Animoto ad showing off my “super powers”.

My buddy and ace #1 assistant, Nicholas Viltrakis, took the shot.  We had a lot of fun with the shot and I really liked how it came out. LaDawn and Nicholas both liked Nicholas’ HDR rendition with you can can find right here. Hey, I’m a happy guy, which explains why I like the smiling shot.  Anyway, like I said – all in good fun. If you haven’t tried Animoto, you are really missing out.

DWUC Tour - Behind The Scenes

Wow!  I can’t believe the numbers we’re hitting this week heading down the East Coast. It looks like we’ll visit with about 900 photogs looking to make their lighting and photography exciting. Tonight we’re in Newark; tomorrow, Philly; Wednesday, Baltimore; and Thursday, Washington, D.C. One more time, here is the link to register – come on down!

Two Weeks ago at Photoshop World, I caught up with my buddy, Larry Becker, NAPP executive director, and he reminded me of a video we did earlier while on  the DWUC tour. I’ll tell you, it caught a lot of the excitement of the tour and the NAPP video crew did a great job on the edit. 

This video has never been aired so today, folks, you are going to see it first.  It also gives you a good peek of what we’ve been up to these last several months.  My thanks to the entire NAPP video team that put it all together.

Oh, by the way, when I did a “YouTube” search for my NAPP clip, my name popped up twice on YouTube – I couldn’t believe it. Here is the second instance right here. I promise you, the guy in this clip may have my name but that is NOT me in this clip ;~)

Hey gang, that’s it for me today. We are trying to get out of “Dodge” (NYC) before the big Columbus Day Parade starts.  This is a major tourist holiday for the city – news to us last Friday when we found out every hotel in the city was totally booked. The city has been jammed packed all weekend.

Anyway, we are hitting the road.  How about I catch up with a lot of you this evening in Newark at my presentation.  We’ve got a good crowd so be sure to come on up and say HI.

Oh, by the way, don’t forget to check in tomorrow for a brand new Technique Tuesday.  This week’s topic - “Shooting What Your Eyes Can’t See”. It should be fun. See ya’ then.  -David