Lessons learned from Recent Video Editing Project

Best BBQ in Lake County

I have been working on a video project for a couple of weeks now. From capturing, editing and publishing takes on Vimeo.com. It's something that won't be released publicly, but a project that has involved a ton of time and resources. I'm using Aperture and iMovie as my two main pieces of software. On the hardware side, a Retina Macbook Pro* with an HDMI to DVI cable has permitted me to meet with the people involved. And although I'm using Dropbox to keep the Aperture Library in the Cloud with success, I think I will avoid this in the future, because it presents a variable when troubleshooting technical issues.

iMovie allows for advanced editing in the beginning-to-intermediate context. However, I think it's time for me to jump to Final Cut Pro. Unfortunately, this wasn't the project to hit the learning curve with. iMovie felt short on this project when I had to move the Aperture Library to another folder and iMovie didn't let me fix the project by pointing to where the pictures and video clips were moved. With Aperture, which I use every day, I learned that the trim adjustment you apply to videos inside the Library does not make it to iMovie. Next time, I will just leave the videos outside of Aperture and import them into iMovie or Final Cut Pro when the moment to start putting them together arrives.

CityArts Factory at Night

Last, like developing software, I should have resisted the temptation to put everything together and only produce a movie at the end. I believe now that the more cuts and takes you create and share, you iron out small bumps with ease, instead of encounter a big one at the end and start figuring out how to fix things without loosing all the hours spent video editing.

*The Retina Macbook Pro is a delicious notebook. It's unbelievable how sharp and clear the screen is. It feels like there is nothing between you and your content.

Post-production Workflow, The Dark Nights

- Universal Orlando, Characters -

There is a chance I'm one of the few people in the world who likes post-production. To edit down to the best and to post-process the pictures of a shoot could be very tedious for some, but I'm good at it. For me, it has always been part of digital photography.

I use iPhoto on iOS and OS X for family and friends pictures and Aperture, Pixelmator and Nik Software Plug-ins for more serious photography. I use Faces on iPhoto and RAW decoding and handling in Aperture. I keep two libraries happily separated, leaving my portfolio alone in the Aperture library. Simple.

There are various reasons of why Aperture is my preferred photography application. But at the top seats that the library is managed. I couldn't take having to deal with Files and Folder, because being a software developer myself, I'm used to smart databases. Effortless.

Universal Orlando, Characters picture found in the 'Lost & Found' gallery. Words about the gallery here and the actual gallery over here.

From Audi RS5 to Mini and Back, Cars Shots

The following pictures were not part of the selects I published under the gallery 'Detalle de Coches', found here, but I believe are worth of sharing some way. In them, we can see why I love Audi's design language, details found inside a Mini, and the enormous sound system someone can fit in a small car. They were all taken at the South Florida International Auto Show by the end of 2012 with the Leica X2.

"In the Audi A5 I wanted to mesh good architecture, a balanced vehicle and a high-performance sports car with quality and elegance."*

-Audi LED technology offers many advantages like low energy consumption and a long operating life.-

From RAW to Post, Leica X2

I have been wanting to post something along the lines of "Leica X2 in Real Life After 9 Months" or "Why Anyone Would Buy This Camera?" for some time now. And although it has been in the back burner, I can't still quiet put my thoughts into words. The X2 is not for everyone, because is not a glorified point-n-shoot camera. Yes, you can put it in Automatic and shoot, but like a DSLR, you won't be really taking advantage of what is really capable of if you just do that. The Leica X2 requires time to learn it well and change some habits that comes from using other cameras. However, once you tap into it's potential, you will know exactly what you can do with it and you will miss it when you don't have it with you.

The following pictures were purposely shot in RAW and Post Processed in Aperture with the intention of really working with the image captured by the camera.

- The Knight -

- Car at WM. B. Hackenburg -