Behind the Scenes of UBF Episode 004: My Video Studio
When I started the Understanding Blockchain Freedom project, I wanted to learn how to create quality videos while helping others. Today I made a lot of progress toward that goal and want to share that experience with you.
The first three @ubf videos were all recorded on the same day, in my closet, with a single light and me sitting in a chair with my laptop camera. Today was much better.
My wife @corinnestokes is getting serious about her photography, doing family photos, engagement photos, and weddings. She's collecting some nice new toys, some of which I borrowed today.
I set up a backdrop using some fabric (cheaper than a bed sheet), a couple of Corinne's light boxes, a stand for my Blue mic, and her DSLR on a tripod. I also bought a new 32G SD card to record with.
Here's the setup:
The yellow of our curtains started bleeding through the backdrop, so I hung some towels behind it which worked much better.
The biggest challenge was getting the camera to focus without someone around to hit the focus button. I tried using my mic as a substitute head which worked fairly well, though I think the final video was still a bit out of focus.
It's embarrassing how many takes I needed to get closer to what I'm looking for. The first few recordings, once I got them to my computer and started editing them, showed the yellow drapes. The next round were far too bright, and I looked all washed out. I tried turning down the lights for another round of takes, bit it still wasn't right. I showed it to Corinne, and she knew the answer: Exposure Compensation!
I learned how the camera was essentially trying to make everything gray to average it out. It didn't know I was wearing a black shirt with a black background and things were supposed to be darker. After adjusting to a -2 Exposure Compensation, things finally started coming together.
It was a long day of trial and error, but I made clear progress over my first attempts. Episode 004 is uploading to YouTube right now and will be live soon.
I hope you enjoyed this little behind-the-scenes look at my current "video studio." I hope you enjoy the next Understanding Blockchain Freedom video where we'll walk though how to get your Bitcoin off of Coinbase and on to either the Breadwallet app or a paperwallet. With all the Bitcoin fork drama, it's never been more important to get your bitcoin off an exchange and into a place where you control the private keys.
Also, side note, my witness moved up to position 31 recently! Thank you for your continued support!
I'll update this post as soon as the next video post is ready.
Edit: Episode 4 is now live! Understanding Blockchain Freedom — Episode 004: Get Your Bitcoin Off of Coinbase
Appreciate your work on this. I did not know about this series that you had been doing, and I will definitely be checking out your earlier installments as well.
It takes a lot more work to do it right than what most people realize.
You've got a witness vote from me.
Thank you! I'd be honored if you could check it out and share with those who you think it would help. Thanks as well for your witness vote. Greatly appreciated!
Wow thanks for showing the behind the scenes. It really can show how steemit and blockchain are changing how we operate even from home. I guess people really do find an alternative when the outside looks like it's breaking.
I've been building my business for over 10 years now, 6+ of which have been done from home. I like working from home, but this video stuff is all new to me, and I'm learning and loving the process.
Get BTC off of coinbase, eh? :eek:
I have a coinbase account, but nothing on it at present.
Really need to learn wallets! Any suggestions for hardware wallets, Luke?
I have had BTC, LTC and ETH in the past, but at present I am ALL IN for STEEEM!!!
I haven't yet purchased a hardware wallet, but I've heard good things about Trezors. I personally prefer paper wallets just to eliminate the concern of the hardware going bad and having to rely on a seed key anyway (which is essentially the same thing as just doing a paper wallet).
Thank you so much, @lukestokes!
My FIRST WHALE REPLY!!!
I will research this further, thanks again!
Haha... I wouldn't say I'm a whale. Maybe an Orca though. I worked my way up to dolphin status for almost a year now. :)
hehee
All the references I see are saying "whale-hood" is tied to steem power...
Dolphin was listed as 10k and you are well above that, iirc!
Humility is a great asset, as well! Thanks again, Luke! C U 'round!
I think 100K+ is a Whale and 50k+ is an Orca, but it's been a while since I looked at what the community thinks in that regard. :)
Orca it is!!!
Don't eat a humble minnow, OK Man?!? :D
Wow I guess not, I got votes from you and your witness account! THANX!!!
Already vote for you for witnesses @lukestokes and Upvote and resteem!
Thank you! Greatly appreciated.
@lukestokes - Your experiments with setting up the video shooting studio reminded me of my first experiments with DSLR camera. I had accidentally set exposure compensation to -4 and everyone I photographed, came out looking like an African warrior. The world suddenly looked gloomy in my photographs. I will see the Youtube video to see you final result. Should be interesting after getting this behind the scene looks. (kind of like getting to see the shooting of Avengers. Lol). Upvoted.
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Hah! Nice. Yeah, -4 would be quite dark. I think this camera only goes to -3. :) I just posted episode 4, so please let me know what you think if you get a chance to check it out. Any advice is always appreciated.
I'll check out your blog as well. I've been crazy busy today, so I haven't hit my feed much at all yet.
@lukestokes - My current Nikon P900 (not that DLSR i was talking about) goes to -7 too. I will definitely take a look at the final video. I see that you have posted a blog on Steemit too (saves me the trouble of going to Youtube !) in a few minutes. One thing is bugging me though - On my camera, in video shooting mode, the focus is automatically infinity focus. Wonder why you had focus issues.
Thanks for taking time to visit my blogs. The message about Endangered species is dear to my heart. Any help in spreading it is very much appreciated
On this one, you have to hit the trigger to get it to focus.
I've never heard of infinity focus... interesting. I wonder if this Canon Rebel 3 supports that. I'll look into it. Thank you!
Haha.. you made so much efforts... Well it seems perfect setup. And the colour on the walls are beautiful ... Very pretty combination..
Thanks! My wife @corinnestokes gets the credit for the colors. :)
Great.. and I never knew before that she use steemit.. well say hello to ma'am too... And she is doing great with photography tell her I love photography too.. it's awesome.. :-)
Wow..its nice..
Upvoted
Thank you!
Piece of advice: I noticed a lot of your comments are similar and don't provide a lot of value beyond letting someone know that you've voted for them. If you'd like to get noticed here (and maybe even earn some Steem with your comments), try leaving more detailed comments that add value.
Upvoted & RESTEEMED!
I really enjoyed the beyond the seen as well as the actual episode. Thank you for sharing these valuable information.
Oh I didn't know you had a whole studio set up for this production. It's great you gave us a backstage look at the whole. I'm glad you're having fun with your series, Luke :)
Thanks Jed. I'm certainly learning a lot. :)