Category Archives: Video
Time, time time …Part Deux
West End St. John's, Newfoundland. © GREG LOCKE 2012
Here is the view of the west end of downtown St. John’s you don’t often get. This scene will change considerably over the next few years as three major office building construction projects have begun in the area after more than twenty-five years being vacant land prime for commercial development.
Camera #2 has been installed, with the view above, for our 15 month time-lapse project in the downtown. This site has a few more challenges …like wind, snow, fog and sea gulls …and their droppings! While Camera #1 is nice and warm and dry and next to a coffee machine in an office Camera #2 will have to brave the elements on the roof of an office tower for the next year.
If there was ever any doubt about the fickleness of the elements in St. John’s in Spring I offer up these photos as evidence. On the left is a shot done on a beautiful warm Friday afternoon in April as I was downloading data from the camera. The photo on the right was Monday morning. ...click to enlarge
Nikon D800 – Loose in the real world.
I have not been excited about a new camera since I traded a bag full of Olympus OM1’s and a bunch of lenses for a couple of new Nikon F3’s, an 80-200mm and a 20mm back in 1985. The first digital camera I considered worth buying was the Nikon D100. I had used the NC2000 and the D1’s and they were total crap. Sorry, it’s the truth and we all know it. Since the D100 I’ve only bought a couple of D2x and a D700.
I wasn’t really planning on buying a Nikon D800. However, when I saw the specs and it coincided with a need for a new HD video setup I figured it was as good a time as any to make the credit card say ouch.
I don’t think anyone expected a 36 megapixel “full frame” monster with new expanded video features.
I got my order in to Nikon Canada Pro Services preferred purchase program and Jeff Chevrier at Photocreative, I was able to get one of the first D800s to come into the country.
Cameras, as cool as the technology can be, are still just work tools for professional photographers. They have to have features that are useful and functional in my “real world” shooting and production environment.
With that in mind, this review of the D800 is going to be more about things that matter to working photographers in the field. It’s not a tech “test” or a spec review or, God forbid, a Nikon vs Canon discussion.
Every camera and tech geek on the web has their own version of that and you’ll find the best at RobGalbraith.com and DXO labs websites. Which, by the way, calls the D800 the best DSLR to date. Continue reading
On set with Laura and Evan
We just finished up shooting some TV ads with our friends at Lingo Creative and I had the pleasure to meet Laura and Even. These two great young Newfoundland actors nailed the improv scenes within minutes of hearing the briefest of concepts. It’s a shame you won’t actually see their faces on screen so I thought I’d post a couple of stills I did on set.
Diamonds are a girls best friend
Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend but I get along fine with these fascinating, sparkly little gems too. One of our favourite clients, Diamond Design, in St. John’s, Newfoundland, has posted gallery of our jewellery photography on their DiamondDesignNL FaceBook page.
We have been shooting their stunning diamond rings and other jewellery for the past year ever since owner Pat Thompson asked if we would like to give it a go. Jewellery photography can be quirky with lots of details and nuance to consider that are just not present when photographing oil rigs from a helicopter! The highly reflective surfaces are the toughest issue but accurate colour rendition so you can tell the difference between silver, white gold and platinum can be a mind numbing struggle if that level of accuracy is a requirement of the shoot.
We mostly use a daylight balanced light box with build-in 360 degree lighting , tungsten supplemental and LED spots on goose necks for pinpoint aiming. All lights can be individually controlled allowing full on shadowless photos on white background or single beam spots on black background. Light is bright and controllable enough to allow everything from f2.0 to f22 at 200ISO. It’s a long learning curve and every time we fire up “The Box” we discover new ways to use it. Most recently we’ve used its motorized turntable to shoot short video clips like this.
More video available on the Diamond Design TV Youtube channel.
Boyd Chubbs on set and in studio
Newfoundland musician, poet and visual artist, Boyd Chubbs, on set in our studio during shooting for upcoming film. All credit for this shot goes to brilliant lighting technician Flora Planchat. THANKS FLORA!! © 2011 Greg Locke / Stray Light Media, Inc.
Erinn’s Climb
Our daughter, Erinn, participating in her first climbing competition, a bouldering section, at Wall Nuts in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Nov 27, 2011 …so we just had to make a video for her.
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