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Archive of ‘Commercial’ category

Commercial, Personal, Photography | 0 comment

Quarantine 3 – America Strong

Blue Angels flying over Falls Church, Virginia - May 2, 2020 ©TimeLine Media
Blue Angels flying over Falls Church, Virginia – May 2, 2020 ©TimeLine Media

Falls Church, Virginia

Earlier this month, the America Strong flyovers started over the East Coast of the US. With attention to saluting first responders, hospital workers, who are on the front line of this disease, these planes flew to lift spirits. Moreover this was another reminder that working together is the only way we will get through this difficult time.

USAF Thunderbirds performing their America Strong flyover Falls Church, Virginia ©TimeLine Media
USAF Thunderbirds performing their America Strong flyover Falls Church, Virginia ©TimeLine Media

Since I had a few days notice, I scouted a few different places to see the teams flyover. The teams released flyover maps, so in general I had an idea where they would be overhead. When I was looking for a spot, some were nice, but had large powerlines. Some, I thought had trees that were very tall. In summary, there are obstacles, that I never saw while casually traveling through the neighborhood.

USAF Thunderbird flyover - Falls Church, Virginia ©TimeLine Media

In this case, I decided that just going across the street would be the best place to catch the flyover. As for camera gear, I put my iPhone on a tripod to get video and sound of the flyover while I had two still cameras ready. One had a longer 70-200mm telephoto lens, and one a normal 24-70mm zoom lens.

America Strong Flyover

Blue Angels America Strong flyover in Falls Church, Virginia ©TimeLine Media

Reviewing the video, this flyover lasted only a few seconds! While the teams were over downtown Washington, DC, and Arlington, VA, I could hear them approaching. Even though I had three cameras available, I only had time to use the telephoto lens. Knowing that there would only be one pass, I got as many photos as they were overhead. Although 200mm was the longest lens I had, it was still a bit short without large cropping in the final images.

Blue Angels America Strong flyover in Falls Church, Virginia ©TimeLine Media

By all means, this was not the best photos from this flyover. Similar to other photo shoots, it is important to review afterwards to see how things could have been done better. I hope I would get better results with a different shooting position, and a longer focal length. I hope all of you are staying safe, and I look forward to getting out and seeing you in person soon!

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Commercial, Personal, Photography, Studio | 2 Comments

Quarantine 2 – Video Conferencing

Quarantine 2 - Video - conference call screen shot from my setup ©TimeLine Media
Screen capture from a Zoom conference call

Home Office Setup

Since we are weeks into this quarantine – video conferences have replaced in person meetings. To be sure this is not my favorite way to network and meet business contacts. However, the current state of our world has forced this style of communication for everyone.

While the advances in technology have made the webcam an adequate conduit for this communication, I am a photographer. Thus, I want to have the best picture quality! Of course I would look better myself, but it would also help my business profile. If my little box looked the best out of all of the boxes in the meeting, it would stick with some people that I know how to make a good looking image online. Moreover, it would show how much I care about how I project myself online, and how professional I can make my clients look. To this end, I looked at how I could use my professional cameras to stream online. My lenses and lighting could then be used to elevate the look from my studio.

Quarantine 2 - Video - overview of lighting setup with laptop, camera, and lighting ©TimeLine Media
Video conference lighting setup

Quarantine 2 – Video Setup

As an overview, my laptop is positioned next to my camera on a tripod. The lens is set to a 50mm focal length. If you are using a smart phone for your calls, I would select a portrait style mode to zoom in closer to your face. Seeing that this is the most important thing to see in the video, fill your frame up with your face! The microphone captures a nice clean audio from me sitting about a foot and a half away from the camera. The background of my shot is 10 feet away from where I am sitting. With the difference in distance, the background is blurred out nicely. As long as there is some difference between you and the background, you can have this same effect.

Camera tethered for video streaming with shotgun microphone
Camera tethered for video streaming with shotgun microphone

Once you have the camera set, the HDMI cable comes out of the camera and into a video capture card. For this setup, I used the Magewell USB Capture HDMI Gen 2. From here the audio and video is transferred by USB to my laptop. From here, you can choose your USB connection as your webcam in Zoom, Skype, Facebook Messenger, whatever program you would like to use. Both your audio and video will be sent through.

HDMI to USB capture card
HDMI to USB capture card

Lighting Setup

Similar to the separation of your face from the background, the lighting setup follows. I have a very cheap shop lamp with an LED bulb to my right. It is shining into an umbrella that softens the shadows but still gives dimension. With the bright light only about a foot from my face, the exposure is set for my face with the background becoming dark. This makes for a nice dark background. As a matter of fact, this is a good way to hide a messy work room 🙂

Shop Light firing into an umbrella
Shop Light firing into an umbrella

Again this may be overkill for most video conferences. However, I want to be remembered as a photographer. With this setup, it makes it easier to make an impression as someone that produces professional images! Please let me know if you have any suggestions, or questions. I am very knew to this, but am pleased with the results so far!

Quarantine 2 - Video post results ©TimeLine Media
Quarantine 2 – Video post results ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Commercial, Event, Photography | 0 comment

Carahsoft 2019 Gov Con

Headshots at the Carahsoft 2019 Gov Con event in Washington, DC ©TimeLine Media
Headshots at the 2019 Carahsoft Gov Con event in Washington, DC ©TimeLine Media

Washington, DC

Stemming from a referral from another photographer, I covered the Carahsoft 2019 Gov Con in Washington, DC. On this occasion, their event was held at the Grand Hyatt, a hotel fitting of the name. Attendees would be in the conference center, attending lectures and breakout sessions during the day. For the most part, I would be outside of these sessions creating headshots at a step and repeat.

Since the booth was a little slow on traffic at the beginning of the day, I went into the conference center to see the opening remarks. Of course, I am familiar with so many of the Adobe products, and these attendees would be discussing their newest tools for government agencies.

Carahsoft 2019 Gov Con headshots
Carahsoft 2019 Gov Con headshots

For the most part, I was outside at the step and repeat. The background was branded for carahsoft, and Adobe the two sponsors for the event. When people would come by, I offered them an updated headshot. Not only was this a little out of my comfort zone, but it is immediately broke the ice. The subsequent quick headshot session was much less awkward to go through comparatively! As I warmed up to the situation, I had a nice long line of people that wanted to get new portraits made. I ended up having a great time, and I hope I made a good impression for carahsoft and their guests!

Carahsoft 2019 Gov Con headshots
Carahsoft 2019 Gov Con headshots

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

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