19. May 2008 :: Posted by Pete 
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Maybe everyone was working diligently over the weekend, but I came across some great blog posts, tips, web sites, and even a great gift idea. So without further ado…
Scott Kelby’s Photowalk with Jay Maisal - Photoshop impresario Scott Kelby posted a blog entry about his day with photographer Jay Maisal on the streets of NYC. As Kelby says: “He would point out scenes, moments in time, interaction between couples; parents and their kids, or a light bouncing up from a book being read by a woman reading silently in the park that I would have just walked right by and missed.”
The Strobist Shoots With Joe McNally, and Creates a Video, Too - “The Strobist” David Hobby did a shoot with Joe McNally in the Dubai desert, and created a video about it too. Here is McNally’s blog post of the same day.
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18. May 2008 :: Posted by Pete 0 comments
So this weekend my wife and I had an equipment conflict: she needed the digital point and shoot for a family event while I wanted it for the air show. Now I’m not one to deny my wife anything, so she got custody of the little digital camera for the weekend. For me, it was time to learn the still camera features on my Canon HV20 High-Def camcorder. I had a 2GB microSD card for stills, and MiniDV tape when I wanted to capture some video footage at the air show.
So how will it fare? I decided to test it out before the show, taking it on a walk with my son. The test photos are up on the Whiz-Bang! Flickr group. Bottom line is that it will do well in a pinch, but you will have to know its limitations to get the most out of it. Even then, the photos are probably best for the showing on the web, as noise and sharpness increase significantly when printing greater than 4 x 6″ prints.
The 1/4 inch CMOS sensor provides a decent 2 megapixels for stills, (our Canon SD700 packs 6 megapixels on the same size sensor, which is not necessarily a good thing) but the images are too saturated and punchy, just like the settings on almost every consumer camcorder. This is a little strange, however, given that the HV20 has a “Cine” mode that is more neutral, pleasing look in video mode. Also, controlling exposure is not in F-stops, but simply +/-1 increments. So it is really easy to blow-out images.
Otherwise, it is very much like a point and shoot with limited control over manual focus; only getting shallow depth of field when zoomed all the way in; the disadvantages of using the LCD monitor to judge focus and exposure. So if you can only bring one camera and want the flexibility to shoot video and stills, go with the HD camcorder — but after some practice to know how to get the best from it.
15. May 2008 :: Posted by Pete 0 comments
Last year, I took my son to an Air Show outside Washington, DC. He was a little over one year old, so I was surprised that he loved the planes and the acrobatics, despite all the noise. Those aircraft are also great subjects for photos and video, not to mention the crowds at the show.
If my little point-and-shoot and video camera actually had charged batteries! I got off a handful of photos with the little Canon PowerShot before the battery conked out. When I pulled out the videocamera, its battery was as dead as Julius Ceasar too. So while the day with my son was a boon, getting some cool footage was a bust.
This year’s air show is this weekend. So guess what I am doing tonight?Charging those batteries!
13. May 2008 :: Posted by Pete 0 comments
So here are a couple of ways to spruce up your family videos: add some funky titles, lower thirds and graphics. The main title uses a technique called motion tracking (or “match moving“). Basically, you designate an element in your video for the software to track. Then you let it know that another element, like the title, is to follow the tracked element. That is how I got the title to track Caden’s fall off the uneven bars and jog forward.
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06. Dec 2007 :: Posted by Pete 0 comments
Although Jenna and I have been involved in photography for about a decade, we are always looking to refresh our skills. So we both wound up at a day-long workshop on Photoshop hosted by Scott Kelby, a training magnate and guru known for his “Down and Dirty Tricks.” The training was great, but I have one gripe: I can’t stop using his tips to make our good looking photos look fantastic.
Above is just one example of getter a more dynamic color and better lighting. I have lost a fair amount of sleep enhancing photos since the training, not because it takes long (it doesn’t), but because it’s addictive when you see the results. In a nutshell, Kelby was hawking his new book, the Seven Point System for Photoshop. This blog isn’t in the business of shilling for product, but it really is a must-have in your bookshelf if you want to get the best out of your photos. I will be posting more before and after photos to the Whiz-Bang! Pictures group on Flickr.
30. Nov 2007 :: Posted by Pete 0 comments
For those of you with the means (or the opportunity) to use the “Extended” version of Photoshop CS3, stitching together photos to create panoramas is now insanely easy. I used the new photomerge feature to create the image above from this year’s MLS Cup, stitched together from a series of shots from my little Canon Digital Elph point-and-shoot camera.
The whole process was simple: select the photos to stitch together in the Bridge tool, then choose photomerge and the type of panorama you are stitching together and Photoshop does the rest. Not only does it stitch the photos together, but it also blends the colors and exposures to get a seamless image. (more…)
27. Nov 2007 :: Posted by Pete 0 comments
I’m a lucky man when it comes to having many best friends: my wife and son, my friends of close to 20 years or more, my dog Cooper, and my camera. I try to have my friends with me as much as possible. I’m not really picky about my friends when it comes to a camera though: it could be a digital point-and-shoot or SLR. Fact is, if you bring your new best camera friend with you wherever you go, they will return the affection with some great shots from unexpected places.
Case in point, we were in Paris with friends. It just so happened to be during the celebrations for the 60th anniversary of VE Day. There we are at the Louvre, like thousands of other tourists, when screaming up the Champs Elysees is the “Patrouille de France,” the French version of the Thunderbirds, streaming blue, white, and red smoke. Lifting my camera to the sky I fired away and got these lucky shots of the airplanes over the Pyramid and one of the buildings. (more…)
21. Nov 2007 :: Posted by Pete 0 comments
Thanksgiving is an opportunity to take some great photos and videos. It is an opportunity to update those outdated family photos in your frames. If family isn’t in the cards, the long weekend will give you a little more time to play. So here are some tips for getting great shots over the holiday.
Have more ideas? Please share them in the comments. Any examples, post them in our Whiz-Bang! Pictures Facebook, Flickr or YouTube groups!
Don’t forget your camera! Whether it’s the point-and-shoot, SLR, or video camera, don’t forget to take it along.
Don’t be shy! You have the gear in tow, don’t be all bashful and let it sit in the corner! If you can’t get the family to stand for a portrait, take candids. One great shot and they won’t duck away from the camera again. If you are shooting video, look for stories beyond the event: ask grandma to tell you a story, or your parents to describe some stupid thing you did as a kid. (more…)
17. Nov 2007 :: Posted by Pete 0 comments
Happen to forget your camcorder the day your kids pull out something unbelievably cute and funny? Fear not, because that little digital point and shoot camera (or better yet, digital SLR) can get you the next best thing. Switch the camera’s shooting mode to continuous instead of single shot and hold down the trigger until the fun is over.
What you will get are a series of shots timed as far apart as the camera can fire. String the photos together in a video editor like iMovie or Final Cut, and you get a fun “flip book” or stroboscopic effect. There isn’t any sound, but some music will fit the bill. You can even build a flip book from the photos too! (more…)
13. Nov 2007 :: Posted by Pete 0 comments
…think about where you can show it. Really. Stop being dazzled by the crisp, beautiful picture and the shiny “HD” logo adorning the chassis and think about how you can display its lovely images.Fact is, your options are limited. Do you–or your friends and family–have a High-Def (HD) disc player? If you did, you don’t have a way to burn a HD disc from your computer.Your options are:1. Show it from the camcorder to a HDTV, which means editing your movie in camera or showing the raw footage. Both are really bad ideas, especially if you want to incorporate photos, music, or great looking titles. (more…)
11. Nov 2007 :: Posted by Jenna 0 comments
The holidays are just around the corner. A time to get together to enjoy each other’s company and stuff ourselves beyond all reason. It’s also the time of year when we arrange ourselves in various groups and poses and hope for that one family portrait where no one is blinking and everyone is smiling (or at least not making a face).
One trick I really like is to actually have people take turns getting their photo taken in the same spot, then put everyone back together in a multi-photo frame. That way you get to choose the best of everyone. It’s also pretty fun if you make it everyone else’s job to get the person in the hot seat to laugh. Even though each person in alone in the photo, your brain makes the connection that these people are together since the background is the same and the light, camera angle, etc. don’t change.
For more portrait tips, check out Kodak’s guides here. I also wrote a guide for photographing your baby for AOL which you can see here. Happy snapping!
07. Nov 2007 :: Posted by Pete 0 comments
Whiz-Bang! Pictures is more than the services we provide, we want it to be a vast online community of people who want to share their creativity, their ideas, and their passion for doing more with the photos and videos they shoot. So to kickstart this community, we have already created a number of ways for you to share and get involved with like-minded people.
The easiest way is to share your thoughts, ideas, tips, and most important, your dreams about what you would like to do with your media–right here on the Whiz-Bang! Ideas blog through comments. We welcome your feedback, but more important, we want you to share with our other readers.
Here are other forums we created where you can get involved, share photos, bookmarks, videos and more. (more…)
06. Nov 2007 :: Posted by Jenna 1 comment
In a nutshell, Whiz-bang Pictures is for people who don’t have the time or inclination to become full time photo and video editors in order to deal with the avalanche of pictures (both still and moving) that most of us have. Luckily, I already AM a full time editor, and this is what I love to do!
I got the idea for whiz-bang one day while looking through my parent’s closet full of photos. Literally, a whole closet stuffed with boxes, envelopes and albums full of pictures that were fading and growing more fragile by the day. I decided they needed saving, so I scanned them all, did some editing and made a book. Then I realized that there are closets exactly like this one everywhere. And now that we’re all shooting digital, our desktop closets (otherwise known as computers) are even worse!
So there it is. Let me help you bring those pictures out of their storage spaces and into the light where they can be enjoyed and shared. 
There are guaranteed to be some real gems in there.
06. Nov 2007 :: Posted by Pete 2 comments
You may not know this, but Whiz-Bang! Pictures is a family operation (a two person operation to be more exact!) I am Peter von Elling, the lesser light (though still bright) in the operation, while my wife Jenna von Elling is the dynamo of this little enterprise. (Check out her upcoming post). So by way of introduction…
My role is more in the video and multimedia aspects of WBP. I have been in multimedia for over ten years, working in everything from old-fashioned print to corporate videos to online interactive multimedia. I love telling a story through melding videos, photos, and graphics with great music. Lately, I have been playing with visual effects and 3D: creating 3D models and incorporating them into videos, or creative uses of animating photographs and setting that to music. If you want to have a little fun and razzle-dazzle into your home movies, I’m your man. (more…)
