I just did a short bit on color correction in video in the previous blog, I demo’d a couple of different things you can do with the same clip to get different color corrections and other basic work with some filters that you can do quickly to get some cool effects with one very badly shot grainy clip.
Probably what I should have mentioned is … never delete your clips when you’re done. Catalog them and save them. Even the bad stuff can be often reused on other projects.
A good example is that grainy bad clip. Since I had the time this morning while waiting on a phone call – I came up with a couple new effects for that same clip. I saved them because I thought they might be useful. Each time I do that I save myself some time. I may not necessarilly use the clip again, but by adding tags to it in my catalog – the next time some one asks me if I can do a cosmic face effect – I can pull that up.
Here’s the clip….
I’ve had a few emails about getting video to look right. Shelly and a few others out there know I don’t have the best of cameras – I do almost everything on a old Sony DCR TRV280, which is just barely considered a digital camera. So – why do my quickies look different than the stuff that Shelly’s getting with her brand spankin new HD camera? Which isn’t to say her stuff isn’t good – she’s got a great eye, and chooses her shots wisely. But it does bug you when your visuals aren’t 10 times better than a 8 year old $500 camcorder.
I also generally don’t take more than 10 minutes to shoot a quickie clip and I also don’t use a lighting kit. It’s a worst case scenario – but when Shelly and I compared footage recently – mine looked better. So how did I do it? Simple. I retouch my video. It’s something I’ve always had do to – and just assumed everyone did it these days. It’s believe it or not the most common and best money maker for anyone who has a budding small video business like our friend Shelly.
With video blogs, video resumes and even local tv commercials for anyone who does video work it’s probably going to be your most common work even though it’s something that most people never think to charge for when they bid a video project. Cleaning up bad camera skills will take up most of your time.
Whether it’s removing camera shake, or getting the colors back in a face, or removing an over exposure, or just (believe it or not) removing acne - - if people know you can do that, they’ll want it and you can charge for it.
Lets face it – people prefer to have colors that don’t make them look like they’re in a zombie movie… unless they’re in… a zombie movie. In some cases, you may have people ask you to do that as well, but they’ll never ask if they don’t know that you can do it. So you’ll need a good demo of color correction and adjustment techniques that you can do. The practice of this kind of work on a variety of clips will help you get a good idea how how long it takes to do this work, and what you should be charging for it. I’m not going to go into details on how to do color correction because it will depend on the software and the hardware you have.
If you’ve got Ulead or some lower end semi-pro software the techniques will be completely different than say Adobe or Pinnacle or others. So – do a bit of searching on the web for color correction for your software. Keep in mind you’ll need to know that the colors you’re producing may be different so – practice, view the footage on different monitors, practice, practice. The steps may seem similar but there’s nothing worse than a blog that tells you to use a $5,000 piece of software that you don’t have so I won’t do that to you. But a bit of research and you’ll get what you need. I’ve seen great tutorials on everything from Movie Maker to AE, and even some very high end stuff like Lyric and others. All free – all very good.
A good example of this is that I did two versions of the demo for this blog – one in an un-named very expensive program I’m currently demoing to see if I want to buy it (I probably will) and another in the freebie Microsoft Movie Maker. I know MM inside and out – took me 10 minutes and I had a clip ready to publish that the end result is the one you see in the link below. The $5,000 program… spent 20 minutes, and the results were… less than satisfying because I really don’t know it well yet. It decided to do a number of things for me I didn’t ask it to – and the footage quality from it is … well blurry, soft, and worse than the Movie Maker stuff or if I’d just rendered it directly from another program. So – practice. Learn, practice. When you’re ready to use the big boy toys … use’em. But never show off your stuff unless it’s of a quality you want people to see.
In some cases – it’s nothing more than just loading up the footage and adjusting some color curves to get the values right for the shot. In others you’ll need to do some masking. For example the color corrected shot above – the face is color corrected with one set of curves, the background received another. Similarly in the day-for-night shot shown here I had to pull out the face and go with an almost pitch black. (I might also want to add some shadows from a 3D layer … it depends on how far you want to take it.) You get the idea.
Each of these requires a different level of color correction and adjustment. So – make sure who you’re doing this for knows that there is a big difference in price between the kind of work needed for a wedding and the kind of work needed for a network TV commercial shot. That price is how hard you have to work to make it look good. Never show someone a “miracle” shot that took you 40 hours of work, and allow them to think this is nothing more than clicking a few buttons… Miracles=expensive, basic band aids = cheap.
And if you’re looking a highly advanced techniques for color correction – you may be looking as spending as much time as you would to animate something in a full video composite. It’s a big part of your cost, and even if it is just your time when you’re running a business it’s something you have to be willing to cost out for – which we tend to forget when we’ve taken a hobby or something we enjoy and turn it into a business.
I recommend that you learn all you can about color correction, often the most subtle color corrections on a clip are the most difficult to pull off. There are a whole slew of things you need to consider – the main character of the shot will require a different lighting than anyone else (masking and overlay), the background may need to be softened or sharpened and color corrected as well (another set of masks and overlays as well as curves), will you be needed to track the masks in the shot using motion tracking – and do they need to have some shots that will be rotoscoped?
Sure – you can make it look like a million bucks, and for a good customer, client or friend – it may well be worth it. But most will not expect you to create a miracle shot. Just a good simple clean image that looks nice, gives a good flesh tone and definition.
And… It also helps if the person you’re shooting… doesn’t look like they haven’t slept since they got off a flight from Chicago two days ago because they’ve been doing all nighters writing a video camera application on the side for kids… but that’s another project, and will require I shave, eat, and maybe get some sleep. :-) Over all – your cheapest solution is of course to consider your lighting, take a white balance and shoot it so it doesn’t require correction if possible.
They History happened big time last night. Not that a black man was elected president. Not that one side, or the other of the political spectrum won or lost. This election was not about a changing of ideals. This election was about America, and Americans proclaiming that we are tired. We are weary and we have lost much. We have, by some accounts of our own people, lost our way. We have, by some accounts of our own people, lost our integrity, our strength, our direction in the world and our role as the world leader. This race, was not won by a candidate, or a political party, or a group. It was won by the American people, and it was won by the world.
To understand this, you have to realize that the American people voted not for an Obama or a McCain, for a conservative or a liberal, but because the number one overwhelming issue to them was their jobs and their livelihoods. For many people, this month will not be a happy one. Statistics show that we have had more bankruptcies these last few months than in all of 2007. More businesses, more people, out of work. More home foreclosures, more evictions, than in decades. We as a nation, are falling down, and there is no one to call to help us up. For many of us, we’ve worked all our lives to make something better and we tried, and tried but it was clear that finishing the race to something better was beyond us. We fell. We fell down running. Tired and exhausted.
It is easy, all too easy, to look at yourself when you’ve fallen down after a long and exhausting run and not get up. To lay there breathing hard and aching and accept that you cannot go on. To say, “I did my best, it wasn’t good enough.” and to give up. To lie down and rest and accept the defeat that is to come. To accept that your glory days are over and you’re not the kid you once were and someone else, some other nation can take the lead for a change. Someone else can be the nation that has the jobs and has the future that you once did.
That’s fine I guess if winning isn’t that important to you. If your race is well, just a race. Except when we fell, we weren’t alone. We fell and this was not a race to a finish line this was a race for survival. For every home owner, for every person without a job, for every person on this planet who depended on us to be strong to carry the lead to maybe not win the race but to just even make it to the finish line, this was a race for survival.
In the last few weeks, the world has waited. It saw us tumble and fall and in shock and awe it watched. Would America get up? Would her people give up? Would they lie down? Was it time for America to toss in the towel?
The world, has relied on us as a people, as a country, as a nation since before our founding fathers created us as a nation. For exports and imports and goods and services. When wars were fought, it was always America that could be counted on. When there was injustice, or the need for compassion and generosity – America was there. They may not say it – many may even bear us some anger for being that way. But they know it. America has always been the track star, the kid in school everyone wanted to be. Rich, successful, popular.
The funny thing about kids like that is almost always they have another story. A hardship, sometimes it’s money problems at home. Sometimes it’s a stereotypical drunken father or abusive relative. Sometimes its their own greedy or self important nature, pushing what they think on someone else because they’re bigger or stronger or they can. Sometimes they just aren’t that bright. We all know this. We all know that is who the popular kid is sometimes. But when he’s out there running – he’s running with your colors. He’s running for you and you may not like him, but you still want him to win the race. Because if he wins on some level you win. His successes, are sometimes tied to your own.
So the world watched, and the world watched us fall. And instead of getting up… we laid there. We laid there exhausted, and old and tired and without a breath left in us to run. And in the stands – people didn’t know what to say. People could only think one thing. “Get up.”. Get up and run! Please do not let this be over. Please do not quit. Please… get up.
They said, “You can still do this. It’s not over.”.
But when your house is gone, your job is gone, you have no money to pay the bills and the kids – your kids who never did anything to anyone are the ones suffering… look up at you and you have nothing to tell them… giving up looks good. And someplace inside us there is a voice when we look into those eyes that says, “There has to be another way. This can’t be it. It can’t be over.”. And the world, with baited breath hoarse from yelling on the sidelines yells, “Please Get Up! We need you.”. And our children and our grandchildren call out to us and they say, “Get up!”.
We find it someplace inside us to look for another way. To pull out from somewhere something inside us. Something primal that goes beyond exhaustion, that goes beyond what we feel but what we know must be done, and we stagger, and we get up.
Last night was about not winning an election. Not winning a race. Not a black man becoming president or a young man with young ideas becoming president – but about the American people once again rising. Once again standing on our feet and saying, “The race is hard, and I am tired, but it is not over.”. Last night was about the American people once again rising for each other, for the world, and saying, “We are not done. This is not over. We are America, and we never give up.”.
History will record that this was the year the US economy almost brought down the world. It will also record that this is the year the American people decided that they needed to get up. Get together. Fix our economy. Fix the worlds economy. Fix the mess that is this planet. History will record this is the day not that we won a race, but the day we, as a people got up together as one to win the most important race.
The race to save ourselves, and the world. 9:17 AM GMT | Read comments(0)October 29Accurate Photo Retouching
Everyone out there who has kids knows the pain of dealing with Senior Portraits.
Here’s a few tips from a buddy of mine over at Zone13 Photographics.
First things first… get your exposures right. Separate the main focus of the picture from the background (Photoshop is my preferred tool – but these tips apply to most tools).
Next – reduce the saturation levels in the back – and boost them in the front. We don’t want to wash out the picture – we just want it to have a nice over all tone to it.
You’ll note my daughters a bit dark in the pic, and as with everyone (including most name actresses) her skin has some blemishes. A touch of blur here, a bit of dodging tool there… now we can actually see her face, and the hives from holding an animal in the picture they took earlier are now… gone.
When retouching it’s important to remember that you’re not there to make them perfect. As much work as this may seem it’s mostly a bit of lighting. Where I did over do it – I cut out the section as a layer, and then used Opacity to let her natural skin to actually show through the blurs. And this is the difference between a retouched photo and an “accurate” retouched photo. Yes, my daughter no longer has the eyes of a raccoon, and her skin is clearer. Even though this does give her a very different appearance – it’s actually what she looks like when she’s not standing under a tree that casts shadows and uneven lighting.
Then we went through and did contrast and saturation adjustments on the fore image and the back image. Play around – and make sure you work on a copy of the original image. It’s easy to make a mistake and not all software will let you go back and fix things.
Now, if you’re time strapped – there are if you have Photoshop (and some other tools which also accept these plug-ins) some very nice plug-ins from a great company called Topaz. These can do a lot of the work for you, and my personal favorite is one called “Topaz Vivacity”. I’m a huge fan of these for the cost. I’ve probably spent enough on plug-ins for AE, Photoshop, etc., over the years to buy a small car – and hands down I go to the stuff from Topaz over and over for almost everything.
If you’re tight on time – and tight on cash they really make you look like a rock star. So – if you have Photoshop, and you have Senior Portraits coming – ask for a copy of the pics in raw format if possible from the photographer. I understand a lot of photographers now just include them as they did back in the days of “negatives”, so they shouldn’t look at you too funny if you ask.
It’s a lot cheaper for you – if you have a little artist in you – to do photo retouchings than having them do it. But try to remember these simple rules when you do photo retouching for people:
1) It’s not about cool. It’s about making someone look good. 2) Never make it too obvious it’s been retouched. Always leave a little imperfection to it. 3) Color, Contrast, details are important. Try to keep these at all costs on the main subject.4) Remember it’s for them – not you. If they want something you really don’t like… tell them why you don’t like it nicely, but always yield to the person who has to live with the end product.
When you’re done… you may want to try several looks – each only slightly different to see what plays well with people. Each of the images below is slightly different – I’m going to let my daughter choose which one we go with. That is always the telling sign for any Accurate Retouching – if the person you’re doing the retouching for likes it.
2:47 PM GMT | Read comments(0)October 26Consultant vs. Contractor what’s the difference?
Ever wonder why a Consultant charges double what a Contractor does and doesn’t even hint at looking guilty for it?
A friend of mine asked me why I had different rates for one and why they were so … out of whack. Here’s a tid bit most people do not know. If you have a family and you’re a “Consultant” you actually have to double your rate if you want to make the same as a Contractor, and it’s – believe it or not – almost 2 1/2 times to get the same benefits as a Full Time Employee.
The short answer is a Consultant has to pay for everything themselves. This includes a 19% (or higher) Federal Income Tax, a 6.5% Social Security Tax, and another 1.54% tax for Medicare. If you live in some states (like I do) there’s actually a tax you have to pay for doing business as a consultant (.0754 on every dollar), and other local taxes and business fees (add another 1.5%). So … right off the bat – your costs are waaay hirer than a contractor.
The next cost you’re hit with is health care (you can verify these numbers on the links provided if you’d like). For a married man, with 2 kids you can expect to pay anywhere from $975 to $265 a month for insurance … depending on if you actually want to be covered or just like paying $275 a month for a policy that you probably can’t use. (www.ehealthinsurance.com) This by the way … does not include dental – or vision coverage under any of the plans (nope – not even the $975 a month plan). So there’s another huge of your check there.
Most consultants have to provide their own phones, and equipment too. And there’s no “auto upgrade every 3 years” as when you’re working for a corporation. So you need to set aside at budget to replace your stuff every year or so. You should – if you’re smart, put aside 10% of every check to cover equipment, phones, and misc. expenses like unexpected travel.
All of these – you get when you work for someone, and they add up quickly. A consultant who’s expected to travel needs to be able to travel on short notice, so you have to have that ability. The job won’t wait for a re-imbursement check. Which, btw, you’ll probably want to have a lawyer look over your contracts if they’re long term. A lot of times you will find that a Consultant signs away rights to a lot of things and locks himself into very expensive situations because they’re not a lawyer. (Case in point – know of one guy who signed a consulting agreement that said he’d be paid $40 a day for travel… fine when he was in the Bay area. Then they stated sending him to London twice a month…. and yes… they expected him to pay the air fare and room in England.)
So … read the fine print or get someone to do it for you – you no longer have a legal team or group travel planner to help you. And in order to keep track of all this with the IRS – you need to (if you have half a brain) hire an accountant… so 10% from every check… goes to all of that goodness.
So – here’s some fun math… a Consultant who expects to make $100,000 a year vs. a Contractor who makes $100,000 a year. Below is a an actual table of how I’d have to calculate my rate – and this is a very basic table. It doesn’t include quite a few expenses you’d usually have to do business.
This of course brings up a couple more points for the lowly consultant to consider… “Billable Hours”.
Consultants start out with about 2080 hours in the year they can bill. From that you subtract Holidays (which though they can work, most of their clients don’t – so no billing there.). Next subtract any Sick Days you’re going to have. What you don’t think Consultants don’t get sick? Try flying on a plane packed with 150 potential flu carriers twice a week and NOT get sick.
It’ll happen – trust me, and no client wants you infecting their staff and bringing down an entire team’s worth of work for 3 days. Sick means you don’t work – it has nothing to do with “you could work” – it has to do with the client doesn’t want you there.
Next – are what I like to call “soft hours”. This is where you, have to do what every business does – determine how much time is lost to locating new clients, going to training, conferences, and the like – which are where you find the lions share of your work often. Better plan for that.
Finally – you need to consider how long it will be between assignments – and if you’re first starting out that might be a while. Every business has this as a cost. As a Consultant you’re no different than anyone else – you have to figure this as an expense of doing business. You can’t bill a client for soft time – but it’s still an expense to you. So you need to calculate that into your rate.
Here’s a rough idea of what “Billable Hours” for a year would look like for you:
Now if I was still young and single and wasn’t picky about health care, and I didn’t need a house with enough room for 3 more people … well you get the idea, I could eat many of these costs – work more hours, etc., and so on. Single people have a real advantage in being able to be consultants. Which is why you see that more than married people.
But enough soap boxing… you asked for what the difference in rate fees was between a Consultant and a Contractor? That’s it pretty much. It’s a question of working for yourself vs. working for someone else.
By and large – I prefer to work for someone else. Consulting pays well – and as you can see, if you want to be very successful at it you have to charge a pretty penny. Most businesses will pay that pretty penny because they have no attachment to you, to the job you’re doing. Once it’s completed – it’s done you go away and they would have had to pay those costs anyway if they’d hired someone. But if they hired someone for it – they’d have had to go through the headache of finding you more work.
If they hire a contracting firm – well the firm essentially has to pay all of those expenses and most businesses assume they do. What the reality is – is that most Contracting firms offer pretty much useless health care and other benefits. Often times you have to work 6 months just to get sick days or holiday pay. (In fact my last contract I was hired in late October, and so had to deal with 3 weeks of vacations for which everyone else got paid … and I didn’t right during the Xmas season.)
In essence – as a Contractor your life pretty much sucks. But there is the fact that most companies only hire a Consultant if they absolutely need that specific skill or expertise, so it’s hard to get a consistent Consulting gig. So – Contracting is more popular with companies and provides more work. Consulting provides better income and benefits – but less work. Full Time Employees of course – have the benefits of both – but that’s even harder in many cases to find work of equivalent pay.
That’s my take on it… hope that helps explain a few things.10:02 AM GMT | Read comments(0)