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Category: video

October 4, 2020

At Home with Apples

If you enjoy apple picking and apple cider donuts, you may be interested in what happened during our weekend adventure to Rogers Orchards.

A lot of advice out there talks about spending time outdoors to help manage the everyday stresses caused by the pandemic. If apple picking has previously been part of your annual routine, I think you should move that trip to the front of the line for your next weekend activity. It’s a great way to reconnect yourself to the ‘normal.’ Just be sure to wear your mask and maintain social distancing.

Visiting Rogers Orchards
This past weekend, my family and I visited Rogers Orchards in Southington, CT. We picked apples to our hearts’ content under the bright, warm sun of a cool October day.  The apple orchard was about a two-minute drive down the road from its 336 Long Bottom Road farm store and bakery.

I’ve found that taking pictures of apple trees is similar to picking apples. It’s mostly about the experience. What you bring home isn’t always as amazing as you hope for, but you always feel like the effort was worth it. 

While you’re out there, don’t forget to focus on the colors of fall foliage. That’s always a good bet.

Timelapse of Tree during Fall

Look for the Views
Plus, there’s a good chance that your immersion into nature will reveal an unexpected surprise…

Timelapse of Shuttle Meadow Reservoir

I shot this timelapse of the Shuttle Meadow Reservoir at the edge of the apple orchard with my DJI Osmo Pocket camera. 

Before heading back, we stopped by Sunset Rock State Park to do a short nature walk around part of Crescent Lake. The views were gorgeous.

It was the perfect fall day. Normality restored.

At Home with Pumpkins?
If you’re lucky, you don’t always have to drive an hour away to recenter yourself and rediscover the gifts of nature. Sometimes it’s growing right outside your window.

This surprisingly huge Lester pumpkin materialized after its host vine burst outside of the confines of our garden. I think it’s on track to be ready in time for Halloween!

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Now, it’s time to eat the rest of our apple cider donuts from Rogers Orchards.

Did I forget to mention the donuts?

#Comfort

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September 20, 2020

Why More Beach Time Helps Me Stay Centered

If you live near the beach, I recommend visiting it more often. Not so much for the sun or swimming, but to simply soak up the larger space. Here’s why…

It’s been six months already. Can you believe it? It feels like forever. And yet, these months are just a blip in a much larger timeline. That’s been easy to forget when my world has largely been compressed into the safe but limited square footage of our home.

When I do get out, I’ve found it helps to remind myself to look about… really look around. That has recentered my perspective and helps me feel more comfortable enduring this marathon COVID-19 experience.

The Value of Beach Time during COVID-19
My family and I have intentionally spent more time at our local beach over these past months. Beyond the expected and soothing qualities of that primal environment, the beach is a clear reminder that much of the world carries on as it has for countless millennia.

Warm or cold. Rain or shine, it’s helpful to be in that space (and of course, while practicing social distancing).

That sense of a larger continuity may not provide complete consolation, but it’s a good reminder that we’re all players in a much longer game.

At the beach… you can feel the greater normal. And that helps me stay centered.

This group of visual moments is a reminder that even though many pieces of our day-to-day lives have evaporated, other basics are still firmly in place.

Slow and steady.

Feeling the Rush
In so many ways, we’re all rushing.

  • Eager to read more news of a vaccine
  • Hoping to get back to normal soon
  • Wanting to reduce all of the stress

Rushing to find a way back.

But of course, we can’t go back. Not really. Too much has already changed.

So, it’s actually all about finding a way forward… to something somewhat different and perhaps better.

That’s all we’ve got. And you can’t rush it.

Set your Pace
We’ll get there. But it’s like a marathon. You’ve got to pace yourself.

And spending a little more time at the beach regardless of the season and perhaps taking a few photos and timelapse videos are good ways to help stay balanced throughout all the disruption.

It’s worked for me, and I highly recommend it.

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September 13, 2020

How to Turn your Zoom Recording into a TV Talk Show

If you’re looking to improve the look of your recorded Zooms, you don’t have to invest in expensive equipment or hunt down mothballed gear. Here are a few simple ways to simulate the structure of professional television production.

Recording a Zoom conversation is easy. It’s a one-click process. But if you’re looking to create a more controlled visual product that follows the traditional structure of a professional video interview or TV talk show, you’ll need to put on your MacGyver hat and use the Zoom interface a little differently.

It’s all about finding the best way to control which webcam feed is being recorded at any given moment.

Active Speaker View Mode is Faster than Pinning Each Shot
I originally thought it would be better to manually choose shots by ‘pinning’ the appropriate video frame, instead of letting Zoom’s default Active Speaker View follow the voices.

I was wrong.

Frequently pinning different shots ends up being a clunky process that’s slow and can also generate unexplained two-frame video glitches in the recording.

Instead, allowing Active Speaker View to automatically switch back and forth between your shots is faster and yields better results. (another example of the superiority of software over humans)

Use Gallery View as your Wide Shot
Then, all that’s manually left to do is occasionally click back and forth from Active Speaker View to Gallery View to show all of the video frames at once. That simulates what viewers are used to seeing in the wide shot of a TV talk show.

Just be sure to activate ‘Hide Self View’ if you’re not a part of the conversation and simply acting as a behind-the scenes director. You’ll find this option to make your image disappear in the drop-down menu after hovering over your own video box. Then click on the three-little-periods icon in the upper right corner.

Keep it Simple
No, Zoom isn’t really designed to give you the same technical control when recording a multicamera conversation as a traditional video switcher in a TV control room.

And no, you can’t record the individual shots separately to edit together later.

That said, if you simply let Zoom automatically follow the conversation and then occasionally sprinkle in the Gallery View, you’ll get a remarkably decent result.

And that’s all from the comfort of your home, and free for anyone to do.

Don’t worry about the video thumbnails you’ll see on the top of your screen during Active Speaker View. They aren’t recorded. Neither are the names on the bottom of the video frames.

Imperfect but Good Enough
Of course, the overall visual result pales in comparison to shooting a multicamera interview in a professional TV studio, mostly due to the limited quality of webcams, imperfect lighting conditions and cluttered home backgrounds.

But today and for the foreseeable future, webcam video is our new normal. Most everyone has embraced it during this COVID reality show we’ve all been cast in. Of course, I crave the beautiful imagery that professional cinema cameras can generate. We’ll get back to that… one day.

For now, if you want to record a webcam conversation that follows the structure of a studio-based TV talk show, Zoom will easily do that using limited assistance from the human brain and a few important clicks.

It works.

And it’s just another example of why Zoom became a household name overnight.

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