Big Trousers, Web, Design, Photography and new media.

Testing HD and the Zacuto Z-Finder

Posted on 06. Mar, 2010 by Philip in Digital imaging, Hardware

It rain and it rained big…
So the Zacuto Z-Finder attached to the Canon 5D Mk11 has proved to be the pivotal device for using the DSLR as a video shoot platform. Great stability is generated by using this device alone, but I now know why I need a lanyard on it. More later..

Keynote on auto schedule shutdown-startup

Posted on 04. Mar, 2010 by Philip in Apple, Big Trousers News, Digital imaging, Hardware, Software, Video

A very recent installation job nearly went pear shaped when a new “feature” in iWork 09 Keynote stopped us from scheduling a shutdown of a kiosk style big screen sideshow on 3 screens.

The job is a display of news and coming events on 3 big screens for The West Footscray Neighborhood House. The screens run separate keynote presentations containing HD video and slideshows all with audio in 3 different locations within the center complex. Three Mac mini’s run the program files in full HD resolution and they could not be more happy with the quality of the presentations.

There were a number of hurdles to overcome however and in the interests of others trying to achieve the same result we will list solutions to some of the problems we encountered.

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Shooting heritage listed trees for TreeLogic

Posted on 04. Dec, 2009 by Philip in Digital imaging, Video

In shooting Melbourne’s best heritage listed trees this morning we decided to try a little piece to camera, just to see how it looked. Steve you are a natural.

Angophora costata (Smooth-barked Apple) from Philip Greenwood on Vimeo.

This is my favorite from the shoot, Cussonia spicata (Cabbage Tree) Cnr Inkerman and Hawthorn Rd Caulfield Park, Caulfield North, or as I called it the Manilong Sifficokus.

Louie Prez live stream from The Dog

Posted on 29. Nov, 2009 by Philip in Big Trousers News, Digital imaging, Video

The webcast from The Dog theatre went well last night and we will continue to improve our assembly of technical specifications for this type of event. The concept was for a lightweight portable and affordable two camera streaming solution.
Video to follow soon of the recorded stream.

Good news from Adobe

Posted on 31. Aug, 2009 by Philip in Apple, Digital imaging, Software

As of Monday 24 August we are lowering the price of the Student Subscription edition. For annual subscribers, the subscription will drop from $49 per month to $29 per month. And for students who subscribe on a month to month basis, the price will drop from $69 to $49.

With now up to a further 40% off Creative Suite Design Premium Student Subscription edition, it’s a great time to get students hooked into Adobe products, especially if they have been, um, borrowing a mate’s copy!

This is good news given the apparent lack of support for CS3 for its use under Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
An upgrade to CS4 is now more affordable under this student subscription model.

My Year Without Sex

Posted on 25. May, 2009 by Philip in Digital imaging, Photography

Finally time for the Premiere release of Sarah Watts new film “My Year Without Sex”

Petrina did the graphic design for the graphic slides that appear throughout the film. Much stuffing around with dog biscuits and the like in the photographic studio for quite a few weeks but the result was worth it.

If you haven’t seen it yet book now and get along for a delightful story set in the West of Melbourne.

Read a review online at The Age.

Or get online to visit the official site.

Google Street View hits in Australia

Posted on 05. Aug, 2008 by Philip in Big Trousers News, Digital imaging, Photography, Web design

As Street view goes live in Australia I was sent this from Alan in The USA.
It looks like the young bloke was on the way home from school as the Google van went past.

Google Earth gets an update and now has Sun effects.
Our 3D model now can appear as it would look at sunrise.

Download our 3D Google Earth model here

Flickr account

Posted on 16. Nov, 2007 by Philip in Digital imaging

I have found a place to put Pics of Luie on his skateboard so that all his mate can see…
Flickr for Big Trousers page is up for this purpose. Keep an eye on it if you a fan of the things 9 year old boys are up to.

Pixelmator 1.0 released

Posted on 27. Sep, 2007 by Philip in Apple, Digital imaging, Software

The great Photoshop killer Pixelmator was released on Tuesday this week and it packs a punch.
As a 20mb download for $59 US, you can experience how Photoshop should have been made or how it may look in the future. As the worlds first GPU image processor it applies filters almost instantaneously in an interface that looks like something from the future. It is almost identical in layout to Photoshop with a few interesting surprises.
Listen to us discuss pixelmator at PhotoGeek and download the trial now. Available only for Mac OS X.

Ustream give live

Posted on 05. May, 2007 by Philip in Big Trousers News, Digital imaging, Photography, Video, Web design

Released a week or so ago, USTREAM provides a method of streaming live video and audio to a worldwide audience.

According to Cris Pirillo, this is indeed a revolution as it allows bloggers and video bloggers to go live with text chat to their audience. I suppose with Skype you could have live interview and talk back too.

At PhotoGeek.tv we intend to make use of this technology and provide a live video stream while we record audio for the podcast each Tuesday or Wednesday.

Check out the live video page on PhotoGeek left running every now and then from the Big Trousers office.

Reproduction to canvas

Posted on 01. May, 2007 by Philip in Digital imaging, Hardware, Photography

This is a little job for Ringo, an artist from The StKilda Esplanade market.

Ringo wanted to know if we could reproduce from an original oil painting, a color accurate reproduction to canvas using the wide format Epson printer. The 4800 pro uses 100 year archive pigment ink and also is amazing at this sort of reproduction.

Shot with the Canon 5D and imaging on the Mac calibrated using the Huey display calibrator the first print was nearly indistinguishable from the original.

We look forward to the long print runs Ringo….

Export image

Posted on 27. Apr, 2007 by Philip in Digital imaging, Photography

I received an email from a happy client today. Steve lives in Palm Springs and saw my landscape images online after spotting my website.

After some discussion he ordered a print and had it delivered with the intention of getting a custom frame.

Good to see it framed and up on the wall.

Thanks for the email Steve, it’s nice to know the work is appreciated.

Phil,

It has been a long time since I bought this picture from you and you had asked me to send you a photo when I finally got it hung. Well here it is! My camera isn’t that good but I wanted to send it to you anyway. It hangs across from my dining table in a place were all visitors see it. It has been admired by several friends and they all think I spent thousands on it! I spent almost $400us on the frame which is gold with hints of red and looks absolutely amazing and brings out the colors of the picture. I truly love the picture and all your work.

Thanks and best regards from Palm Springs,

Steve L.

RED digital camera and Final Cut Studio 2

Posted on 16. Apr, 2007 by Philip in Apple, Digital imaging, Software

Having read about the details regarding Apple Final Cut Studio 2 and looking at some of the video online I have to say it was a surprise that this suite has moved so quickly to embrace new controls and new formats.

The impressive videos including the Cohen brothers talk about “Color” shows the new color matching tools that looks to me to combine well with FCP and Motion to give total freedom in a color sense to any filmmaker.

Most surprising was the format for 4K, REDCODE by new camera manufacturer Red. Described in a piece online, Red provides a digital format for film makers that is definitely not video, much higher res than HD and much more flexible than high end film. The future is in this format and has been adopted as the standard for the future. Even though I have yet to see a “Red” camera working, the tools to edit are now in Final Cut Pro.

Ava

Posted on 09. Apr, 2007 by Philip in Digital imaging, Web design

I just wanted to see if my little Ava would fit on the page here. Not quite.

Is Virb the new MySpace?

Posted on 23. Mar, 2007 by Philip in Digital imaging, Web design

If you are not sure what that all means then you are possibly not alone.

Virb is the site having just come out of beta that looks to be the new social network site of the age. It is well built and beautiful to look at, unlike MySpace which is as ugly as hell.

This is an example of their advanced image optimisation at work, they do a great job at creating thumbnails and medium sized images from your originals.

This is a page I have been working on.

Virb also allows you to upload video, audio, iTunes® playlists, etc. You can even create and write your own blog. It looks to be everything you need in one place. I don’t think it will be long before someone offers a few Billion dollars for this site.