This weekend marks the 2010 edition of the 24 hours of Daytona, which is usually a dead sports weekend, with the break between the NFL division championships and the Super Bowl. And unlike many other types of auto racing, the 24 hours of Daytona gives you access and stories no other race or sporting event can offer.

If you are new to the idea of 24 hour auto races, or endurances races like the Dakar Rally or the Baja 1000; there are some concepts you need to understand before you tune in. First, the press outside of racing really doesn’t cover these events. They are off the map for many people in America, which mean there is not a ton of glory and fame for winning these events. Second, they don’t pay a ton of money. Many of the drivers at the 24 hours of Daytona do not drive full time, they have day jobs that may have nothing to do with racing. Third, they are grueling events. While drives can’t drive more more than 4 – 6 hours, depending on event rules, the pit crews get little to no sleep and have to be ready at a moments notice to fix or repair a car so it can keep running. This tells you that all the participants are beyond passionate about racing.

Many teams that enter these types of races, like Daytona or LeMans, never have a chance of winning the thing. They work for months to scrape money and resources together and go to these events just to see if they can do it. Can they drive day and night, in all sorts of weather, fixing all sorts of problems so vast, they couldn’t think of them all if they tried, and still manage to finish the race? Some of the best images come from the garage as the pit crew runs around the car, trying to fix it and get through the final hours to the finish. Many a car crosses the finish line, a mere shadow of its former self.

And what is even more odd, especially in this day of the proffesional sports athelete, is who races in these events. While many are drives who are a part of the series, there are also many major named drives from other disciplines, that you may know. What makes the 24 hours of Daytona special, is that it is one of the few races of its kind that takes place in the off season of the other race schedules. The field is full of Indy and NASCAR series drivers, who just want to race. There are no commitments for them to fulfill, they are there to drive, to race and maybe if everything falls into place, to win a race that you may have never even heard of.

Sam Hornish Jr., left, and Helio Castroneves, center, have 4 Indy 500 wins between them.

That is what is fantastic about the 24 hours of Daytona. Everyone there, from drivers and their crews, to the fans, are at this race because of a passion and love of racing.

Now if you are looking to break out of your mold as a photographer and cover a major event, then the 24 hours of Daytona is for you. It does not cost a lot of money to get into the event. You can get into the event, including the garage areas, for $85 for the entire 4 days of the event. I think parking was $10 each time you entered the track, which surprised me. Imagine getting into the Super Bowl for that kind of money, hell I think food at Yankee Stadium is more than that.

Once you are there, you have all sorts of chances to make great actions shots, portraits, editorial work, and even great landscapes. The venue is so large that there is a lake inside the track. You biggest hurdle you may face is having enough memory cards and batteries to make it through the entire race.

But what makes the 24 hours of Daytona different than any other event, including a NASCAR race, is total access. Other than the pits and the track itself, you can go just about anywhere you want, while the race is going on. You can’t get right to the edge of the track, but you can get real close.

The first great thing of the 24 hours of Daytona is that before the race, in the early morning, they host a run/walk type race that goes around the entire track. Most walk the track, stopping to take pictures. I showed up early with my Mother, and Claudia and we walked up the banking to turn four, sat down, took some pictures and watched the sun rise over the track. Most baseball fans will never set foot on the grass at Fenway or Wriggly field.

Another event, before the race, that took me completely by surprise is that they parade the cars down pit lane and let everyone down on the track, and the infield, to get closer to the cars and the drivers. There are no security guards or roped off areas. Many drivers are there, signing autographs and posing for the endless amount of camera phone pics. You can’t sit on the field when they call out the standing lineup for the World Series, hell, you can even do that for spring training.

Once the race starts, you can walk around the entire track, go from infield to grand stands. What gave me great access, was the community of people that attend this event, in some cases staying there for weeks to catch all the motor events at Daytona. So many people brought their RVs, busses, and motor homes and all of them are camped out on top of their roofs, watching the race. I made the rounds of the track asking each owner if it was OK to jump on the roof, which no one said no to my request. To my surprise I found large groups of people on top, sometimes with couches and easy chairs to watch the race. It is an amazing collection of people from all sorts of walks of life. Some RVs are simply rentals, while other buses cost more than my house and everything in it. Outside of the track, they may never cross paths in their day to day life, but at Daytona they are all part of the same fan base.

From the roofs of the RVs, I could see almost the entire track and get great angles that I had never seen before. The elevated view also gave me shots that I think members of the press where missing, plus they didn’t have access to these great fans and the occasional free beer offer.

Of course the 24 hours gives you access to all times of the day, like sunrises and sunsets during the race, which make for amazing images. They even do a full fireworks show at 10 pm.

If you are thinking making the trip, this weekend or next year, you may want to take the following gear:
Camera, batteries and some long glass. I used my 100-400mm lens for most of my daylight images. You may also want to rent a 400 or 600mm lens.
Tripod for those sunset and sunrise images and some serious wide glass to capture the entire layout of the track.
Comfortable shoes and sock. This one was learned the hard way by yours truly. My feet were so torn up; I looked like an old man as I walk through the airport the next day.
It will rain, count on it. You want good rain gear for you and your gear. At least a few garbage bags should be on you. If you don’t have an RV, you will have trouble finding cover.

I am no mechanic, but that doesn't look good.

One last item that I picked up before the race was the Think Tank photo Speed Belt and Harness. This piece of gear allowed me to carry all of my lenses, flashes, cards and batteries around that track, without having to carry a bag of the shoulder. That is huge when you are climbing up and down ladders on RVs. The Think Tank system has become my go to item when I am going out the door to shoot any event. And as I mentioned earlier, I was able to get into the pits, because most security guards think you are press with all of that gear strapped to your body. The two guards on post let me stick my head in and shoot for a bit.

I can go on and on about how great the 24 hours of Daytona is from a race fan and photographers point of view. Going is not only fun, but a true adventure that has an energy that is shared by everyone involved. Not only is the event amazing to watch, but with the price to get in, very cheap to cover. And while I can’t make it out to Florida this year, I will be glued to my TV, planning my next trip, dreaming of endless nights of sleep, screaming fans and the sounds of engines.

Many photographers have models or locations that they use when trying new techniques or gear. Dream was my muse, and the look she would give me when a box would arrive from B&H was priceless. I am surprise the neither one of my dogs has problems with their eyes because of all the hits they have taken from Speedlights and strobes over the years. While my younger dog Yoshi didn’t mind having his photo taken, Dream was a true model.

Dream was my second Siberian Husky, a gift from my dog’s breeder. She had been purchased by a girl who simply tied her up in the backyard and left her there. Once my breeder had found out, she rescued the dog and called me to see if I wanted a second dog in the house. I had paid a lot of money for my first Siberian, Ramius, and the chance to have a second dog for free, was one I could not pass up. I had always wanted a second dog, and I knew I could give her a good home.

Dream posing as always. A bit soft, yet one of my favorite images.

I had decided to name my new dog Dream for many reasons, but on looking back on her life, we had always joked that we should have named her Nightmare. In a matter of a week, my “free” dog had eaten most of my mothers roses, destroyed a very expensive back door and a started to eat a brand new wooden gate on a new fence. There was not a material on the planet that Dream would not try to eat.

But behind all of that terror was natures best defense mechanism, the “so damn cute” shield. When Dream wanted to be, she was an angel, and a joy to photograph. It took little to get Dream to pose and stand still for the camera; she wanted to be in front of the camera. She was a Diva.

Dream was also loud, she howled all the time, and she walked very fast, which shook the house. She could even drink water and eat loud, which I still have no idea how she did that. Now with her gone, our home is so quite. It is now empty, it is a vacuum.

Dream could also be mean, this is the face she gave my other Husky, Yoshi, when he tried to get on of her treats.

She also had her share of medical conditions, which we could never explain. He mother and siblings all had great health, but then again she was a rescue and we are not sure as to what was done to her as a puppy. I spent many hours at the vet, and I thought more than once that I was going to have to say goodbye much sooner than I did.

But for all the destruction, noise and vet bills, Dream was a great dog. She knew when you were down or sick, loved to be close to people and like all Huskies, loved to run and be outside. There was such joy and love with Dream, more than one can expect from a dog. Guest and friends were taken back with how gentle and loving she could be. We think because of her abandonment, that she would always lie on guest’s feet to make sure they would not leave.

As Dream grew older, she began to have more and more health issues and in the past year she began to lose weight and have stomach issues. The vet was not really sure what was wrong with her, and we did not want to put her through anymore painful procedures or trying to chase down a condition with medication, hunting for something that could or could not be fixed. She was happy, sung for her dinner and enjoyed causing all the havoc that she could. At times she would get ill, largely due to getting into something we thought we had closed, emptied or cleaned up. But if there was something that Dream should leave alone, she would find it, open it and devour it. I think she was some master thief in a former life, cracking safes and making off with the Queens Jewels. Our lives revolved around making sure we were at the house more than we were out. We couldn’t leave her outside due to the skills she had as a career criminal, but we couldn’t leaver her inside for many hours due to all of her stomach issues. The schedule of our lives, down to the last detail, revolved around this diva and thief, posing as a dog.

One of my best days as a photographer. New gear, fresh snow, and dogs that know how to make the most of both.

In the past she might eat a sock that had dropped on the floor, or get into a wastebasket that we hadn’t emptied, and be sick because of it for a few days. But this Tuesday, she was not only sick, but also sick for no reason and suffering. We had made a deal, that if Dream was happy and not in pain, we would let things take their course. Tuesday was different, Tuesday was pain, blood, and a look in the eye of wanting peace. I had read a long time ago that many dogs try to leave and die by themselves and Dream had wanted to go outside for two days before. Her energy and drive gone, it was clear to us that it was time.

When I was taking an EMT class, I had to do rotations in hospitals as part of my certification. On my first night I had watched a family gather around their father and watch him die from a stroke. That moment has always stuck with me. Such a horrible thing, death, but then in the same instance, the love and support of family gathered to ease the pain and bring comfort to a loved one.

So it was with me on Tuesday, January 12th, at 12:55, holding my beloved dog that had brought me so much, joy, pain, anger, love and beauty. Feeling her last breath and petting her as she left. I can’t explain the pain and sadness that was in the room. Both Claudia and I knowing that the right decision had been made, but hating that it had to be done.

I feel very torn at writing this post, because like so many, we saw the terrible tragedy that had happened in Haiti, as we came home from the vet’s. As we tried to deal with our loss, we saw reports of an entire nation broken, and in pain. Thousands of people are dead, many trapped. The living, begging for the simplest of things, and I am broken over the loss of my dog. It is always in times like these that teaches me how lucky I am, at this moment, to have a roof over my head, clean running water and food on my table. So many at this moment cannot say that now.

So it is a true gift that I had Dream in our life. Many have asked why have a dog, knowing that you will outlive it them. My answer is simple. Unconditional love. In that finite amount of time, our pets show us love, and that time with them is so precious. We waste that time at jobs, malls, standing in line, instead of spending that time doing the things we love. Dream showed me that I should not waste that time. That we should find the simple joy in a walk in the park, laying in the sun and playing with the simplest of objects. Our pets teach us not to squander that time, they remind us the joy of the simplest of things. It is a lesson I have had to learn the hard way, a lesson taught to me on the floor of a vet’s office.

Dream you were the greatest gift a person could ever asked for. The void left in our hearts in your passing can never be filled. You will be missed and always loved.

Komet's Reoccurring Dream April 1997 - January 2010

Of course we in the states will soon be sitting down to dinner with our friends and families for Thanksgiving. While this is my first Thanksgiving post, it is also the first time I have really taken inventory of what I should be thankful for.

In the realm of photography, I am thankful for auto focus, increase ISO and high def video on DSLRs. I am also very thankful for the skills I have learned in the past year when it comes to working with video on DSLRs and small flashes by both Canon and Nikon.

But, in this economic climate I am very aware and thankful to still be employed in these tough times. While my house is so underwater I think Poseidon will be the only person that could do a refinance, I am so happy to have a home and be able to pay the bills every month. I hope that you are not drowning in these times and you are able to keep your head above water.

I am also very thankful for my students I have had over the past year. Thank you so much for attending class and letting share my knowledge of graphics design and photography with you. I am also very thankful for all the things that you have taught me. I am a better designer and photographer because of you. May all of your images be in focus and well composed.

But most of all I am thankful for the love and time I have had with my family, my wonderful girlfriend and our two crazy huskies, Dream and Yoshi. We have broken all the rules on the American nuclear family and had a blast doing it. It has been a very tough year for us, with many different and odd challenges, but we have made it through it and I am so much better for it. I look forward to our future together.

I hope your time with you family goes well. If you can’t make it home, I hope you are with friends. And if you cannot be with friends, I hope you make new ones. To all the men and women severing our country overseas, and to their families, I wish you a speedy return to your loved ones and a safe and healthy future.

So be safe during this holiday season. I hope you travel plans go well, don’t eat too much, or get trampled by the crowds at the stores. I thank you for reading the blog and I wish you the best in the future.

Sorry to make this short, I think I smell something burning.

Put that in your pipe and smoke you Orange County brats!

So in a state known for legalized prostitution, gambling and bars that never close, it was the greatest to be a kid from Nevada. Of course over time, we changed the state law that instead of the 31st being the day off we got from school, they moved it to a 3-day weekend, which took some of the punch out of Halloween.

Because it was a state holiday, the capital would hold a parade on the 31st and to make sure the kids in the city attended, they did Halloween the day before, on the 30th. Many kids would con their parents to make the short 30-mile drive, so they would get candy two nights in a row.

You can keep all the professional ball teams and your museums New York; I will take two nights of Halloween any day. Sure our dental plans needs work and I have seen more than my fare share of people try to double down on the buffet, but you have to take the good with the bad.

Plastic Army men, one of the coolest costumes of the night. They kept me safe from the Zombies

While I am still a kid at heart, as a grown up I can’t go around trick and treating without the cops being called, so I do what any other grown up does, go downtown and run with the zombies. There is a chance of infection and the need to eat brains for the rest of your life, but the upswing is that you can get cheap beer while you ride out the apocalypse.

With a chance to photograph zombies; I feel the need to grab the cameras and risk life and limb for a few good shots. So I assembled my zombie kit, Canon 5D, 7D, a few lenses and some Canon Speedlights. But I know what you are a thinking, shouldn’t I have taken a shotgun and a machete?

The secrect to a healthy zombie relationship is sharing.

I haven’t had much chance to use my new Canon 7D, dealing with some sort of cold/swine flu and all. But I figured the zombies might be a good first subject to shoot with the camera. I also wanted to try the new built in flash with flash control on the camera. Plus I also wanted to try out the video function of the camera.

I first have to say that the 7D performed well, the ability to focus in low light was superior to my 5D. I did have some issues with using the built in flash to command my external Speedlights, I am going to do some more experimenting first, so I can make a more accurate report in a later post.

The zombie bride and groom.

I did also do some minor video recording. I didn’t spend too much time working with the video function of the camera due to only having one battery and it being so cold outside, I was worried of running out of juice before the end of the event.

So I managed to get through the night without turning into a zombie and made some fun pics of my fellow Nevadans enjoying their state holiday, Halloween and some fine drinks in costume. I can’t wait for Christmas, we do the same thing, but dress as Santa, minus the zombies.

Possibly the scariest thing I saw all night long. The Telatubbies are back!

I have owned, and used, many cameras, both Canon and Nikon, digital and film. But this camera seems to have its act together more than any other. Not since the Nikon F100 have a run across a camera that has such great features at a reasonable price point.

When I switched from Nikon to Canon a few years ago, I had some buyer’s remorse. While I love the features of the 1D Mark II, I never really liked the ergonomics of the Canon compared to my past Nikons. My next Canon purchase was the 5D Mark II, a camera which I have fallen in love with and taken many, at least I think so, great frames. But once again, not a big fan of the location of the buttons and the camera never felt right in my hand. I was also discovering the Nikon CLS system with my daytime job’s Nikons and found that my Canons were lacking.

But in the Canon 7D I have found solutions to my wishes for my next Canon body.

The are four areas that stand out as I have used this camera for the first 24 hours:

Ergonomics and Build Quality

Right out of the box, I can tell that the 7D is built better and fits my hand, unlike the 5D, which always felt a bit cheap and underwhelming. While I am still not in love with the layout and location of the Canon’s buttons, I am certainly smitten. The camera feels solid in my hand and I feel that Canon has done their homework on this camera. Much comparison has been made between the 7D and the 5D Mark II, and while I have worked with the 5D Mark II, and loved its image quality. I have to say that I felt that Canon had short changed photographers by not making any design changes to the camera, inside or out. Sure you have video and more mega pixels, but all of the features, including the dreaded auto focus, are still the same.

There is a method to the madness of the designers at Canon in regards to the 7D. I can find all of the buttons with ease and the newly added button and switch combo unit to toggle between live view and video recording is much needed and appreciated. Until the 7D, neither Canon nor Nikon had a good way to toggle between looking through the viewfinder and using live view.

The new video/live view selector switch on the Canon 7D

Sensor Quality

Probably the biggest issue with the 7D is the size of the sensor. Unlike the 5D Mark I and II, this camera’s sensor is not full frame. Some who have used the Mark II for shooting video have pointed out a bit more noise and a loss of the nice soft depth of field that you get when shooting wide open on lenses with 1.2 maximum aperture. While I don’t like going back to the cropped sensor, I do not find myself needing super wide-angle lenses to get the shots that I take. If there is a valid complaint about the 7D, this is it. But the actual sensor is amazing and the images and video are breath taking. Does the 5D Mark produce bigger and better images, yeah, but not by much and in the realm of video, the quality of the 5D’s sensor is offset by the fact that the 7D can shoot is 24 frames per second and 29.97 FPS. This means you don’t have any crazy sound syncing issues with external recorders or other cameras on a video project.

If you are going to buy a DSLR camera just for the video, and money is not an issue, then the 5D is probably your camera. But if you are going to be shooting stills as well, then the 7D’s sensor is perfect.

Auto Focus and Metering Modes

Canon has had nothing but problems when it has come to auto focus in the last few camera lines. The 1D Mark II was a disaster and while the 5D was not really designed to be a sports or action camera, it’s auto focus it low light situations was terrible.

The 7D is much more improved in the area of auto focus. In my limited time working with this camera, I feel that the 7D’s auto focus is as good if not better than the 1D Mark II that I own. The new zone selection for auto focus is great, and helps you isolate the area of the frame where most of the action is happening. Low light focusing makes the 7D stand out, and the speed of the focus is much better that either the Mark I or II of the 5D.

The camera also seems, but I haven’t really put it through the paces, to do a better job of metering complex lighting situations. Even through my 1D Mark II was older and had more noise than the 5D, I always like how the 1D performed with metering. The 7D gives me the best of both worlds.

Flash Control

For me it is a toss up on what feature is number one of the list of must haves for the 7D, HD video recording or the ability to wirelessly control Canon Speelights without having to have a flash, or a remote commander, in the hot shoe of the camera.

Now this is nothing new for my fellow Nikon shooters out there. In fact my biggest regret on switching sides was leaving behind the commander mode that was available on models like the D90, D200 and the mighty D700. Just use that little pop-up flash on the camera to send a signal out to your external Speedlights and now you can switch power settings, go between TTL and Manual modes, make all of the same adjustments you could with a 580EX plugged into the hot shoe. While it is not ground breaking in camera technology, it is the only camera in Canon’s line that has this option. I am sure it will not be the last.

Since you don’t have to “burn” a flash in the hot shoe of the camera, you are actually saving yourself $400 by not having that flash on the camera. There is a downside to using the pop-up flash for triggering the external Speedlights, when you turn the camera to capture a portrait position you may be blocking the Speedlights from seeing the pop-up flash. You also need to ditch the lens hood on many of your lenses since it can block the flash from coming from the pop-up.

The new menu control for wireless flash control for the Canon 7D

What is Missing?

Not ever camera is perfect, there is always something missing from what comes out of the box. The biggest issue with the 7D is that the sensor is not full frame and produces more noise than the 5D. Once again a compromise on Canon’s part and I don’t see it being a big deal.

While I am so happy about Canon adding control to external Speedlights through the pop-up flash, but Canon still needs to change how their TTL system works. I, and so many others, want individual EV control over all three groups rather than ratio. I do most of my work in the manual mode, but I would love to be able to dial in EV compensation on my groups like I can on my Nikon gear at work.

Conclusion

As I mentioned at the start of this post, I think this is probably Canon’s best camera for the money and the features offered, some of those features I haven’t even talked about, like 8 frames per second still capture.

So if you were on the fence on buying a new Canon body or thinking about dipping your toes in the video DSLR revolution, the new 7D is probably your next camera.

This is something you can do as photographer, but not something you can get away with as a video editor. You computer is rendered to a useless piece of metal when you are editing video, all of it’s weaknesses and flaws show up and you feel empty as you watch yet another progress bar crawl across the screen.

I have two Mac Pro systems that I had been editing the footage in Final Cut Pro and both where chocking on the native H.264 encoded footage. Even opening the project was taking several minutes and rendering effects or transitions would have to be done when I had time to take a break.

There was also the issue of using PluralEyes to sync up my different camera footage and my separate audio files taking far too long to complete. All the demos of the software showed me that I was doing something wrong, as it was taking them seconds and it was taking me minutes.

I would love to tell you that I have found a secret sauce for my problem, that you can punch in settings into Final Cut Pro and you get perfect looking footage, but this issue seems to be of great debate on every forum. However, there is a silver lining to this debate, and that is my tests have returned good to great results.

On the footage that I have shot, I have settled on converting my 5D Mark II footage to the Apple ProRes422 codec using the Batch Convert in Final Cut Pro. I have read about people also using ProRes422HQ and the new ProRess422LT found in the newest version of Final Cut Pro. I didn’t go with the HQ version of ProRes because I have tried it in the past and found the increase system requirements didn’t produces a quality that justified the strains on my system. And since I haven’t made the upgrade to the latest version I haven’t had a chance to try out the LT version of ProRes.

Once I have my footage converted, my computer behaves like it did when I was editing DV or HDV footage. Renders, exporting and saving happen in a normal time span and PluralEyes runs like you see on those video tutorials.

Converting footage is like taking prescription drugs, there are bound to be side effects to cure your problem, in this case there are two. No matter what flavor of ProRes or other type of codec you settle on, or program that you use, there is a wait for the converting to finish. In some cases my footage from a days worth of shooting would take several hours. To compensate for this, I did my converting while I was sleeping so it is done by breakfast.

The second side effect is that the converted files are much larger than the originals. For example, a 410MB file jumped to 1.4GB in size. I have no doubt that if I tried ProRes LT or another type of conversion I would have a smaller file size, but with hard drives being cheaper and cheaper, and the results living up to my standards, I stayed with the standard ProRes.

If you don’t own Final Cut or you are on a PC, give MPEG Streamclip from Squared 5 a try. Their conversion process is faster than Final Cut, and it has the best feature found on all computer programs, it is free. It comes highly recommended from Philip Bloom, who’s blog has become a must read for me during this learning process.

Unless you have some sort of super computer or server farm available to you for your video editing needs, I recommend converting your footage first, before trying to edit, you will save hours of time.

Since the conference is held at Mandalay Bay, I will use that as reference for any directions around town I give you.

The Basics: Food and Drink

If you are new to Vegas, or the last time you went to Vegas Sinatra was still playing the Sands, get ready for some serious sticker shock. You used to be able to get a great meal for almost nothing in any casino on the strip. While the economy has brought Vegas back to reality, it is still pretty pricy for a meal. If you eat in a major property on the strip, you are going to pay more than you would if you get off of the strip. The good news is you only need to go a few block off the strip in any directions to find a good meal for a fair price.

If you head south about a mile or so, past the Welcome to Vegas Sign and the Airport, on Vegas Boulevard you will find your normal chain food restaurants, like IHOP and Chilies. There is also a Whole Foods just a few blocks south of the Mandalay Bay, which is great for those turned off at every meal in Vegas that includes meat.

For more chain restaurants off of the strip, head a few blocks east to Paradise Rd and you will find PF Changs and Gordon Birsch Brewery, just to name a few.

If you do not have a rental car, it may be a bit difficult to get to these places, but you can cab it. The restaurants on Paradise Road are right across from Terribles Casino and cabs run in and out of there, so it will be easy to get back to your hotel. Terribles, while sounding a bit ironic, is also a good alternative place to stay if you are looking to save a buck on your hotel room bill.

Money is no object and you are looking for a great meal? Then you are in luck, because the Casino’s on the strip offer just about everything for every great chef in the world. It is pretty insane the quality of food and the price you can pay, but if you are curious, here are some great places to eat.

For great Mexican food, at a pretty affordable price, I can’t recommend Dos Caminos enough. Located in The Palazzo on the North end of the strip, near the Wynn and Treasure Island. The food is amazing, the guacamole is to die for, and the design of the place is just too cool.

Red meat lovers will have no problem finding a good steak on the strip. In my journey I have found The Capital Grille in the Fashion Show mall to have the best place to get a steak or any other cut of read meat. I also like the Maggiano’s Little Italy one floor down from the grill. There is also a mighty food court in the mall as well.

Closer to the Mandalay Bay is the Red White and Blue café in the casino and close to conference. The food is good for breakfast and lunch. I also like the Burger Bar located in the shop area of the Mandalay Bay for lunch.

Don’t mind a short walk? Then run across the street from Mandalay Bay and you can find Panda Express and McDonalds.

On the issue of water. Vegas tap water is the worst. I am sure there is water coming out of the taps in “third world” nations that tastes better than the city water. I am not a bottled water guy, but in Vegas I highly recommend going for bottle water. The dark secret of Vegas is if you buy water with a casino label on it, you are drinking the cities water. If you buy water, buy a known label. The cost of water is very expensive in the casino. If you have a rental car or access to someone with a car, drive off of the strip, get a case of water and any other beverages that you need and store them in your room. Your wallet will thank you.

Staying in Vegas

While the conference is happening over the weekend, you may be able to still find a good deal on a room in Vegas. Both the Luxor and Excalibur have a tram that runs to the Mandalay Bay and their rooms are usually cheaper than Mandalay Bay. I do like the rooms at Mandalay Bay over most other casinos, but money is tight these days and you may just like the smaller room for a smaller price.

Hotels like the Tropicana and the Orleans are not as nice as other Vegas casinos, but deals can be had at both. The Tropicana is close to the Mandalay Bay and you can hope on the tram from the Excalibur to get to conference quickly. The Orleans is a cab ride distance away, factor in spending money on cab fare into savings plan, you may find a room closer to the conference may be more, but cab fare may make the total price more than staying at closer properties and not having to cab it.

Getting the Most Out of PSW

If this is your first time going to Photoshop World, you might find the schedule and amount of classes going on to be a bit confusing. I find the conference confusing at times and can get lost in all of the classes offered, and I have gone over 7 times.

Last year I used Dave Cross’ Photoshop Planner to help me layout what classes I wanted to attend on one piece of paper, instead of looking at a tri-fold or the large phone book that contains the notes for the workshop. The planner allows you to select the classes you want to go to as well as a second-class option if your first class is full or not what you were expecting. Having the planner made my experience so much easier and I highly recommend it for anyone attending.

There are several tracks for you to follow at Photoshop World, but I also encourage you to break out of those tracks and learn a little about other areas you may not currently use or work in. I also try to watch sessions with certain instructors, regardless of what they are teaching. I recommend checking out Ben Willmore, Scott Kelby, Chris Orwig and Russell Brown. Their sessions are always great regardless of subject matter. I also recommend checking out at least one session on the video track, it is not secret that this is a growing skill set needed in the design community.

You will be walking quite a bit, so a good pair of shoes is a must, plus get yourself a good bike messenger bag or backpack to put your conference workbook and all the swag a freebies you will pick up on the trade show floor. I also recommend bringing a light jacket, sweater or hoodie, since the rooms can get cold for many. Don’t forget that water you bought earlier.

Some things at Photoshop World you are just going to miss, you cannot be everywhere at once, but there are some things you don’t want to miss. First on the list is The Art of Digital Photography, Friday night at 7:15. Even if you are not a photographer, you will get a creative shot in the arm listening to these photographers talk about their craft. Right after that is Midnight Madness, which I went to for the first time last year. Yes it is late at night, yes you have to stand in line early in the morning to get a ticket, and yes you will have a great time.

Like all workshops or conferences, the biggest and best part of Photoshop World will be the people you meet, either again or for the first times. The instructors at Photoshop are experts, but your fellow attendees may have answers to the same headaches and problems that you have had. I always take away loads of great information from the instructors at Photoshop World, but I also have one or two gems from the attendees as well.

I highly recommend getting a Twitter account and following people like AJ Wood, Syl Arena, Richard Harrington, Brad Moore, Drew Gurian, Joe McNally, RC Concepcion, David duChemin and anything with PSW in the text area.

So while I will not be able to meet anyone reading this in Las Vegas, I hope this guide helps and you have a great time, meet great people and learn more than you thought you could. Have a great PSW!

Bruce Sharpe, who is the CEO of Singular Software, the maker of PluralEyes, let me know that some of the issues I had with version 1.0 of the software had been fixed in the version 1.1, currently in beta. The biggest fix is the ability to use PluralEyes on clips with in and out points. I have not had a chance to test this myself, but I did want to pass on this updated information. I will do a test and let you know how it goes in a future post.

Bruce also has a blog called the 25 Hour Day. It is worth a read, since he has many tutorials and video clips on using PluralEyes. Two posts stand out, one on syncing audio from a external recording device and multiclip editing in Final Cut Pro.

Thanks for all the emails and comments.

M.D.

I knew when I was starting on this project that I would have to change the way I worked with video, compared to working with DVCAM and HDV formats that I was used to working on. First was the shift from tape to a solid-state media, which means I no longer have a tape backup of my footage that I have shot. Since I am not capturing off of tape, I need all that footage on the CF cards put on the computer, so I need more hard drive space. But what I found was that the tape issue would not be close to the biggest problem I would run into.

The second and biggest issue that I have run into is the syncing of the audio and separate cameras that we used in shooting this project. At most times, I had two, and sometimes three 5D’s recording at the same time. No matter what type of video format your are recording to, the more cameras you are using, the more problems you may have when you are working post and editing your footage. This is where the 5D shows it’s amateur side of recording video. Every other type of video camera lays down time code, so you can keep track of when events happen and also help with capturing footage. The other plus is you can set the time code to keep running, even when you are not recording. This allows for multiple cameras to be set to the same time code, so you can switch between multiple camera angles with little problems. Since the 5D has no time code, you can sync up cameras as easy as normal video cameras. In fact it very hard to sync up multiple cameras.

Adding to my problems in post, we also recorded audio with another device, since the 5D does a poor job with that as well. That is the only two real cons I can find with this camera.

So for some shoots, I have a total of 4 devices to sync up, with no real solution, other than the use of a clapper, which would be fine if all the cameras and audio devices started at the same time, which they didn’t. This has really put me in the weeds when it comes to editing.

The good thing is that I have found a great solution to this problem, but before I go through that, I do want to point out a few things that should be done to help with this process.

The first thing is that there is no such thing as too much pre-production, which is planning for the non-video lingo speaking public. Have at least a script or a shoot schedule to you know what you need to shoot and when the camera needs to roll. A plan for pre-production is your road map that will carry you through post. Even if the plan is dumped halfway through the post process, you still have some map to veer off from.

Second is test out your gear before you shoot. Syl and I had little time to work with the gear before we started shooting, so getting down a workflow was a bit of a challenge. This of course is an ongoing project, so we have worked through those issues. But you may be using rental gear or something that you have borrowed from a friend. If the gear is relatively new to you, take some time and test out the equipment while you are still working in your pre-production steps.

So what did I do to solve my problems with my gear? Well after a few weeks of banging my head against a wall with this syncing issue I found my own personal editing savior, a program called PluralEyes.

PluralEyes analyzes the audio from your separate devices and syncs them into your timeline. No matter how many devices you have on the timeline, PluralEyes makes quick work of the syncing problems and allows you more time to craft your edit.

Now there are a few downsides to using PluralEyes. It only works on Final Cut Pro, so if you are an Avid or Adobe, you cannot use this product.

The other issues with PluralEyes are more in the realm of how your shoot and edit. I found that when I was shooting my footage, I still needed to have good audio on my external audio recorder as well as my cameras. If you are not recording audio to the camera, or the audio is very low, PluralEyes cannot sync footage unless there are audio tracks for each video track. You may want to attach an external mic to the 5D so you can get good audio to match up to the other cameras and audio gear.

I did also find that PluralEyes did have trouble in windy conditions. The amount of noise going through the mics must confuse the program, but this also might have to do with the fact I had the mic level on the audio recorder turned down too low, so that may have caused the confusion.

I do think that you should try to keep your audio recordings and video recordings the same, so when you are rolling audio, you are also rolling video. This is a bit tougher than it sounds, because if you are doing a tutorial series, you may just need one or the other. If that is the case, make sure to speak into the mic of either device so you have reference when you get into the edit phase of the project.

You should also use some sort of clapper or white board and use it to write down takes and scenes. Make sure you also say what you are recording into the mics of both devices, so you can use the audio to help match up in case PluralEyes can’t. And if possible try to record and stop video and audio at the same time; it will help keep confusion down in the edit.

Speaking of clips, I notice the best way to use PluralEyes is try to keep things small. I was hopping that I could just drag and drop all of my audio and video from a days worth of shooting and watch a blue bar go across the screen with everything put into it’s place once the process was done, I was very wrong. I don’t know if it was because of the quality of my audio, the size of my video files or the fragmentation of audio and video files, but it just didn’t work. Since we would roll audio for a long period of time, I would just try to sync my video to these large audio files, once at a time.

The last major issue with PluralEyes is how it works with and delivers you content. If you have little to no experience editing video, this might not make much sense, but if you are familiar with editing, this may be an issue.

If you have set in and out points and brought content to a timeline for editing and then you expect for PluralEyes to help you to sync up your audio track for the clips you have selected, you are out of luck. PluralEyes helps sync up your source material on a timeline; you cannot have any in and out points marked on any of the clips. So you will have sequences that contain the original material on, and then have to cut and paste clips from these source timelines to your edit timelines. While this is not a big deal for me, some editors will hate this, because it breaks a traditional workflow that has worked for years. No matter how much of a pain it may be, it is still better than trying to match several video and audio clips yourself.

This type of solution is going to be a part of our workflows with DSLRs as long as Canon, Nike, and others, do not have good on board audio recording and controls. That is the bad news, the good news is that heavy pre-production and utilities like PluralEyes will see us through this process until something, and it always does, comes along.

This fall offers a ton of options for your educational needs. To start with, you have Photoshop World in Las Vegas on October 1st-3rd. This is must have for the person who is either wanting to learn all things Adobe, specifically Photoshop and Lightroom, but also the photographer/designer learning everything her or she needs to conquer the digital realm. There are also great sessions on print, web and video design, perfect to cover all your bases in training.

I have been to over 6 PSWs, that is how the hip refers to it, so you know. You are guaranteed to learn a tremendous amount about Photoshop and Photoshop related ideas, but for me it is about the people you will meet. Every year I meet old friends and trade ideas and stories, and I also meet new professionals and learn all sorts of new tricks. I can say enough about the people factor at workshops. Take all the DVDs, books and online training and you will still be short on experience when you don’t have that group of peers to bang ideas off of, you are missing out.

There are even pre-conference workshops offered at PSW, for a more hands on feel for specific topics. Most of those pre-cons are filled up, but there may be something out there for you that you can fit into your learning needs. You also get the much sought after workshop phonebook, with all of the notes from the instructors that are presenting at PSW, so you don’t miss anything.

If you are thinking about going to PSW I recommend signing up sooner than later. If you register before August 28th, you save $100 off of the registration price. I will in the next week do a post in surviving a few days, in my some what native, Las Vegas.

Hanging around thousands of Adobe crazed people not your speed? Then a smaller workshop may just be your cup of tea. There is no shortage of workshops out there to choose from, like Santa Fe and The Julia Dean Workshops.

There is also the Paso Robles Workshops hosted by my friend Syl Arena, so I am biased about them. You can read my impressions of the workshops here. Syl does have a killer October lined up for those looking for a bit of Joe McNally, Canon Speedlites or a Phase One Master class.

Of course I would be out of my mind to not mention my own classes starting in September in Reno, Nevada. We have two, three and six day classes in the major Adobe applications as well as basic digital camera classes and using a DSLR. If you are in the neighborhood of Northern Nevada, check out the side bar for the class schedule and direct links to the classes. Just like the workshops in Paso, we have a small head count, so your time and money are well spent.

Now talking about training in this economy may not be the best subject to bring up when you are looking at the budget, but remember that good training will be bring out creativity and the ability to get projects done more efficiently. Increasing your skills is what will get your through this economy, the idea of doing more with less, or doing more with what you have. Be it improving your Photoshop skills to get projects done or getting more from your photo gear, becoming more efficient will only benefit in the long run.

I look forward to seeing you at conferences or a class.

M.D.