Why Photographers Should Love Google+

A short while ago, I wrote an article titled “Why Photographers Should Love Twitter” detailing the reasons why I love Twitter for interacting with other photographers and how great the community is there. Twitter is still great but everything has changed with the introduction of Google+. I’ve just started looking into Google+ and I’m already hooked. I see more interaction there than I have ever seen on any other social network. I’ve watched people post an image on their feed and within 5 minutes have over 80 comments. Watching the feeds of ‘Google+ Celebrities’ is even more amazing because the feeds update in real time. People like Trey Ratcliff or Darren Rowse can create a post and you can just sit and watch as hundreds of comments start to just pour in.

I’m not sure how to explain this phenomenon, but Google+ is off to a huge start. Within two weeks of launching (and by invite only I might add) Google+ was up to 10 million users. It took Facebook 852 days to accomplish that same feat and Twitter took 780 days. Now surely Facebook and Twitter paved the way for Google+ to be successful to some extent, but this is certainly a stat that can’t be ignored.

Let’s go over some of the key advantages in Google+ and why photographers should be all over this incredible new social media outlet.

Interaction and Community

Read more: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/why-photographers-should-love-google#ixzz1U75Ejoof

Framestore’s heavens and horcruxes

Under visual effects supervisor Andy Kind, Framestore completed the Chamber of Secrets water sims, the heavenly Kings Cross sequence and the final ’19 years later’ shots for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. fxguide talks to senior FX TD Alex Rothwell and lead compositor Christian Kaestner about the work.

Green Lantern: Sony suits up

fxguide talks to several members of the Sony Pictures Imageworks team responsible for bringing many of Green Lantern’s visual effects to the screen.

About the Role of a Sound Engineer

Whether a four-piece rock band or a 100-piece orchestra takes the stage, capturing the nuances of their performance falls to more people than just the performers involved. Their unseen, often uncredited partner is the sound engineer, who must represent the musical act's efforts as distinctively and accurately as possible. Responsible for everything from overseeing the setup of musical equipment to finding the right sound levels for each instrument heard onstage, the sound engineer has a demanding job--one often taken for granted by the audience, but crucial to a successful performance.

1. History

   • Performers have bridled against technical limits since Edison's time, when it became possible to record and reproduce live performances for mass production. The biggest change coincided with the post-World War II transition from big bands and orchestras to smaller, compact, four- and five-piece rock 'n' roll combos. The latter began tinkering with their sound virtually from the start--as the Beach Boys did in 1963, for example, by hiring Sunn to build the first large-scale sound system used for a national tour. Still, from the average rocker's perspective, getting a workable live sound remained a capricious business: Amplification and monitor systems were unpredictable, while placing multiple microphones around drum kits did not become commonplace until the late 1960s.

Time Frame

As the 1970s began, technology advanced sufficiently to permit a separate audio feed for basses, drums, guitars, keyboards and vocals--an innovation that allowed each performer to have his individual performance mixed to his specifications. The Grateful Dead unveiled the best-known of these efforts: the so-called "Wall of Sound," unveiled in 1974, which combined six independent channels through 11 channels to deliver a high-quality, distortion-free experience. Spearheaded by heavy rock groups like the Who, Led Zeppelin and their peers, sound systems grew rapidly in size and scope--making the live engineer, by implication, an increasingly important collaborator in ensuring an unparalleled listening experience for the audience.

Function

• At its core, the sound engineer's job boils down to that of sonic referee--between the individual musicians playing onstage, as well as between the amplifiers, monitors and public-address systems they happen to be using. As if tthat were not demanding enough, the venue's individual quirks must also be taken into consideration. Far from the popular image of a knob-twiddling techno-geek, the engineer must continually adjust overall volumes against individual mix levels, as well as deal with equipment breakdowns, power outages or other technical flaws that can sabotage a performance. Typically, the sound engineer is also responsible for setup, teardown and--if he travels exclusively with a particular band--the configuration of amplifiers and speaker cabinets.

Types

• Sometimes, the sound engineer's job is subdivided by function--depending on how many people are assigned to a band's technical crew. Thus, as his title implies, a monitor engineer looks after the individualized speakers that allow each musician to hear what she plays onstage. Even greater attention to detail is required to ensure a satisfactory sound mix when the musicians are using in-ear monitors, which reduce the risk of hearing loss, yet require even more sonic processing to ensure a proper sound mix. Conversely, the front-of-house (or FOH) engineer adjusts the levels from his own, unique perspective--close to the stage, yet working a mixing console directly from the audience. The FOH engineer also works closely with the musicians and the individual technicians who are assigned to them to make adjustments before and after the performance.

Considerations

• Sound engineering offers plenty of stimulation for the adventurous-minded. The route to becoming a top-flight engineer, though, typically starts in low-paying local venues; that experience can parlayed into work with a rising band from the area, or in larger halls that require a reliable hand at the controls. Practical knowledge is considered the most important route to proficiency (not surprisingly, many engineers are also former or working musicians), while good physical conditioning is needed to keep pace with the demands of pre- and post-show setup and teardown schedules, for which there typically is no overtime clause. Judgment skills and an ability to deal with people are also essential, especially in trying to balance the competing interests of the performers, their technicians and the venue's employees, who typically have differing interpretations of how to achieve a good sound mix.

Read more: About the Role of a Sound Engineer | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_4687697_role-sound-engineer.html#ixzz1S4amLQtb

Going Deeper into X-Men's Origins ( Find out how they created X-Men Prequel)

Find out how they created some new and rebooted super powers for the latest X-Men prequel.

In X-Men: First Class, the origin of the X-Men world is born during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, with Charles Xavier/Professor X (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto meeting and becoming friends and rivals. The VFX challenge was to visually convey the nascent super powers in exciting and diverse ways, including Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Emma Frost (January Jones) and the supper baddie, Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon).

John Dykstra, a legend in the VFX world, of course, is no stranger to comic superheroes (Spider-Man). But, as the visual effects designer, he was faced with some new challenges in turning out 1,150 shots: time and budgetary constraints and collaborating with global vendors (among them Digital Domain, Rhythm & Hues, MPC, Cinesite, Weta Digital, Method Studios and Luma Pictures).

"We had a very collapsed schedule," Dykstra concedes. "It was slightly less than a year and I've never done anything like that before (Spider-Man was frequently two years). It was a unique experience for me and I had my misgivings about it, but I really liked [director] Matthew Vaughn's irreverent approach to Kick-Ass. And one of the things I think that the superhero genre lacks is the ability to poke fun at itself. The characters are self-deprecating and I love the whole idea of it being the '60s. When he talked to me initially, he said he wanted it to have the feeling of a James Bond film, and I think it does. We shot in England in the wintertime, and, of course, this is an iconic American film, so the challenge was to find environments that either echoed the American environment feeling or that could be enhanced to look as though the stuff was shot here. The idea also was not to make a movie that looked like it was shot in the '60s…"

Dykstra got the most creative pleasure out of helping come up with the look of the iconic super powers. "In an odd way, it's like a poem: it wants to capture the essence of what the power is in a simple visual term that everybody can understand," he suggests. "Of course, some are cooler than others, so we ended up creating a very broad range of visual options for these characters, mostly in illustrations, and then we picked through the images we thought were most representative of the powers and who the characters were supposed to be.

"The most challenging thing was to come up with a range of super powers that didn't overlap each other hugely and that we could execute smoothly using Matthew's preference for original photography. We were also constrained by time in terms of preparing things from scratch."

For Shaw, the idea was to convey his ability to absorb energy like a big battery and then unleash it. All of Shaw's scenes were handled by Digital Domain, which principally focused on animating Shaw and handling certain CG environments such as the atrium and mirror room. DD's team consisted of Jay Barton (vfx supervisor), Nikos Kalaitzidis (digital effects supervisor), Bernd Angerer (animation supervisor), Brian Gazdik (effects animation supervisor) and Dan Platt (character modeling lead).

Not surprisingly, the technique for creating CG humans on this one was different from both Benjamin Button andClu: "We only had a few months to do 100 shots," Kalaitzidis suggests. "We used witness cams so all the animation had to be done by hand for Kevin's performance, and he has quite a distinctive walk and swagger. The mirror room was shot on greenscreen and we had to recreate this digital environment with animated versions of Shaw and Magneto as well as CG body doubles to reflect in the mirrors infinitely. In the past, we used mental ray for CG heads, but here we switched to Vray because we had a lot of motion blur and reflections in the mirrors, so we wanted a renderer that could utilize both.

"With Kevin Bacon's head and face, we tried to do all the look dev within the final render, within lighting itself, and then do most of the tweaks in compositing when it came to the reflections," he continues. "So we knew we had to do this out of the box immediately."

For Mystique, Rhythm & Hues (under the supervision of Greg Steele) took her transition to a more sophisticated level, according to Dykstra. "In an odd way, the conceit is that when Mystique was younger she did this transformation in a slightly different way: the scales being slightly longer and the transformation being slightly showier than when she became the more mature Rebecca."

Rhythm & Hues also did Angel's wings (modeled after a dragon fly); however, Emma Frost, which posed another significant challenge. Dykstra says they made her like a faceted crystal as opposed to a piece of glass. "That was tough getting the refraction and reflection just right, and the sharpness of the edges so she was able to move without looking like she was made of jell-o or the polygon model of a human being. It's all algorithms: figuring out how much refraction to mix in, how much reflection to include and how much world noise to include as these facets adjust relative to one another for her to be able to move."

Meanwhile, Havok (Lucas Till) required a particular character arc to his light effect, which was done by Luma Pictures (supervised by Vince Cirelli). "He learns how to master its execution which starts out as rings that go in all directions like a light bulb," Dykstra adds.

Then there's Beast (Nicholas Hoult), which was created by MPC (under the supervision of Nicolas Aithadi). The thing that was unique about it was the lack of time spent studying the transformation," Dykstra offers. And that was Matthew's choice: he chose to make it much more of a cameo. And I think that was successful. Frankly, we've seen those kinds of things happened and a very smart choice on his part."

And what's the big take away on this X-Men prequel?

"There's good news and bad news," Dykstra suggests. "The good news is that we succeeded and I'm proud of the work; the bad news is that we succeeded, which means it will be the standard for how these movies will be made. We were very, very fortunate. We had a director willing to give us responsibility and to trust us to provide him with what he needed, and that decision-making process was collapsed. I hope this doesn't become the norm, but, having said that, I'm sure this will become the norm."

Bill Desowitz is senior editor of AWN & VFXWorld.

How to Photograph a Rainbow

A Rainbow is something that has the power to stop you in your tracks when it unexpectedly appears when you’re least expecting to see one. They’re beautiful – but how do you photograph a rainbow?

Following are a few Rainbow Photography Tips that come to mind – feel free to add your own to comments below:

Find a Rainbow

This is the most obvious but also perhaps the hardest part of the process. Their appearance will depend upon the conditions and they are something that will often happen completely out of the blue. Having said this – you should especially be on the look out for rainbows when you have two elements present – falling/spraying water droplets and bright sunlight. As a result they’re common when a storm is approaching and around waterfalls/sprinklers/fountains.

Backgrounds

As rainbows are not solid objects one of the keys to photographing them is to capture them in front of a background that allows them to stand out as much as possible. Ideally you’ll want to get a background that is uncluttered and if possible one that has darker colors (think dark clouds, mountains etc). While it’s not always possible to change the background – you might find that you’re able to change the angle that you’re shooting from or to focus just upon part of the rainbow that is in front of a good background.

Composition

While rainbows are a beautiful thing – it’s the surrounds that they appear in that make one rainbow photograph really stand out from others. As a result it’s important to carefully think about how you compose your shot when photographing them. Particularly pay attention to the following:

• Positioning – how you position the rainbow (and the rest of the landscape) in your shot is important. Rules like the rule of thirds could be useful when thinking about focal points and leading the eye into your shot.
• End Points of the Rainbow – the point where a rainbow hits the ground/horizon is an important point in any rainbow photograph. This is a natural point of interest so think about where you’ll put it in the frame. You might want to zoom in on this spot or even quickly change your own position so that it lines up with some other object in the scene.
• Zoom/Wide Angle Perspectives - quickly experiment with different focal lengths (if you have different lenses or a zoom). A wide angle lens that captures a full rainbow can give you some wonderful wide vista shots – but don’t forget that zooming right in on a part of the rainbow can also lead to spectacular results. Particularly focus in on any point where the rainbow intersects with any object – or where it begins and ends.

Read more: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photograph-a-rainbow#ixzz1OpxvqXzy

Priest: not your average vampire movie

Director Scott Charles Stewart’s Priest envisions an alternative post-apocalyptic world pitting man against vampire, and spiritual warriors helping to win the war. The effects in the film range from the vampires to whole cities and towns, a baron wasteland and a train battle sequence. fxguide takes a look at just some of the 750 effects shots.

London calling for Pirates 4 at Cinesite

On Stranger Tides is the fourth film in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. This time around Jack Sparrow and Barbossa are searching for the fountain of youth, but so is their foe Blackbeard and his daughter. fxguide talks to Cinesite about their visual effects contribution to the film, which was the studio’s first full stereo 3D project, with the work spanning a carriage chase sequence through London, CG toads and the creation of Barbossa’s peg leg.

Paws, claws and jaws in Attack the Block

In director Joe Cornish’s debut feature film, Attack the Block, a South London teenage gang squares up against an army of invading alien monsters. Stockholm visual effects and animation studio Fido contributed around 100 shots to enhance the on-set creatures. Here's an fxinsider article at fxguide that takes a look at how Fido created CG fur, paws, claws and jaws for the film. Warning: spoilers

MPC on track with Fast Five

The latest incarnation in the Fast & Furious series, Justin Lin’s Fast Five, features a dynamic train heist sequence in which the main characters attempt to steal high performance cars from a speeding train. Shot practically in Arizona, the scene was augmented with visual effects by MPC in Vancouver. fxguide talks to MPC’s VFX supe Guillaume Rocheron.

The latest from Rok!t Studio

Earlier this year fxguide featured the innovative Gulliver’s Travels opening titles by Rok!t Studio. Now fxguide takes a look at their efforts on two recent films – Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family and the Justin Bieber bio Never Say Never – with Rok!t creative director Steve Viola.

Psyop tested to perfection

For ‘Tested To Perfection’, a Castrol TVC for the company’s newly reformulated EDGE motor oil, Psyop was called upon to help create an elaborate test track complete with giant engine parts and a hero made of oil going through its paces. fxguide talks to Jamie Scott (2D lead and co-vfx supervisor) and Tony Barberi (technical 3D lead) about their work on the spot.

Employment opportunities in VFX, 3D sector to rise in India, Right Time to Start a Career

With more and more filmmakers realising the importance of VFX and 3D technology, the industry is expected to grow at 18.5% per annum and would create many employment opportunities.

Co-Founder and chief creative director of Prime Focus Merzin Tavaria told PTI that VFX (visual effects)has has come a long way, not only in terms of technology but also creative innovations.

"Filmmakers are more educated and aware about the ways they can use VFX to achieve their creative vision," he said.

Growing demand for content, increasing investment in training talent, growing comfort of Indian production houses for VFX,continued growth in outsourced work, conversion of 2D to 3D formats and emerging digital platforms are expected to help the industry grow at 18.5% per annum, he said.

According to Delna Dhamodiwala, General Manager -HR, Prime Focus, the employment potential is tremendous in the visual entertainment industry as VFX and 3D are being increasingly embraced by entertainment service providers, be it movies, gaming, television or advertisements.

Increase in demand for VFX and 3D means that the employment opportunities also increase. There is a growing demand for VFX artists right from rotoscopy, compositors, clean up artistes.

The opportunities don't just limit to artists but also management support staff to managing the project workflow and artistes like operations, production staff, HR, marketing and sales.

Many experts see a growing demand for content, increasing investment in training talent, continued growth in outsourced work and increased conversion of 2D to 3D formats, all helping to contribute to the 18.5% growth. Visual Entertainment Services group Prime Focus for instance, are expected to hire between 3,500 - 3,700 people alone this year. 

She said the company is hiring around 3500-3700 people this year.

"This year, the focus will be largely on 2D-3D conversions and VFX. Not only Hollywood, but Bollywood is also going 3D with some movies. VFX has also come a long way, not only in terms of technology but creative innovations. Audiences will be treated to most sophisticated visual effects," she added.

Kick start a Career in Visual Effects with Clusters College For Media & Design.  Register Now : http://tinyurl.com/6gmuj49

Glassworks manipulates metal and builds a baby

fxguide takes a look at the two recent TVCs – ‘Baby’ for the Foundation Against Cancer and ‘Manipulation’ for Audi – featuring visual effects work from Glassworks, completed in Amsterdam and London. fxinsider members can access a making of video for the 'Baby' spot.

How is Apple so good at getting our attention? Anatomy of an Apple email newsletter ::

http://www.flowtown.com/blog/anatomy-ofan-apple-email?display=wide

An Interview with Dhaneesh Jameson on making of Wilson Periera via Cgtantra.com

Born and Brought up in Kerala ( God's Own Country unearthing brilliance in an artist ) the World's inspirations etched on his mind translating into a sketch on his canvas, Dhaneesh today has a story to tell. The story of Wilson Periera!

Dhaneesh Jameson all of 26, his thoughts meandering towards Dark humor, has won several accolades for One Fine Friday. Again to prove his mettle at handling the melancholic with subtle wit, he is on the threshold of bringing Wilson Periera to light. Here is a little chit chat that we had with him and he pours out his travels in conveying yet another interesting story. Here's to Wilson Periera and the artistic wilderness of Dhaneesh's talent.

We are waiting to watch the entire film, the film that allured Naseeruddin Shah, Tom Alter, Mohanlal and made them give voice overs for the protagonist! 

To view complete article, interview and clip , follow the link http://www.cgtantra.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=458&Itemid=40

31 Mind Blowing VFX Breakdowns

31 VFX breakdowns that are sure to inspire you.
http://ae.tutsplus.com/articles/31-mind-blowing-vfx-breakdowns/

Aiding the invasion in Battle: Los Angeles

In Battle: Los Angeles, the Californian city once again finds itself under attack from alien invaders. Visual effects supervisor Everett Burrell and an army of effects artists wrought havoc on the city as well as realizing the other-worldly warriors. Here's an article at fxguide and an fxinsider interview on Cinesite's smoke rings.

Fractal zooms and other side effects in Limitless

fxguide talks to Look Effects and Comen VFX about creating the fractal zooms and out-of-body moments in Limitless, designed as an inside glimpse to the power of a new fictitious wonder drug.

How To Start Your Own Graphic Design Studio... Freelancer to Entrepreneur

The decision to go from worker bee to your own boss is often very scary. Most new entrepreneurs in this field begin while doing "freelance" work on nights and weekends. This is most always the first step to test the waters and see if you can truly be your own boss. The switch from nighttime freelancer to full-fledged design entrepreneur can be a scary transition, but is a necessary step to becoming a success.

Not every designer has what it takes to make it on his or her own. If you are starting your own business because you want to escape responsibility, you should seriously rethink this decision. The world of an entrepreneurship, while free and glamorous to onlookers, is often riddled with long days and often-uncomfortable tasks.

When starting out on your own, you will be responsible for making sales, dealing with clients, accounting, billing, and a number of other tasks. If you prefer to design and not have direct contact with clients, you will be better suited to work for someone else. On the other hand, if you are driven and motivated to make your business work at all costs, the world of entrepreneurship will be a good fit for you.

Here are a few tips that will make your transition from "in-house designer" to "entrepreneur" as painless as possible.

#1 Business Name

Pick a professional name for you business. The key here is to make yourself appear larger than you actually are. Even if you are working from a cramped desk in your bedroom, you will want to create the illusion of being a larger company. Clients want to work with established businesses and there is often a stigma that is associated with home based businesses.

#2 Marketing Materials

You are a designer, so the first impression that you leave with prospective clients is going to have a big impact on your success or failure. Make sure to design professional business cards and have them professionally produced.

#3 Start Networking

Join business-networking organizations in your community. You will meet and get to know other business people who may be a great source of potential business referrals. Most designers, and most people for that matter, are not comfortable with cold calling. While sometimes necessary, a good amount of cold calling can be replaced by good old-fashioned relationship based selling or word of mouth marketing. So get out there, network, form relationships, and watch your business grow.

#4 Price Competitively

Make sure to start out with a fair pricing structure. Most designers starting out on their own price themselves way below their competitors. Be confident and know what your services are worth. Research other firms in your market and price yourself accordingly. You should be charging anywhere between 50 to 100 dollars per hour, depending on the market. If you are charging less than 50 dollars per hour, your business will be destined to fail from the onset.

#5 Get A Website

Most of your potential clients and referral partners are going to want to see samples of your work. A company website is the easiest way to show your portfolio off. If you aren't a web designer, do invest in a quality designer that will give you a professional image on the web. Once you have a professional site, move forward with an Internet marketing campaign. Work on your site's SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and set up a pay per click campaign. If you aren't familiar with this type of marketing, hire an Internet marketing consultant.

#6 Get Paid

Most design companies charge an initial deposit before any work is completed. Adhere to this practice, by charging clients 50% before taking on a project. This will weed out clients who might not pay and will ensure that your valuable time is spent on work that you will be paid for.

These are a few tips to consider when starting out on your own as professional graphic designer. The road to entrepreneurship can be difficult, but will offer you many rewards. If you work towards your goals with diligence, you will be on your way to success.

Clusters College For Media & Design is offering Diploma & Certification programs in Advertisement  Design, Graphic Design and launching new programs on copy writing & creative advertisement design, Log on to www.clusters.in or call 09747010001  and explore more possibilities. 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Leslie_Miller