Shoot your own timelapsed clouds and shoot, if possible, your own timelapsed stars. Then edit them together.

Here's some fast motion clouds I did in our back yard with a little Panasonic GS250. I sped them up by 2500 in Premiere Pro. (My daughter bumped the tripod halfway through. That's what happens sometimes.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJuIbOayZPQ

Nesquik video entry
 

Here is my video entry (shot with the XH-A1) for the Nesquik competition.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GYQJqCbfmrA

Just thought I'd share.


Stacy

Nice! I like it.

Man I wish I would have known about this contest. I would have made something for it. =(

Here are a couple sites that keep me up to date with video contests:

http://desktopvideo.about.com/od/onl...vidcontest.htm

http://www.onlinevideocontests.com/

The way I see it, even if I don't win anything I am still ahead of the game because the contests force me to think outside of things I would normally do. It's cool because you have guidelines and restrictions yet all the feedom to do whatever it is you want to do! I've entered 3 video contests since I got my XH-A1 (including the last DV Challenge) and I really feel I'm getting better with each pass.

I only do this stuff for fun and if there is some off chance I can win something then great. If not, no worries. I am having fun doing what I want to do and learning something new all the time.

Stacy

Ah thanks. That's exactly what I need. Yeah that's why I like video contests too. It's really good practice. And yeah, the money wouldn't hurt either. =)

OOPS! I meant freedom. :)


Stacy

PS> Good luck with the contests

Test footage of Softbox using CFL
 

This file is 77MB.

http://download37.mediafire.com/dxdl...ghtTesting.wmv

It's just a simple test for my new softboxes that employ CFL bulbs. So a 900W light uses only 252W and produces very little heat so the talent is not uncomfortable.

No color correct has been done on this footage.

The color temperature of these lights is 5100K. The camera was white balanced for these lights before shooting. In the clip when I zoom out you see a window in the background. The light coming through that window is sunlight at about 4pm in the afternoon. The light shining onto the painting at the back and part of the wall behind the painting (from an over head recessed light) is a 5500K CFL. The color of the walls is white.

At some point when I zoom out you also see the front face of the light. This will give you a idea about the distance of the light from the talents.

This is my first softbox so I have no experience using any other and would be interested in knowing from other what they think of the lights (if that's even possible to do by looking at a clip.

If there are certain kinds of things I could do when shooting that will help any of you (or me) better gauge the "quality" of the light, please do let me know.

Thanks.

Shiv.

I clicked on it but Getright said it was removed from the list.

I'm currently D/Ling it. You may want to try again.

XHA1 Footage Test
 

Just messing around with presets and lens control, DOF. The bee was a great subject for this. The file is large at 224 mb.

http://www.digitalvideoworks.net/Nature_In_Motion.html

What was your shutter speed...? It seems a bit 'ghosty'...

Doug,

I was using 1/60 (30f mode). Is it just some parts that appear ghosty or all of it?

Chan, you might want to try once again.

Thanks.

Won't Play
 

I can't get this file to play (even downloading Bees 1440.mov to hard drive). The latest version of Quicktime says it can't find an appropriate codec to play it, and Divix or VLC players provide the audio only.

It plays fine on my Mac. I'll upload another version to my website.

mine wont play either. not even vlc