'tools' Category

Video Advice

April 14th, 2010 April 14th, 2010
Posted in tools
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Never handhold if you can possibly avoid it. Use a tripod or a firm surface.

If you zoom and pan while you film, do it sllloooooooowwwwwwllllyyyy.

Try never to use the on-camera mike.  If you do, remember that everything closer to the mike (e.g., YOU) will be louder.

Pay attention to the background!

After I posted this, I found this which repeats much of what I’ve said, but says more.

Photographic Rules of Thumb

April 14th, 2010 April 14th, 2010
Posted in tools, Uncategorized
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Image resolution needed: 300 dpi for printing, 72 dpi for computer screen

Handholding the camera: most people can handhold no slower than 1/60th second. Some can go down to 1/30th.  Safest is to stay at 1/125th or above.  (If the shutter speed is too slow, camerashake will make the picture blurry.)

Rule of thirds: composition is more attractive if key elements are not centered, but 1/3 of the way from an edge.

When there are people in the picture, focus on their eyes.  That’s the part of the picture that people most care about.

When there are people in the picture, expose for their faces.  Ditto.

Size of image: despite the current discussion about how megapixels don’t matter, that’s only when you get to large numbers.  Larger image files = more pixels = you can  crop  and still have a good image.

Never ever ever use digital zoom, only optical.  Digital zoom just makes the pixels bigger.  (Most p&s cameras will do optical zoom up to a point, then zoom further with digital. Turn off the digital.)

Photography Resources – mostly for point-and-shoot

April 14th, 2010 April 14th, 2010
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updated 4/15

Advice for point-and-shoot camera users:

Editing (adjusting the image):

Cameraphones

Transcription Software

March 16th, 2010 March 16th, 2010
Posted in tools, transcribing
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http://www.audiotranskription.de/english/f4.htm

f4 is our free transcription software for audio and video recordings

f4 – a huge support for you. Works with Mac, Windows and Linux systems and significantly alleviates typing.

f4 supports your transcription process, meaning your personal typing of video or audio recordings from interview situations. Applications like Windows Media Player or iTunes do not qualify for this kind of work. They lack essential features that simplify the transcription process. Automatic voice recognition software will cease operating if there is more than one voice involved (which is usually the case during an interview).

f4 alleviates your work by slowing down the playback speed, providing key operated control (also directly from „Word“), performing a short automatic rewind when hitting the Stop button and allowing the (automatic) insertion of text fragments and cue points through simple key combinations. f4 works with mp3, wma, wav, ogg, aif, mov, avi and mpg files (in some cases also DVD).

Express Scribe — free transcription software.  It has quick-keys for adding time code and stopping/starting the audio.  It has settings so that you can play the recording more slowly or faster than recorded.  Also, you can click on time code in your transcript and will automatically be taken to that point in your
audio.

http://www.nch.com.au/scribe/

Also, iTunes works pretty well.