I actually wanted to test out this jig I made up, so here's a quickie video I made...keep in mind this was my first attempt and hopefully I'll get better at it and use it when I do my car show coverage.

here's the video:
OKSHOWPICS.com - Video Page (http://okshowpics.com/video/)

and here's the contraption i made up:
http://www.okshowpics.com/free/albums/userpics/thumb_P1010009%7E0.JPG (http://www.okshowpics.com/free/displayimage.php?pos=-526)
Click To View Fullsize.

http://www.okshowpics.com/free/albums/userpics/thumb_P1010010.JPG (http://www.okshowpics.com/free/displayimage.php?pos=-525)
Click To View Fullsize.

http://www.okshowpics.com/free/albums/userpics/thumb_P1010011.JPG (http://www.okshowpics.com/free/displayimage.php?pos=-524)
Click To View Fullsize.

I wasn't quite sure where to put this but wanted to show it off. Let me know what you all think and if you have any suggestions to make it better (other than getting a *real* video camera).

Well put together, but the subject matter is probably a little intense for the people on this board.

what do you mean? is photography not welcomed here?

Pretty cool... something like that would be good on Ebay/Craig's List for people selling cars.

i plan to actually do car show coverage and maybe video/photo features on my site...if/when i get all the bugs worked out and a decent camera

i already shoot photos for car dealers that go online and on ebay so taking car pics is nothing new to me

Cool video...Seriously. I know guys that would love to have one of those made of their cars.

But the subject matter? That's awesome.

Reminds me of this funny-ass oldie that's been flying about the internet for years:

NlmoQTSoQYo

that's a funny video
i know the car isn't anything special but it wasn't really the reason for making the video

if i still had my truck i would have used it but i sold it a few weeks ago

What do you mean? Is photography not welcomed here?Of course your video is welcome here! I was being facetious.

Tripods (or even monopods) are your friend.

how am i going to use a tripod when i am walking the entire time?

how am i going to use a tripod when i am walking the entire time?

It looks more professional if you keep the camera stable and just do pans and zooms. If you do it right and think about the sequence of your shots, you won't really even need to edit except to add supers.

if i were going to do that i would just make a video by moving the stills around, like vevo for car dealerships, i just wanted to get a full walk around of the vehicle

i know i'm a little shaky though

Cool video...Seriously. I know guys that would love to have one of those made of their cars.

But the subject matter? That's awesome.

Reminds me of this funny-ass oldie that's been flying about the internet for years:

NlmoQTSoQYo

I guess I missed that one...lol.

if i were going to do that i would just make a video by moving the stills around, like vevo for car dealerships, i just wanted to get a full walk around of the vehicle

i know i'm a little shaky though

That'd be better too. If you do that, as an added touch, try to get the pictures changes to somehow coordinate with the music (think music video).

if i were going to do that i would just make a video by moving the stills around, like vevo for car dealerships, i just wanted to get a full walk around of the vehicle

i know i'm a little shaky though


Practice your footwork and you ought to be able to smooth out those moves quite a bit. Try to imagine your legs moving independently from the upper half of your body.

Don't listen to anybody Brad. Do your thing. Get better at it. OWN IT. Then feel good about it no matter what.

Listen to Old Blue Eyes, and say you did it "my way".


/was serious that he knows guys that would love that done with their car.

well don't sell them on it just yet, i have a LOT of practice to do!

i just wish i had something better to practice with, there's only so many angles you can shoot a focus station wagon

here's the 2nd test video. keep in mind it's not about the boring subject matter but me getting the video and image to sync right and working on my video editing and transition skills. I think this one is a lot better and shows what I have in mind for when I do it on vehicles at car shows. I just need to get a little steadier with the video and I'll be set.

http://okshowpics.com/video/index.php?file=backyardtestvideo

Yes, that test video is better.

Very well done!

I agree with Frisky. This last test has a much better feel to it. You may already be planning to do this in your final videos, but I'd like to see you pick the video back up on a different section of the subject after your transition. I like the style of the transition. They make it seem like we're moving on to another angle. That's why it a little visually disappointing for the still to fly through only to find ourselves in the same place that we were. I realize this is still just a test video, so take my comments with a grain of salt. You're getting there, though! If you can make a Focus, a brick wall, and an air conditioner look good, just think what you'll be able to do with show cars! lol

made a stabilizer from some plans i found online, but haven't had a chance to really test it out. From what I've done so far it looks like it will definitely take some practice.
http://www.okshowpics.com/free/albums/userpics/thumb_camerastabilizer.jpg (http://www.okshowpics.com/free/displayimage.php?pos=-527)
Click To View Fullsize.

I know someone who made something similar to that stabilizer and it worked pretty well once he got used to it.

I got a different camera and a wider lens setup. I know it's not expensive equipment but I'm not going for production quality either. Here's a couple of pics of the setup with the $14 steadycam (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/) made:
http://www.okshowpics.com/free/albums/userpics/normal_P1010022.JPG (http://www.okshowpics.com/free/displayimage.php?pos=-537)
Click To View Fullsize.

http://www.okshowpics.com/free/albums/userpics/normal_P1010021.JPG (http://www.okshowpics.com/free/displayimage.php?pos=-536)
Click To View Fullsize.

http://www.okshowpics.com/free/albums/userpics/normal_P1010020.JPG (http://www.okshowpics.com/free/displayimage.php?pos=-535)
Click To View Fullsize.


hopefully i'll get a chance to use it. there is a small car show up here saturday that i may go to. I bet i get some weird looks carrying this thing around though...

on a side note, i can't believe how well these pics of the setup came out. i used an olympus digital camera that my wife got for her college graduation in 2003 and man that thing is sharp even if it is slow and has a 1.5" screen!

Pretty cool that you were able to make that setup... I'll bet you get some nice videos out of it!

we'll see...it will definitely take some practice

if you're really bored you can see this video i made to make sure the camera is compatible with my software

YouTube - Saturday Morning - Weedz (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-P4_gZRB7Q)

lol...How are you at taking action shots at night?

A bunch of us are going to the track Friday night, and we LOVE pics of our cars doing burnouts :D

not sure about action shots at night, i guess it depends on the lighting because i don't have any expensive lenses with fast apertures to handle low light. i guess the flash would work but flash photos hardly ever look good

Hey, if I can take some decent ones with 15 year old lenses on my Minolta Maxxum 7D...And I'm no photographer...You should be able to pull it off :D

i should go out to the track some time. i live right down the road but i've never been during the races, just during car shows

i should go out to the track some time. i live right down the road but i've never been during the races, just during car shows

Well last night was a mess. They shut down racing for quite a while two times while ambulances hauled people away due to (non-racing) injuries. The second one left me sitting in the burnout box for 20 freakin' minutes having my tires cool down and making me forget my launch routine because some nimrod had too much to drink. :numchucks

So you'd have been standing around bored out of your gourd for lengthy periods.

Might have gotten some good drunken-action shots in the pits though. :D

haha, drunken actions are usually the best ones

They are until somebody gets hurt bad enough to need an ambulance and affects the good time of a thousand people or so. Plus, I don't know that it was actually the drunk that got hurt. It may have been somebody else.

F'n retard.

I'm hearing now that the other injury was in the pitts, and was not alcohol related. Somebody's throttle stuck open and they ran over a person. That's horrible and now I feel bad for being upset at having to sit around for half an hour.

wow that does sound bad, hope they are ok

Oh man...It's getting worse. The guy was putting his car back on the trailer when it happened, and he ran over the person guiding him onto it as well as another person. They were both his daughters. I have no idea as to their condition.

omg. That's horrible!!!