2 Free Stock Footage Clips Have Met Their Match

This shot is one I've been wanting to do ever since I got the FS-700.  It is also one that was suggested to me by a "follower" on Facebook.

One of the things I love about working through these random shots is realizing where my current limitations are and developing strategies, plans and work-arounds to improve.  While I like both of these clips, I was pushing the boundaries of my Sigma 24mm Macro lens.  The matchbox was as close as I could get and still stay in it's minimum depth of field.  At this distance and focal length, the match head was not filling the frame as much as I had originally envisioned.  To me, this experience then means researching and eventually purchasing a longer macro lens for extreme close-ups (Please feel free to leave suggestions of what type YOU like in the comment section below).

The one benefit to restricting myself to this distance, was the amount of surface area I had on the match box to strike it and still keep the action in frame ... holy cow!  It was REALLY hard to strike that match, even within these wider than desired confines.  If you look closely, you'll be able to see the wood bending due to the force that I needed to apply to get the match to ignite.

You can preview and download the clips by clicking "read more" below.  Happy Downloading!

As always, please e-mail, like us or share this on facebook, tweet, google plus, pinterest or do whatever you can to spread the word about this site. Thanks!

These videos were shot using a Sony NEX-FS700 and the Sigma 24mm f/1.8 EX DG Lens with a Metabones EF to NEX Speedboster Adapter

2 Free Stock Footage Clips are Feeling Sluggish

The idea for these next two shots came up when a user in a Facebook group I am a part of called "Share Footage" requested a stock shot of a slug.

I had in my head already an plan to do a time lapse of my garden at night, but I had been putting it off for some time.  I decided to put it off a little longer to scour my yard for slugs.  I see them every day... shouldn't be too hard to pop on out and get some good footage right?  Well they must have know I was coming.  After a few failed attempts, I ended up partially abandoning my search and instead set my camera up to do this night time lapse.  The first clip was shot close to midnight with just the lighting from my front porch.  The camera is shooting at 1 frame per second and there is a little bit of in camera gain applied to get a good exposure (The FS700 holds up pretty well huh?).  After about recording for 45 minutes I played back what I had gotten and what do you know?  A little tiny slug pops out from under the mulch and travels up part of a plant in the background.  I jumped up and readied my camera again ... I ran out to where the first shot was and searched the surrounding plants.  There he was, checking out his dinner situation.  I let the camera run for a while, but he quickly moved out of focus.  I re-positioned, but by that time he had settled in and was just hanging out, not doing too much.  So there you go, hopefully this is useful to you sometime down the road.  I had a great experience shooting it.  I feel like I will be back out there very soon.


You can preview and download the clips by clicking "read more" below.  Happy Downloading!

As always, please e-mail, like us or share this on facebook, tweet, google plus, pinterest or do whatever you can to spread the word about this site. Thanks!

These videos were shot using a Sony NEX-FS700

1 Stock Footage Clip is Taking a Day Trip

The "driving" force (pun intended) for this clip was a request by a YouTube visitor, asking if I had any driving time lapses that took place during the daytime.  I actually never really thought about doing one up until now, you don't really see too many of them out there... and I now know why.  They are HARD to get.

I initially had to wait for good weather conditions.  The next part was mounting my camera somewhere that would move naturally with the car and not shift or have the potential to shift while driving.  I ended up using a magic arm with a clamp to mount my T2i to my rear view mirror upside down.  I then flipped the image in post.  Those 2 testing points made up the first few failed attempts.

The dynamic range between the really bright sky and the detail in the road and cars was also an issue, especially when you try to drag your shutter for almost half a second in order to get some much desired motion blur.  This meant I had 2 ND filters stacked on the front of my camera (a ND 2.1 and a ND 1.8).  I had to cut a lot of light out to keep my iris wide open to reduce the "strobe" effect that presents itself when doing time lapses on a DSLR.  When you shoot with the iris closed even a little bit,  there is a slight chance you will get an inconsistency in exposure between two shots.

This was actually my 8th attempt at getting something I felt was useable.  Many times, the light couldn't be cut back enough or the cars (which are the main subjects) were too dark when I tried to expose the sky.  I am going to do a LOT more testing to see if I can get something I am REALLY proud of, but I do like this one and felt it might be useful to some of you.  Hope this helps in your projects!

You can preview and download the clips by clicking "read more" below.  Happy Downloading!

As always, please e-mail, like us or share this on facebook, tweet, google plus, pinterest or do whatever you can to spread the word about this site. Thanks!

This video was shot using a Canon EOS Rebel T2i and a Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Lens

1 Stock Footage Clip Bursts Your Bubble

Had some fun the other day with my kids' bubble gun.  I used what I had learned following around mosquitoes (which honestly I am still working on to hopefully have something usable to upload) and decided to try a slow motion tracking shot of a soap bubble.  It was quite frustrating, but with the very thin depth of field I was working with, I am happy to have something that is at least in focus most of the time.  The raw clip had my reflection in the middle, so with some creative matte work, feathering and blurring, I was successful in removing it.

You can preview and download the clips by clicking "read more" below.  Happy Downloading!

As always, please e-mail, like us or share this on facebook, tweet, google plus, pinterest or do whatever you can to spread the word about this site. Thanks!

These videos were shot using the Sony NEX-FS700 and a Sigma 24mm f/1.8 EX DG Lens

1 Stock Footage Clip Walks into my Parlour

I've spend a couple of mornings these past few weeks in a small wooded/park area, with the few minutes I have in-between dropping my kids off at daycare and starting my full time job, challenging myself to some high-speed macro shooting with my FS700 and Sigma 24mm Macro lens.  My goal was to get clips of some male mosquitoes (since they are abundant here and they don't bite) flying around dreamily in slow motion. I usually walk away without any usable footage but a game plan for something new to try the next day.   The razor-thin depth of field when shooting macro made following around a very small bug, that flies VERY fast, quite a feat.  I took a break from chasing them around when I noticed this spider in a web lit very well by the rising sun.  Amazingly, in between hitting record and the camera actually beginning the record, one of the mosquitoes flew into the web!!!  It was an incredible thing to catch, considering I was already set up to shoot/expose at 240fps.  I was also channeling my inner J.J. Abrams with that lens flare popping into the shot.  Hope you can use it!!!

Fun side project: In your NLE, take the video clip and speed it up 10x to see the real speed in which this whole thing happened.


You can preview and download the clips by clicking "read more" below.  Happy Downloading!

As always, please e-mail, like us or share this on facebook, tweet, google plus, pinterest or do whatever you can to spread the word about this site. Thanks!

These videos were shot using the Sony NEX-FS700 and a Sigma 24mm f/1.8 EX DG Lens