Product Review: Lowel GL-1 Power LED Flood/Spot Light

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The Lowel GL-1 Power LED is a compact handheld portable light source that is ideal for any type of event or location photography. It's dimmable and with the adjustable Fresnel lens, it has an 8:1 focus range from full flood to a tight spot and works either handheld or mountable to any tripod. First Impressions […]

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Beachtek DXA-SLR PRO audio interface review part 2: with Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera

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For part 2 of the Beachtek DXA-SLR PRO audio interface review, I got together with Ríchard Izarra in one of his extremely brief visits to Miami to test audio with his new Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera. Ahead you’ll see (and hear) a brief audio/video clip. What you may have missed from part 1 of this […]

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Understanding Libraries in Final Cut Pro 10.1

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Welcome to our first MacBreak Studio on the brand new Final Cut Pro 10.1! In this episode, Steve Martin from Ripple Training and I discuss the fundamental structural change in this very significant update: the move to a unified library model. While there are many workflow improvements in this update as well, it's the unified […]

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Spirographs in After Effects

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Spirographs in After Effects had it's 15-minutes of fame years ago and were lost in the mists of time (around here anyway), except for a few tutorial/project posts. Revisiting the topic reveals a variety of approaches and directions. In ESPL: Dances of the Planets, Ensign Software used their own day trader software to overlay planetary […]

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Cultivating Creative Confidence

It’s a delightful anchor to have, this thing we call creativity. But when life concerns press down, it’s often the first thing cast aside. Learn to make creativity your refuge, and it will be your inventive breakthrough.. I’m always looking for angles of thought that renew my personal take on fostering creative approach to photography […]

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Spirals in After Effects

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Spirals are used as design guides and elements or paths for text, shapes, particles, and layers. Here’s a few resources for using and creating spirals in After Effects and other Adobe applications. Think outside the box (or rather inside the sphere) with A 5-Part Exploration Of After Effects Spiral Filters by Brian Maffitt — the […]

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Using Mini Quads as Training Tools: Hubsan X4 H107D FPV Quadcopter

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Go ahead and call these mini RC quadcopters “toys”, but they won't be insulted, because they're serious flying machines that have many of the same features that the big boys have! But learning to control and pilot these relatively inexpensive quadcopters may help you manage and fly your more expensive DJI quadcopter with greater ease […]

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The Ray-traced 3D renderer in After Effects

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A big addition to After Effects CS6 was the introduction of a Ray-traced 3D composition renderer that handles reflections, transparency, index of refraction, environment maps, in addition to the existing material options. Today in Creative Cloud CC, the chief limitation is still render time, but there's set-up advice for those willing to overcome the obstacles […]

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Get Started Fast with Avid Media Composer 7: Lesson 3

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If you've been thinking that Media Composer is a little to daunting to get started with, than part three of this five part series will get you up and running lightning quick!   In the third of our Get Started Fast with Avid Media Composer 7 tutorials, let’s get down and talk about what you’ve […]

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Final Cut Pro X 10.1 now speaks Castilian (aka “Spanish”)

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After upgrading Final Cut Pro X to version 10.1, I was delighted to see that it was addressing me —quite unexpectedly— in the language of Cervantes. With other updates of Final Cut Pro X, I have always read the release notes, but for some reason this time I didn’t. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised […]

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