Photography Blog Talk » Software

Time Lapse Photography movie using Corel VideoStudio Pro X4

Cheng — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:33:24 +0000

Photography and videography boundaries have been blurred by the introducing of video features on DSLR. Coupled with good performance and big aperture (f2.8) lenses, DSLR video has slowly gaining momentum even in professional videography work.

Good video footage captured would need to be edited for maximum results. I do not do much video editing but i decided to test the new time lapse photography feature found in Corel VideoStudio Pro X4.

I used the Interval shooting feature the Nikon D700 to shoot 750 pictures at every 5 secs. This took one hour and I chose to do it on a early morning from 8am to 9am. To create the video, just follow the 3 steps – CAPTURE, EDIT, SHARE.

CAPTURE – I imported in the 750 photos using the new Insert Photo for Time-lapse/Strobe function. Using the default settings, it will use 25 photos for every sec of the video hence creating a 30 secs video.

EDIT – I add in the title text, credits text and a music track. I found it easy even when doing it for the first time.

SHARE – Finally I output it as HD video as upload it to http://vimeo.com

Let see the output (for best viewing experience, wait for the entire video to finish streaming before playing) :

Time Lapse Photography from fotocourse on Vimeo.

VideoStudiopro X4

Cheng — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 07:59:00 +0000

Corel Videostudio pro

I have previously blogged about the Corel products and recently they announced the launch of the Corel VideoStudio Pro X4. Thesedays with DSLRs being capable of capturing videos, it would be interesting to check out how this package perform.

Corel has setup a site where with tutorials and samples video. Check it out here : http://www.corel.com/takethenextstep

Do take a look at the one on time lapse photography as it is very interesting on what you can do with it.

Watch out this blog for a review of the software soon.

Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 Review

Cheng — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:17:18 +0000

PaintShop Photo Pro X3

I am always on the lookout for graphic editing software that is not too heavy on the pocket ($). Paintshop has been around for a long time and now it is worth to take a second look at it.

Here are a few of the key features that I found it to be useful for photographers :

Organiser

With the new Organizer we are able to import, manage, search and quickly touchup image files directly into PaintShop Photo Pro X3. Photos can be tagged and rated, making them easier to find and group. The Organizer also displays advanced information, such as EXIF and IPTC data.

Multi-photo editing:
The basic editing I performed on my photos are Levels and Curve and follow by Unsharp Mask. Now, we can save time by copying the editing steps we performed on one image to a batch of photos.

RAW Conversion:

I seldom shoot in RAW but if i do , I want an effective way to convert the RAW files. . The Camera RAW Lab launches whenever a RAW image is opened. Once opened, we could adjust the white balance, exposure, brightness, and saturation before processing. Adjustments made to a RAW image can be copied and applied to other files in the Organizer.

HD video: These days, a lot of cameras including the Panasonic LX3 allows you to record HD video. PaintShop Photo Pro X3 allows us to use the HD videos in slide shows along with photos.

HDR Photo Merge: The HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photo Merge feature lets a few photos to be merged together to create a HDR photo where the details in both the shadow and hightlight areas are retained. When used in conjunction with Local Tone Mapping, truly artistic images can be created.

So if you are looking for a fully featured photoediting software that wont’t set you back by a few thousand dollars, check out Corel Paintshop Pro