Francisco Dias

Sand Sculptures

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:10:51 +0000

I went to the beach to visit some friends and it just so happened to be Governor’s bay day! A day of the year where ships are paraded out to sea and sand castles are built on Rodger W. Wheeler State beach. I shot this with (you guessed it) a 50mm Nikkor, D90 Natural Sunlight.

Sunset on the Harbor

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:02:32 +0000

Photo of a plant in a harbor. I shot it with a 50mm Nikkor Prime (I’m really liking that lens) on a D90 handheld with natural light. Some work in post but not much.

Studio Setup!

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:47:43 +0000

I looked around the house to find an object that not many people have ever encountered. Upon finding a desert rose I knew I had my subject. I shot this with a Nikkor 50mm Prime, D90, 5 pieces of paper for a backdrop and 3 Clarke continuous lighting construction lamps (about 3 dollars each). I uploaded a short video showing how little there is to the setup. I also have another angle of the shot which I am willing to share:

Please leave a comment if you would like to me to elaborate on how to make a sub 15 dollar backdrop that got this result.

Proof of Concept – Photographn’ me some lightning

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:32:20 +0000

So. The Cisco Kid and I were hanging out the other day and he said He was so quick that he could shoot lightning. I said Ok, that may be but I bet I can take a photo of the bullet hitting lightning. It was dark out so you can’t really see the bullet but we both got it.

Here is a photo:

Naturally a nay sayer came by and said: There is no way you can do that again—it was just luck. Now it did take some time convincing the Cisco Kid not to have a shoot out at noon and all of that. We ended up with a compromise: we do it again—better.

BAM.

The really crazy thing was that the Cisco Kid shot them all with one bullet…oh it also got the nay sayer too.

Leave a comment I’d be more than happy to explain how to photograph lightning.

The How To Section

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 19:06:36 +0000

The how to section is for me to share my knowledge about literally anything. I’m planning on making a few diverse how to videos or just instructional posts. I might even use it to show the process behind the various works that … Continue reading →

Youtube Supports 4k Video

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 13:55:43 +0000

Over the past week I’ve been working on 4k footage and completely revamping my workflow. There is no way my laptop can handle 4k straight up so I’ve been educating myself on using proxy footage, different methods of compression and how exactly the ram preview quality controls work (AE). So naturally, Youtube, started supporting 4k footage the week I start messing around with it. Although not incredibly visually impressive this footage helped me do two proofs of concept. First how to properly do a time lapse and second find the best way to upload 4k footage to Youtube.

First, the time lapse: I used my D90 and a remote timer to shoot 1 second exposures every 5 seconds in my room to create the blurred effect while moving around. In future time lapses I think that (depending on how long they are) will shorten the length between photos and allow for longer exposure times creating smoother video. I also realized that the frame is kind of boring just sitting there and would benefit greatly from some constant movement…the trick is to figure out some device that will move slowly at a constant rate and not break the bank (my bank is currently made of GLASS).

Dealing with 4K footage on only 2 processors and 4gigs of RAM. In the video that I uploaded (as fast as possible – 5hours after I found out) there are no cuts, color correction or motion stabilization simply because I wanted to get the footage up. Little was done from the original shot to the shot on youtube. If I had done more editing or corrections, I would have made sure the raw footage (jpg sequence) was on my local drive, made proxy footage about 1/6 res – (about 1080p quality (yeah wow right?)) and then since there is no rotoscoping done dropped in the original footage for the render.

I was really excited to see that my normal methods of video compression (for the web) worked for 4k video. I rendered the footage at full resolution with max quality using the h.264 F4v codec in After effects creating a ~2gig file. When I previewed the footage on my computer both Adobe media player and VLC had trouble displaying the footage properly – this was not an issue because my target distribution method (youtube) displayed it correctly.

Currently the youtube Embed player does not support 4K video so pleaes watch it on it’s youtube page in original quality:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EBfE3tUQCQ.

As of right now the video is up at 4k but youtube is only allowing it to be viewed at 1080p….I will have a 4k video clip uploaded later.

As always, If you have any questions or want a formal tutorial on how to create and upload 4k video to youtube leave a note in the comments and I will do my best to reply or even write a tutorial.

Typography 2 BSO Poster

admin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 03:56:16 +0000

In Typography 2 I made a poster for the Fall 2009-Spring 2010 Boston Symphony Orchestra Schedule. It was made to work on several levels while not compromising the massive amount of information it contains. The first level it need to work was from across the street, it needed to be attractive and informative. The use of color creates an optical illusion where it appears that there are several gradients used where in reality they are solid closely related blocks of color.
The second level that the poster needed to work on is up close. The information on when, what and who was playing needed to be easy to find and perfectly legible. The background color and type recede to the schedule information while still, allowing easy legibility. The color further helps the viewer sort out where dates are by suggesting where the schedule information for different dates begins.

Sex Drugs & Cocoa Puffs

admin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 03:38:37 +0000

Graphic Design 1 Book Cover

In Graphic Design 1 I designed a book cover for Sex Drugs andCocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman. The class had to come up with several different designs, I came up with at least five and pushed three to at least a second round. On one thought path I went with a photographic cover, with large strategically placed type. I produced props for this this cover, a bowl of cerial, burning a piece of paper and adding the smoke in Photoshop.

A different Approach I experimented with was completely typographic. I intentionally put the large text on the front upside down because the book challenges society’s perception of what is normal and accepted and also, so that people would pick it up and try to fix it.

The iteration of Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs that I spent the most time and rounds on combines different elements from the book while literally depicting sex drugs and cocoa puffs. I really enjoyed making this cover, the simplicity of the characters and the joke about the author’s photo get me to really buy into the book.

Photo a week project Panorama on the lake

admin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:04:03 +0000

Shot in December 2009 I just stitched the panorama together again today. Shot 1/200, f14, ISO 1250, Focal Length 18 (27mm 35mm film equivalent). This panorama was 5 shots, shot in color and then adjusted in photo shop. Three layers were made and the curves on each color channel was adjusted (through adjustment layers clipped to the layer below), and then those layers fell under another adjustment layer that affects all layers below it. I’ve also included a print ready PDF of the Panorama on a lake with and without the light leak.

Photo A week project – Installment 1

admin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 01:11:29 +0000

Photo a week project

First photo of the week installment. Shot at night on July 4th 2010. There was little wind and almost no clouds. I shot this on my Nikon D90 at a Focal Length of 66mm (99mm 35mm Film equivalent). F/5.3 ISO 200 and exposure time of 4 seconds. I’m also including a pdf of the 4th of July Photo a week project that is ready for print. I can give a more in depth explanation of my technique on request. Enjoy!