Tag: photo

Listening to and Maintaining your Community and Following

Posted on by Big City

Having a community and following is something that most companies and people desire. It can be hard to maintain and expand that community but there are steps that can be taken to ensure the community is happy and lasts for a long time. The three simple steps listed will be targeting the right audience, maintaining and focusing on the needs of the community and growth & expansion. The examples listed will include big name companies to small groups. No matter how big your community is, there is always room for expansion and things that will bring everyone together.

Having a community and following means you need to treat the people who are in the community with some respect and carefulness. Many people join these communities and followings because they all share a common interest or belief. Keeping your focus on these core beliefs and values can ensure the community stays together and focused on goals and tasks. It is also important to listen to feedback and general comments. They can provide a lot of ways to improve and grow communities and followings.

Thousands attend Blizzcon each year. It is a convention created by Blizzard Entertainment. The majority are fans who share the passion and interest of Blizzard’s games

A good example comes from an online video game. Overwatch is an online video game where changes happen a lot in their game. Characters and new things being added to the game influences a lot inside. The game has a player base of over 35 million players monthly and many of these players have their own opinions to changes in the game and the overall state of the game. The developers at Blizzard Entertainment do a great job of listening to the community and fitting their needs. The development team and support team are always active on forums and social media to inform and assist others. They also release monthly update videos to give the player base an update on what they are doing with the game and what they want to know from the community about these changes etc. Blizzard shows a great example on how to create and maintain a large community and keep them active and happy in where they are.

Having a community and following shouldn’t be focused on profit and general gain for yourself or your company. A lot of people can rely on these communities and believe it progresses people’s lives and other aspects. A community’s voice can even have a large impact on companies and other products. For example if you are making a change to your website that many members of the community dislike, you may want to change the plan or ask the community how they would like it. It seems like a simple concept except many large companies can sometimes fail to suit their community’s needs.

Battlefront 2 by EA had the record lowest user rating of any triple A studio

This is an example of a game publisher focusing on economical gain and not listening to their community. Electronic Arts (EA) published the video game Star Wars Battlefront 2 which was hit hard with negative reviews and feedback from the community. A lot of the issues were profit orientated and didn’t work well with the large player base. Issues included loot boxes which you have to pay for, paying for in game bonuses which is unfair and other features that made the game almost unplayable. EA’s response is the current most down voted (disliked) comment on Reddit with over 600,000 down votes. Their response to the situation and lack of care for their community resulted in negative sales for the game and a stock decline in an already declining company. EA’s response was listed as one of the worst company decisions of 2017. EA has also been nominated as the worst company in the U.S of 2017 and almost won that award as a result of this backlash. All they had to do was listen to the community and make the appropriate changes and maybe they wouldn’t have lost millions of dollars and decreases in stock prices.

Growing and expanding your community is a future goal that most people look forward to. It allows the community to grow even more and allows for a wider range of ideas from going outside the target interest to even creating live events to becoming a company. There are many success stories of companies and communities doing these things.

E-sports is very popular with students.

For example, many universities across North America have been creating varsity level Esports teams and clubs across campuses. Scholarships and other programs are now being offered for playing video games at a high level. This started as a simple idea. For example, the University of Toronto had a Facebook page for all of their students who enjoyed playing video games. It slowly kept on growing and other universities did the same. As popularity of these groups became more popular, they expanded and reached out to other universities about hosting friendly tournaments etc. Eventually over 30 universities signed up for the first tournament and this started what is now known as the University Esports League. Now there are over hundreds of universities, colleges and even high schools doing the same thing in North America. This all started as a small Facebook group talking about video games to a multi-million dollar investment.

UC Irvine’s Esports arena was built to cater the growing trend

All the examples listed showcase the large impact that a community can have and ways a company or leader can turn things around. Some of the most important steps are to keep a maintained focus on what the community enjoys and what they want out of being in a community. Making changes or doing things that will upset the community will lead to problems occurring and can go downhill. The most important step is making sure everyone in your community is doing well and truly caring for them.

– Benson Lam

 

Ray Tracing Reinvented for New Generation of Video

Posted on by Big City

August featured the reveal of Nvidia’s new line up of graphic cards. They revealed their 2000 series with large upgrades to their 1000 series previously released in 2016. In addition to faster clock speeds, GDDR6 VRAM and a larger amount of CUDA cores – Nvidia has branded their new flagship from GTX to RTX featuring the latest real time ray tracing technology.

What is ray tracing?

Ray tracing is a method of rendering which produces a realistic and completely computer generated light effect. Ray tracing is used by film makers and producers through the industry. Ray tracing combined with the vast improvements of CGI and other graphical technology will make films and other productions look fully realistic.

This video released to demo their real time ray tracing shows the impressive abilities and features that can be used in the industry.

Ray tracing technology has been around for sometime in the film industry and has been in large usage due to the large amount of CGI used in recent films. So why is ray tracing such a surprise to the industry?

How will Ray Tracing cards affect the industry?

Ray tracing in the industry has been mainly done through expensive CPUs and other large server systems. Many companies can spend hours rendering each frame using ray tracing. The addition of the market being diversified by the new tech, we can expect companies to increase productivity and have larger access to these cards. Smaller production companies can now produce CG based films and other projects much more easier than before. Many game developers and small time studios can have better results with the real time ray tracing and can push the limit of what they can do.

How will ray tracing impact the average consumer?

The addition of these new graphics cards affects mainly the industry as it allows developers and producers to utilize a strong graphics cards with real time ray tracing. If you are not into a developing or producing, the card’s strong performance will increase speeds, improve texture quality and even use ray tracing in programs or games you might use. Many game developers have already begun integrating real time ray tracing into many upcoming and trending games.

Below are examples of Battlefield V an upcoming game using real time ray tracing technology.

Should people still get the newly released cards?

The Nvidia RTX cards are the top of the class as of right now for both having real time ray tracing accessible and strong gaming potential.  Real time ray tracing is still a new technology being reinvented but gameplay and recent renders from the new RTX cards shows a lot of potential. AMD has been rumoured of making their new GPUs with ray tracing technology and NVIDIA has the trend of releasing improved cards a year later of release. If you are planning to get a ray tracing card, it would be best to wait out for AMD’s release and other potential upgrades. If you want to wait till the prices are lower, you may have to wait over 5 years for it to become the norm in graphics cards.

So when will real time ray tracing be accessible?

The RTX cards have released on September 20th of 2018 with AMD coming out with their own rumoured around 2019. The market for RTX has opened up dramatically with these releases. Don’t get your hopes up too quick. Ray tracing is still a high end technology. The RTX cards will cost between 800 CAD to 1500 CAD depending on the model. NVIDIA explained that the Star Wars render shown was run on 4 high end GPUs that costed 60,000 dollars USD. The price difference will obviously result in a downgrade in quality but given the upcoming years the prices will go down – all thanks to the start of the competitive market between AMD and Intel for both GPUs and CPUs.

 

US Prices for the RTX cards

 

What is the final verdict on the new the new ray tracing cards?

The new ray tracing cards are a sign of rising technology being more advanced and more accessible to the consumers. Many can be put away due to high prices but due to a competitive market, prices are actually decreasing. A high price results in realistic graphics and high performance in games, fast video related tasks such as rendering and the ability to use real time ray tracing technology. The new cards give us a glimpse of what to see in the future as ray tracing and even faster tech will be available for consumers and for those in the industry. The large rise in growing technologies is giving tech companies competition to see how will grow more successful.

– Benson Lam

100w LED Studio Flood Light with 18x Fresnel Spot Lens

Posted on by Ogo Eze

The 100w LED studio flood light with 18x fresnel spot lens is an effective tool in providing both film and photographic solutions. This light gives you full control over its brightness level, flood and spot focus through its digital control panel and adjustable (rotating) lens. This light also comes with a diffusion dome to produce a broader flood light effect. It is power efficient, with a power consumption rate of a 100 watt, and it emits a colour temperature of 56ook daylight. This Light can be mount on any Bowens’ mount and works with Bowen’s accessories. You also get free shipping on this item anywhere in Canada.

 

Simple Photo Hacks That Every Photographer should know:

Posted on by Paola Pasqualini

You can never be too informed when it comes to photography and finding new ways to working around your a photo.

Here are some simple tricks that although are easy, can go a long way in achieving a happy end product.

  1. First tip is involves tricking the appearance of a night time photograph that was actually taken during the Day. This is usually a question that arises when one has no choice but to shoot in daylight, due to time or other issues. But if one wants to achieve the illusion of night time, how can one go about this?

Something that photographers often underuse or forget is white balance. This is the function of the camera that focuses on correcting the colours so that everything is properly colour corrected on site. So firstly, turn off the ‘auto’ white balance on your camera because if you want to be in control of the colour tone, like in this situation, you wont want an automatic fix. So during the day, lock your white balance to whats known as Tungsten White Balance. This is because Tungsten is the setting in which is set when shooting indoors or at night.

The main purpose is that its balanced to a cool temperature due to the Tungsten light itself being very warm. So if you think of what would happen when you apply this to a daylight setting (a cool light) you will get an even coloured scene. To add to the effect, you can underexpose the scene a little more and use an ND filter to achieve more of a night time appearance.

Now that you know how to trick photos with a the use of colour balance, we will move onto Tip #2.. This being one that is useful to strobist photographers. This is just a simple tip to help accentuate photos in portrait photography. When shooting a portrait you want the subjects face as best lit as possible of course. Although this tip isn’t one to follow when shooting in natural help, it is still useful in studio photography.

2.When doing studio photographer, you have whatever lighting situation you prefer. In portrait photographer, 3-point lighting is most popular. So when having your 3 point lighting set up and your subject – its best to have you subject facing the key light source. The reason you want this is because of few things. 1) Makes the light appear softer 2)Makes the lighting look more flattering 3) Takes away shadow on their face and other aspects of the photo that may appear unflattering and lastly, gives them a more flattering spotlight. When facing the light source they are illuminated to a certain point but not as harsh as an actual spotlight.

Tip Number #3: How to achieve the best depth of field by maxing out you aperture. Most of the time, best photographs have depth of field and this creates a focus in the photograph. One of the best ways to achieve this is to use a big aperture (small f-number) to blur the background or foreground. This helps to call more attention to the subject you are shooting. The second tip for having your subject pop would be to make sure you have a well rounded contrast between shades and colours. If your image lacks contrast, it tends to appear flat and without layer. Even in black and white photography, contrast in colour is still very important. Lastly, is simply making sure that your lights are positioned properly. This can mean deduction of a light (when creating too much shadow) or can mean the opposite, adding in another light or possibly a flash of some sort. This can help to add nice hair light or create a nice rimming affect on the photo.

There are numerous ways of achieving specific desired looks for a photo, so its important to know all your options so that you can always achieve what you originally wanted to create.

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The GoPro Hero5

Posted on by Carlos Jochico

As technology becomes much more advanced every year, it helps companies such as Go Pro to create better action cameras.

Introducing, the Go Pro Hero 5, with it’s release on early October 2016. The Go Pro Hero 5 is a much more improved upgrade comparing to it’s older model, the Go Pro Hero 4. With a similar model to the Hero 4, The Hero 5 has much more features to offer.

First, let’s compare the Hero 4 Black to the Hero 5 Black.

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The Hero 5 has it’s own waterproof casing, meaning you don’t need to buy an extra case and it comes with a little more reinforcement. This means, with both cameras naked, the Hero 5 is quite bigger comparing to the Hero 4 without the waterproof case. The waterproof housing can allow the Hero 5 to be submerged unto 33 feet underwater, and can protect the camera against dust and sand. But comparing to the old waterproof case on the Hero 4 (which can go up to 131 feet) it’s relatively better. If you are planning on going below 33 feet with your Hero 5, then you can purchase a “Super Suit Housing” for your Hero 5. This also means that the Hero 5 will weigh a little bit more than the Hero 4 without the waterproof casing:
Hero 5: 4.2 oz (118 grams)

Hero 4 (without case): 3.1 oz (87 grams)

Hero 4 (with case): 5.3 oz (150 grams)

But what makes the Hero 5 a major improvement, is it’s new built in LCD touch screen display. But comparing it to the Hero 4 Silver (which also had an LCD display) the Hero 5 has a much more sharper, brighter and easier display. Also, as it is waterproof without a case, you don’t have that back door panel, which makes it more responsive. This makes it much better when trying to control and adjust your camera’s settings.

The way to control the two cameras are still roughly the same, with three customizable buttons and an LED display in-front (which was improved on the newer model), but now on the Hero 5, you also have a voice activation feature which can be very helpful depending on what you are doing. So if both your hands are occupied, with the voice activation feature of the Hero 5, you can say simple commands such as: “GoPro start recording” or “GoPro take a photo” to control you camera. There is also a waterproof remote that you can purchase to control your camera from a far distance.

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The Hero 5 has also a much more improved video shooting features compared to the Hero 4 Black, even though both can record 4K at 30 fps, 1080p at 120 fps and 720p at 240 fps, the Hero 5 won’t eat up all that memory card space compared to the Hero 4. Also with it’s new video stabilization feature, which can reduce the shakiness of your video. It also comes with more linear FOV, which removes the fish-eyed view of the camera. Both shoot in NTSC or PAL formats and both produce H.264 MP4 videos.

The Hero5 also adds three new options that can be useful:

  • manual exposure where you can set the shutter speed
  • a raw audio track option which creates a higher-quality WAV file
  • an auto mode option that lets you put it in a mode that reduces the effects of wind noise

Both models have an image size of 12MP (4000 x 3000 pixels) and can take similar images, but the Hero 5 can produce much more clearer images and can be seen when viewed at 100%. The Hero 5 comes with HDR, GoPro calls it WDR for Wide Dynamic Range and it aims to capture extra details in shadows and highlights. Another thing is; RAW image format. Shooting in RAW mode have pros and cons. The main reason why, is for the for better image quality. The downside of shooting in the GoPro’s RAW format is that the images need to process and convert to JPG before sharing.

Like the older models, the Hero 5 has the ability to take time lapse of images and video. The first is old way of shooting a sequence of images, downloading those images from the memory card, and bringing them together on your computer using a separate software. Like previous models, the available intervals are 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 30, and 60 seconds. You can also have the camera compile the video to create a time-lapse video. The new model adds a new option, and it’s a lower resolution which is 1080p. The reason for this, is it has been added is to make it easier to share the time-lapse video without dealing with the massive files from 2.7K or 4K video. With the smaller 1080p video it’s much quicker to take the footage from your camera, to your phone then upload straight to social media.

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The Hero 5 can also take external microphones, but  unlike the old model you’ll need the new USB-C mic adapter.

The battery life on the Hero 5 has improved and is using a higher capacity battery at (1220mAh vs. 1160mAh). With the new USB-C  port, the Hero 5 allows fast charging. There is a slight problem though, the new USB-C port isn’t USB 3.0 it still uses a USB 2.0 for data transferring. Which means, you can’t have that fast transferring speed. If you’re using an external microphone, you’ll need a new mic adapter. It also has a micro HDMI (Type D) socket to connect to a TV or display device.

There are a bunch of things that have also been tweaked and improved, which are:

It automatically detects which way is up.

You can turn off the LEDs selectively.

The longest auto-off setting is now 15 minutes rather than 5 minutes.

In the end, the GoPro Hero 5 can do what the previous models can do, but with a lot  more features and higher quality camera. As for now, the Hero 5 is still very limited to new accessories, unlike the Hero 4. Overtime though, that will change because of how advanced technology can become.

If you’re looking to buy a GoPro Hero 5, you can find them at various different websites and stores such as Amazon, Sport Chek, Best Buy etc.  with a price of: $530.00 CAD

– Carlos Jochico, Big City Lights

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Exclusive Behind the Scenes Video of a Pro Photo Shoot Using Big City Lights!

Posted on by Big City

Calgary, Canada, halifax, LED, LEDGO, lighting, lights, ringlight, Toronto, Vancouver

Hello ladies and gentleman today we bring you an exclusive, behind the scenes, look into a professional photo shoot by Toronto photographer Clint Adam Smyth. As an acknowledged photographer/videographer Clint needs to have the best, most reliable, equipment at his fingertips to provide his customers with what they need. In this video you will see how he uses Big City Lights to attain beautiful, incomparable results. This was a calendar shoot That will be coming out in 2011 to promote a makeup, hair and wardrobe stylists work It featuring a gorgeous model and a luxurious ride (needless to say, they were very excited and completely satisfied with the final results).

Clint uses a single Big City 110, two Big City 220’s and a ringlight for this particular shoot. The two large light banks perform the duty of filling and brightening the set, they are very powerful and effective. The 110 is used to add a slightly softer touch of light in a focussed area and finally the ringlight is used for the glamorous and stylistic effect it is so well known for. The video also demonstrates the growing love for continuous lighting and the needlessness of using strobe lighting. Continuous lighting provides consistency and makes it easier to get that specific look you’re trying to achieve.  Video of shoot is below.

Written by Hash Patel

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Big City Lighting Tips Video #2 – Lighting on a White or Black Background

Posted on by Big City

Ever had trouble lighting a model in various backgrounds? No need to fear, Big City is here! In our latest video we will show you how to light your subject for a white or a black background. It may seem like a simple thing to do but, if you want professional quality photo or video, you will learn the right way to do so with this instructional video. We will talk about lighting angles, metering and even, the butterfly effect. We’ve seen failures time and time again, from photographers trying to achieve crisp whites or variable blacks but, they’re just not doing it right. It’s funny how these small tips and tricks can make such a dramatic difference in the end product, whether it be a photo or a video. You can view the video below.

 

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A peak at a Big City Studio photo-shoot!

Posted on by Big City

Last Thursday, I got to see a professional photo-shoot at Big City Studio for the first time. The model we had, Jacqueline, had the perfect look for our fantasy make up, which was done by our make up artist Vasso Thymis. Our set was a dark dramatic space, which worked perfectly with the fantasy look of our model. It also sent a mysterious feeling and got our hopes and expectations high.

This photo shoot was lit by one of our LED light banks which was an effective and a powerful tool that lit the set, and a reflector which added more light to the shadow areas. typically, most photographers use strobe (flash) to light their photographs, but as you can see here, using a light bank and a reflector, can give you the same great result. The advantage of using continuous light is that you can immediately see your en result before you take the picture, as well for those photographers who want to shoot video, you now have the capability.

These photographs take you into a strange and unusual world, which gets the imagination going and starts to tell a story.

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Which Big City On Camera Light Is Best For You?

Posted on by Big City

Here is a quick tutorial video of the four different on camera LED lighting Big City has to offer. This quick video will help  you decide which light fits your needs best. All of these light models use 6 double A batteries or Panasonic/Sony camera batteries.  They are lightweight and have adjustable brightnesses. Each light has a specific characteristic unique to the model, which all are highlighted in the video below. Our four models include, Big City 160 LED, Mr. Big 304 LED, Big City  Bi-colour 240 LED and finally the LED Fresnel Light.

 

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Big City 160 LED Light – $150

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Big City Mr. Big 304 LED Light – $150

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Big City Bi-Colour LED on Camera Light – $149

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Big City Fresnel LED on Camera Light – $175

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Light Span Of Fresnel Light

You can purchase any of these lights HERE

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HTC’s RE camera re-thinks camera technology

Posted on by Big City

HTC revealed its ‘handy’ new  camera today, which is expected to release next month in the U.S, U.K and Canada. The periscope like camera is 9.7 centimeters tall, with a weight of only 66.5 grams. Said to be a competitor to GoPro, the RE cameras target audience of the everyday photographer looking for an easy way to capture the right image.

HTC’s unique design allows for a one hand operation of the device film, htc, photo, photographic, photography, resolution

The tiny titan comes with grip sensor technology which instantly turns on the device when picked up, which makes it convenient for HTC’s on the go customers. It comes with 1080p resolution, with 30 fps in FHD, and 720p 120fps slow motion. It also comes with a time lapse function, which is controllable via. smartphone.  It is iOS compatible, making it seamlessly integrate with your Android and iPhone’s photo gallery, making it have easy access to view all your photos and videos. It is also waterproof, making your underwater adventures even better, and helping you get a longer and better time lapse video even when it is raining.

I believe that the RE camera is a really unique and interesting hands on camera, however i am curious to see whether the resolution really steps up to its expectations. When its released, I am sure that I will check it out!

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Panono On the Ball With New Panoramic Camera

Posted on by Big City

Camera company Panono released its new design today for their unique panoramic camera which will be available in spring 2015. The company and idea started in 2011 with the help of fundraising website indiego, where they raised over 1.25 million dollars from backers and companies. The camera works by tossing it into the air as high as you want, and with high tech sensors, it is able to sense when the ball is at the maximum height, and snaps the 360×360 photo.

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The ball shaped camera has 36 fixed focus cameras that are triggered at the maximum height of your throw and instantly catches a 360 degree picture. Resolution on the camera is quite impressive, with 108 megapixels being the final resolution, it knocks the iPhone 6 plus out of the park by being 13.5 times more powerful. The camera weighs only 440 grams, and has a diemeter of 11cm’s, making it convenient for on the go photography and how high you can than throw it! It connects to any Android or Apple device, Android 4 and iOS7+, using their free app which  makes it easy to view and upload your pictures. You can store up to 400 pictures on the device, and you can also take still photos when you need a more precise shot.

The camera looks like a great new invention for the world of photography, and I will definitely  be eager to try it out when it comes out next year for $549 USD.