When I started the Understanding Blockchain Freedom project, I wanted to learn how to create quality videos while helping others. Today I made a lot of progress toward that goal and want to share that experience with you.
The first three @ubf videos were all recorded on the same day, in my closet, with a single light and me sitting in a chair with my laptop camera. Today was much better.
My wife @corinnestokes is getting serious about her photography, doing family photos, engagement photos, and weddings. She's collecting some nice new toys, some of which I borrowed today.
I set up a backdrop using some fabric (cheaper than a bed sheet), a couple of Corinne's light boxes, a stand for my Blue mic, and her DSLR on a tripod. I also bought a new 32G SD card to record with.
Here's the setup:
The yellow of our curtains started bleeding through the backdrop, so I hung some towels behind it which worked much better.
The biggest challenge was getting the camera to focus without someone around to hit the focus button. I tried using my mic as a substitute head which worked fairly well, though I think the final video was still a bit out of focus.
It's embarrassing how many takes I needed to get closer to what I'm looking for. The first few recordings, once I got them to my computer and started editing them, showed the yellow drapes. The next round were far too bright, and I looked all washed out. I tried turning down the lights for another round of takes, bit it still wasn't right. I showed it to Corinne, and she knew the answer: Exposure Compensation!
I learned how the camera was essentially trying to make everything gray to average it out. It didn't know I was wearing a black shirt with a black background and things were supposed to be darker. After adjusting to a -2 Exposure Compensation, things finally started coming together.
It was a long day of trial and error, but I made clear progress over my first attempts. Episode 004 is uploading to YouTube right now and will be live soon.
I hope you enjoyed this little behind-the-scenes look at my current "video studio." I hope you enjoy the next Understanding Blockchain Freedom video where we'll walk though how to get your Bitcoin off of Coinbase and on to either the Breadwallet app or a paperwallet. With all the Bitcoin fork drama, it's never been more important to get your bitcoin off an exchange and into a place where you control the private keys.
Also, side note, my witness moved up to position 31 recently! Thank you for your continued support!
I'll update this post as soon as the next video post is ready.
Edit: Episode 4 is now live! Understanding Blockchain Freedom — Episode 004: Get Your Bitcoin Off of Coinbase
