Large image test #2 – The last night of last September’s photo trip to Denali National Park and Preserve.  This image was taken right off the highway that goes from Anchorage to Denali. Takne with my iPhone 4.

The iPhone picture quality continues to impress.

I love the Hipstamatic camera on my iPhone. I don’t think I would have ever taken the time to process a regular image to look like this.

Just released…new video highlighting the features of the SPOT HUG.  It’s a satellite-based GPS Security System to protect your boat from theft while delivering everyday peace of mind and emergency assistance when you need it.

Produced using Canon DSLR’s and the Canon XF-300 digital video camera.  Produced and shot by Mauromedia…edited by Chuck Smith of Straw Hat Pictures on Final Cut Pro.

We just finished another product launch video for Spot.  They’ve just come out with an amazing new SPOT device that provides all the cool features of the original SPOT device plus you can send a custom text when off the grid.  Read more here.

About the video:

Pre-production crew of 4: producer, writer, graphic artist and production assistant.
Production crew of 3: camera A, camera B and production assistant plus talent for each scene.
Post Production crew of 4: producer, rough cut editor, production/polish editor and graphic artist.

The kid iPod Touch scene was a one day shoot in Colorado and the rest was shot in California over a four day shoot schedule.

Some of the Gear we used:

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 7D
Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon XF 300 – video camera
Glidecam Jib
Glidetrack Shooter HD
Apple Final Cut Pro

iPhone Image © Chuck Smith

I’ve had my Canon 1D Mark IV’s for almost a year now and for the most part I’m really happy with them.  Lately though, I’ve been second guessing the focus.   Last week I’m out in the field shooting white-tailed deer and I’m really paying attention to the images as I shoot them.   So I’m chimping away in the downtime…zooming in as far as I can and running around the image checking the focus.  I’m not getting as many tack sharp images as I think I should be. Read More »

New cover image on the Colorado Division of Wildlife State Wildlife Area Guide.  Model – Missy Winters (a real fly fisherwoman) you can follow her on twitter @castawaygal

State Wildlife Area Guide Cover Photo by Michael Mauro

Michael Mauro shows us what’s in his bag for commercial shoots.

Since we are a small productive company our days are usually packed pretty full.  The day started with a 4:00 am wake-up so that we could get up near Mount Evans for an early morning photo shoot for one of our clients.

iPhone snap…Early Morning Photo Shoot near Mount Evans, a 14,000+ ft. peak west of Denver, Colorado.

The crew…Mike Larson – our “in house” model and graphic artist, Caleb Tkach – photo assistant, Missy Winters – behind the scenes iPhone photographer and myself – the photographer.

Mount Evans Photo Shoot

Then it was back down the mountain to the studio where Mike and Caleb downloaded/keyword/processed the images into the main Mauro Media lightroom library.  I quickly changed my clothes and was off to Derryberry Audio for a Voice Over session.  We are producing a video project for the same client that we had shot stills for earlier in the morning.  Even though we have the ability to record audio in the studio…we always use professional voice talent and a recording studio.

VO recording session at DerryBerry Audio

After we got an amazing read by our voice talent Norm Silver and a sweet sounding recording by Mark Derryberry at Derryberry Audio it was back to the studio to prepare for a dinner meeting.  We’ve teamed up with Tim and Kim Tripp at Grizzly Creek Framing and photographer Jackie Shumaker on a huge booth at a convention here in the Denver Metro area early next year.  The meeting proved to be very productive the show will be here before we know it.

We decided to add another production camera and went with the Canon XF300. We currently have a several Canon DSLRs which we use all the time for our commercial video projects as well as a Panasonic P2 camera for the run and gun ENG style shooting. We did a bunch of research and I read nothing but good about the XF300. One of the big reasons was the fact that it uses the same Compact Flash cards we use in the DSLRs. The camera also has traditional audio inputs and has zoom built in on the lens…two options not available on the DSLRs.

We didn’t go with another P2 mainly because the P2 cards are expensive and we didn’t have the P2 card reader. We have been using the camera to ingest the footage which only comes in on a 400 FireWire and is extremely slow. We have a 800 FireWire card reader for the compact flash cards and this we believe will speed up the footage transfer.

We’ve not had a chance to use the camera yet as the battery is charging. As soon as we get a chance to use it we will post our initial thoughts. Just as a FYI we purchased the camera, two additional batteries, 2-32GB cards, 2-16GB cards…all Sandisk Extreme Pros, a hotshoe shotgun mic holder and a Gepe card vault.