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Stop Flashing Your Clients
Stop Flashing Your Clients – Taking Better Cell Phone Photos

We live in a visual era and growing your brand means that you have to document and create images of your goods and services. Thanks to technology, it’s much easier to do. Whip out your phone and snap away. The problem is, we’ve moved on from the early days of the internet where a dark video or photo that’s poorly lit is acceptable. Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn have raised the bar in how we share our lives. Sure, there are issues with presenting a fake lifestyle, but that’s a post for another day. I want to focus on small business owners and the photos you’re using to market your business.

Nerd Speak

The nerdy stuff –
- Light travels in a straight line. (Rectilinear Propagation)
- The only way to make light deviate is to put a dense object in its path. (Refraction)
- Because light travels in a straight line unless refracted, it will bounce off a reflective object at the same angle it hit it. (Specular Reflection)
- When shooting in auto, your camera will expose (adjust lighting) for the brightest parts of your image.
What Does That Mean

It means that when you take a photo, the light your camera uses to “see” the image and make the photo determines how your images look. Soft light is always better. Ok, it’s not always, but, in this application, always. Because your camera both exposes for available light, it darkens areas that are underexposed or dark. Your flash makes one area of your image really bright, that is the area reflected back to your camera and the camera only “sees” that area.

If you look at the pretzels above, the left image has no flash, the right does. On the right, the table is dark and there’s a big bright spot reflecting back to the camera. The pretzels also look unflattering and almost two dimensional because of such a bright, harsh flash.

The image on the left, because it’s exposed for all the light, has more depth and is visually appealing. The entire image is properly balanced. Both of those images are raw and straight from the phone. Below are the edited ones. I used the exact same editing settings I do for all my Instagram photos that come from my phone. Even edited, the ones on the right look better, because the original image was better.

TURN OFF YOUR FLASH!

Below are some flowers I shot here at the THINK Center, which while a gorgeous space, has some very harsh lighting if you’re looking to shoot something. Why? Because like most households, all the lighting is above and creates downward shadows. Which makes it perfect for making my point. Now that you know that the flash makes backgrounds dark, you can tell which ones have the flash on.

The images with the flash, because it’s so harsh, lose all the detail and depth out of the flowers. Also, the color in the photos is dull and unappealing. I left these untouched because most small businesses that are posting aren’t editing their photos. While these were just off the cuff, which would you rather use to promote your product.

Please, turn the flash off

I hope you find this helpful and it improves your social media posting and engagement. If you need help with your branding or content creation, give us a shout!
April 12, 2019
When Your Wedding Goes off Schedule

When Your Wedding Goes Off Schedule

Putting together a wedding schedule takes military precision. From the time breakfast arrives, to coordinated transportation, to when the cake cutting happens. The problem is weddings are a day-long live event, which means something is bound to go wrong. This was the case with Carissa and Randy’s special day.

Wedding Schedule Disaster

Most weddings are usually running 10-15 minutes behind. Flowers were late, make-up took too long, someone took a wrong turn. It happens! If you have a great wedding planner they’ll plan for little delays here and there. It’s what they do.

Unfortunately for Carissa and Randy, they ended up being over an hour behind schedule!

The original plan was for pictures and video of the bridesmaids getting ready and the first look to start at 11:30. We’d spend an hour shooting and then head to the ceremony at 12:30 and the bridesmaids’ shuttle bus would leave at 12:45 for a 1pm ceremony.

It was 12:45 when I headed to the church, not to bad. Then the wait began.

1:00pm, 1:15pm, 1:30pm. No bridesmaids. Worry sets in and questions start. Come to find out that the shuttle bus broke down on the way to the bridesmaids and the back-up shuttle did as well. Around 2:10 the pastor let us know that the bridesmaids were on the way and they’d be walking off the shuttle and into the church.

While the wedding went off with no problem once the bride arrived, there was a scheduling issue. The rest of the day was now behind by an hour and a half. This meant the photo session, both at the church and reception, was going to have to run a lot faster. Why? The reception venue and DJ are expecting us at a specific time. Plus, the reception has it’s own schedule and set end time!

Luckily it worked out. We worked with the photographers to make sure that the family members needed for photos where lined up and ready to go so it expedited the process. We also alter how we shot to compliment what the photographer needed, cutting the photo session time down. While dinner did start a little late, once the reception and dancing was underway, no one remembered that we were running behind and everyone had an amazing time.

While you want to make sure you plan for little delays make sure the wedding vendors you’re working with have the flexibility and personalities that allow for quick thinking if things go very wrong. This is one reason we don’t have a set amount of hours we’re with you. We cover the day because we’re there to not only capture your day but to help it go smoothly. And sometimes that means adjusting quickly to disasters!

Contact us today to see how we can help make your day even more special.

March 19, 2019
Summer 2019 Internship

Summer 2019 Internship

Park Multimedia is currently looking for a few summer interns. The internship will focus on content creation and brand marketing. If you’re looking to get coffee and breeze through the summer, this one ain’t for you!

Our interns will work directly with us on our summer shoots and learn from first hand experience. And by learn, we do mean LEARN. You’ll be working with a former professor who’s taught everything from basic video production to social media management.

While this is an unpaid internship, you will have the chance to engage with local businesses and entrepreneurs. You’ll also have artifacts for your portfolio when the summer is over.

The hours will vary as this a media based internship, so we’ll work with your availability when scheduling.

Lastly, while we don’t have a studio, we do work out of a co-working office space that we’ll be meeting at when not out on shoots. The bulk of the work will be field related, but there will also be editing and post scheduling that will need to be done as well. For more information, read over our internship call.

If you’re interested in applying, please send us a cover letter, resume and link to your online portfolio. Your resume can be part of portfolio if it’s already there.

Accepting applications through March 31, 2019.

March 12, 2019
Cargill Solutions – Display Videos

Cargill Solutions – Display Videos

One of our recent video shoots took us to Hazleton, PA to work with Cargill Solutions. They were looking for a series of different display videos to run in-house for the employees. We met with them and figured out the best game plan for shooting and got ready.

The goal was to create three sets of display videos. First being overall welcome to the Hazleton facility. They had a visit from corporate coming up and wanted all levels of the staff involved in welcoming them.

The second was a series of correct/incorrect videos on differing things around the facility to reinforce procedures and rules. These were fairly simple and straight forward.

Lastly were a set of safety welcome videos. These are a way to welcome employees in each day and stress certain areas of safety (chemical, electrical, forklifts, etc).

Display Videos

Overall the shoot was fairly simple and everyone was great. The edit took some finessing as each video needed subtitles as the facility has a high rate of Spanish speaking employees. So making sure the translations were correct and the right spots took a few revisions. The last hurdle was the monitors themselves. Keeping the quality high enough for broadcast, but within the limits of the individual monitors took some trial and error, but we got it right in the end!

Contact us for your corporate video solutions!

March 6, 2019
Volunteers In Medicine – Event Photography

Annual Event Photography – Volunteers In Medicine

Recently, we had the chance to work with the Volunteers in Medicine of Luzerne County and photograph their 2019 Annual Luncheon. We had a great time and got the chance to hear from some of the patients who’d VIM has helped.

[flickr_set id=”72157679059830738″]

About Volunteers in Medicine

VIM offers no cost health care to those with low to no income. It’s a great organization and comes in handy for everyone. If you’re lacking insurance and need some help, I’d highly suggest finding your local VIM.

The annual meeting and luncheon was their way of giving acknowledgement to all the individuals and organizations that make the work the do possible. It was a really great event to cover.

If you’ve got an event or party that you’re looking to get photos of, shoot us a message!

March 4, 2019
NEPA Wedding Videography – Meg and Nick

NEPA can be a bit of a weird place to define. As a transplant, I still get confused as to ‘where’ I am in NEPA when you start to get into the smaller cities and communities. You can walk across the street in what seems like a neighborhood and actually be entering a whole other town. This is what makes NEPA Wedding Videography some what tricky.

Because the towns are so close together, often I end up spending the day zig-zagging across counties getting from location to location. It’s not a complaint, just a very weird adjustment!

NEPA Wedding Videography

Keeping this in mind, we turn to Meg and Nick’s wedding day. Luckily there were two of us as we began the day in the Back Mountain and Wyoming. The guys had a blast getting ready. Literally. Luckily, only a beer can or two were harmed when the shotgun went off.

The ceremony took place in the lovely St. Theresa’s Church in Shavertown, followed by photos in Francis Slocum Park. And we ended the day in Wilkes-Barre at the Grove in the Woodlands resort.

While it wasn’t the most we’ve traveled between wedding day locations, it was a good chunk of driving. While heading all over NEPA to shoot can be a bit much, it does make for a great video. Getting to see all the places in the Valley and highlight places close to couple makes it worth the effort!

If you’re looking to get married in NEPA, let us know!

February 28, 2019
Looking for a Vineyard Wedding – Gibson Wedding Highlight

If you’re looking for a vineyard wedding, you must see The Monterre Vineyards in the Lehigh Valley, which offers gorgeous views for wedding videography. It’s an amazing venue that offers full services with lovely spots for the ceremony, a spacious reception venue, views to make even the most special day even more memorable. Shoshanna and Jonathan were a fun and adventurous couple and shooting their wedding was a great time.

Vineyard Wedding

We can’t say enough about Monterre Vineyards! The beautiful vines, amazing views, and great staff made shooting Shoshanna and Jonathan’s day so easy. Monterre has a coordinated and focused staff and only does one wedding at a time, and even has it’s own DJ set up. The couple had a fairly large (and fun) bridal party, which can sometimes be an issue, but with so much space to roam and rows of vines to shoot in, it was easy to be creative and get lost in the moment!

Lehigh Valley Wedding Videography

As always, if you’re looking for a wedding videographer in NEPA or the surrounding area, send us a note! We’d love to capture your special day!

February 19, 2019
Wedding Videography – Paupst Wedding

Jackie and Dave are great people and we had an amazing time doing their wedding videography! Wedding and ceremony took place at The Barn at Glistening Pond, which offers a unique setting and amazing views.

Paupst Wedding Videography

The day started off a little worrisome with the weather as it’s been one of the rainiest summers of the last few years. We lucked out that whenever we popped outside, the rain would stop. About an hour before the ceremony the rain came to the end and the sun peaked out. As usual, we follow the photogs around and do our best to work with them. We were blessed to be with the Knot Just Any Other Day and able to capture some great video while they snapped away.

As always, if you’re looking for a wedding videographer in NEPA or the surrounding area, send us a note! We’d love to capture your special day!

January 15, 2019
How to Flip Video for IGTV
Vertical video is catching on, but if you’re a traditional filmmaker or have old content to share in IGTV, this tutorial will show you how to flip video for IGTV so your content can be see in its widescreen glory!

I completely fumble through the wording as my mouth and mind clearly work at two different paces, but the process works as shown in the video. Regardless of your encoder/compressor, the steps are pretty simple (below).

The idea is you have a video that’s 1920px wide and you need to not only rotate it but also crop it. Rotating will only show the middle 1080px of your image, giving you a 1080×1080 square with black flags on the side.

After rotating, you’ll need to expand the top and bottom (this is actually typing in a negative value) both by -420. This add 840px to you 1080px high image, making 1920px high.

Lastly, you’ll need to crop both sides in (this is actually typing in a positive value) 420px from each side. This subtracts 840px from you 1920px wide image, making 1080px wide.

This way you’ve rotated, expanded the height, and cropped the width giving you the exact proportions for IGTV!

Flip Video for IGTV
1. Rotate 90°CW
2. Crop both the top and bottom (negative) -420.
3. Crop the left and right (positive) 420
If you need help shooting your IGTV video or looking on how to get started creating a channel, let us know!

MPEG Streamclip (FREE)
Music by ThaSilentPartner
January 10, 2019
Wedding Video – Breger Highlight

Lindsay and Matt Breger Wedding Highlight

When Lindsay, an old friend, reached out looking for a wedding video I was thrilled. Then terrified. I’ve shot hundreds of weddings, but shooting one for a friend can be a bit scary. Not because of the process or anything technical, more keeping your focus! We managed to focus and capture Lindsay’s magical day while still finding time to catch up and reminsce.

Wedding Video – Breger Highlight

It rained terribly the night before and there was some worry about the wedding venue, the Rodale Institute, might be waterlogged. We lucked out with a gorgeous day that was just dry enough to proceed. Rodale is an amazing venue and we had a blast celebrating. They have a great repurposed old barn we used for the ceremony and a lovely garden pavilion where we had the ceremony

Looking for a wedding videographer, contact us and we’ll see what we can do for you!

January 8, 2019