Francheska's Cowgirl B-Day

For Francheska's 8th birthday, she had a cowgirl themed party at the house. Themed parties are awesome. I haven't been to many when I was younger but it's a great way to have fun and play dress up.

The kids had a ton of activities like a scavenger hunt, potato sack races, and a pin the moustache on Cheska game going on and of course with lots of prizes.

It was a bit windy that day as it has been almost all week but that didn't stop anyone from enjoying the sun and hanging out.

Here's a few pix and videos from the party.  

I should have shot more stills with the 20mm. Very fun and capable lens.

Seems like because of song choice, the vid may not be playable on a mobile device but works on a desktop/laptop. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuPbdMpanOk
https://vimeo.com/64179646

Side Notes:

Lighting was inconsistent which made it difficult to set my exposure each time before recording. Especially difficult since the GF2 doesn't have manual ISO in video which also accounts for slight flicker in some shots. Used a fixed ND filter outdoors with the SLR Magic 35mm 1.4 in order to keep aperture wide in bright conditions. A variable ND filter would have suited much better in this situations.

Focusing was a lot easier this time around with the SLR Magic since I've been using it for a while now. Even the slight focus hunting I do is smooth and natural looking. My hand held pan shots are smoother now as well. No jarring movements. all shots were hand held 

I was going to use my Zoom H1 for sound but it would have been tedious to sync audio manually. I'm thinking of getting PluralEyes to make it less daunting and so I'd be more apt to use the external recorder. Nonetheless, the in cam stereo mic was solid. 

I had a few stuttering cuts in the vid but not sure exactly why. Possibly due to too many effects in a clip or maybe the video format I used to edit. We'll see. 

I didn't really need titling for this video but for future reference, I gotta play around with creating cooler titles. 

I didn't adjust color. All I did was use RGB curves to make highlights brighter n low lights darker a bit. Also I'll try to get my hands on Magic Bullet Looks or Colorista so I'd be more inclined to color correct/grade.

2 things on my wishlist is a good 12mm and a 2nd body so I can permanently affix my 20mm onto my GF2 and another lens like the SLR Magic onto a GH3 or possibly a GX2 whenever that will be out. This will allow for quicker and more efficient shooting.

All in all, fun video to edit.