! Feel free to browse the main points since this is such a long article:
- You need a high end computer to edit high end video
- You need a flat lens to shoot with a GoPro underwater
- Choosing video editing and conversion software
- Choosing photo editing software
- Image processing techniques
- Camera Selection Part 1 - Do you need a GoPro?
- Camera Selection Part 2 - Consider a point & shoot with a housing
1) You need a high end computer to edit high end video:
Having seen friends transfer their camcorder video to their laptops and stitch some movies together in the past (several years ago), I figured that I might only have a little lag and jumpy playback to endure while editing. I was completely wrong. Even after shooting 720p video (great, but reduced quality) and further converting it to a reduced format and resolution, my video editing software (a.k.a. Non-Liner Editing system, or simply an "NLE") would simply crash after shortly after I added any of the video files to a project. Thinking harder about those videos my friends produced, the size of the videos were always pretty small.
If you plan to invest in a camera, make sure you have a computer that can handle editing high definition video. Otherwise, be prepared to upload full clips directly to YouTube, etc. Be advised that I will immediately down-vote and close your video if the clip begins and ends with you fiddling with the camera. Some form of basic editing is a must - it doesn't take much.
I'm in the process of building a computer that will hopefully be able to handle editing 1080p video. Here are some recommendations:
- CPU - The Intel Core i7 series is currently the industry standard, but it comes with a high price. The i5 line is known to get you by.
I'm interested in trying to go with an AMD processor for around $100 less. A great AMD processor seems to be the Phenom II X6 1090t. It has six cores running @ 3.2 GHz. Very fast. - RAM - Memory is relatively inexpensive and the costs will continue to decline. Start with at least 8 GB (if not 12 or 16 GB) if you're looking into a new machine. Make sure your motherboard can upgrade to 32 gigs for future upgrades, but 8-16 gigs will get you started. Shoot above the mid-point of the frequency rating for the motherboard's supported ram speed. 1600-1800 MHz should be plenty of speed for a while; moving into the 2000 MHz range is just costing more without really providing that much more power.
- Motherboard - Upgrade potential is key! Unless you're getting top of the line components, try to find a motherboard that will offer flexibility to upgrade your RAM or your processor in the future. For instance, if your AMD processor is socket AM3, think about getting an AM3+ motherboard. Research if you're going to need to upgrade to dual video cards (I will not for this build). Think about other PCI expansion cards (sound, serial ports, RAID, TV Tuner cards, etc.) you may need in the future and make sure there's enough room for them. Remember, a powerful video card will usually take up two bay spaces in a computer case and it may cover a critical PCI slot.
- Hard Drives - If you can afford a solid state drive (SSD), great. They're incredibly fast, and I've even heard of people using two of those at RAID 0, which seems almost unimaginably fast in 2012. Use one of those around 100 GB or so for $100 to run your operating system and your NLE (video editing software) but you'll need at least slave drive (hopefully two, running Raid 1 for redundancy) for real storage.
Otherwise, I suggest using 2 Western Digital (Segate drives are inexpensive however they're lower quality and have had a high failure rate for my friends and I) hard drives that run at least 7200 RPM.
! Upon receiving my two WD hard drives, I found that one was dead on arrival. This goes to show that all hard drives have a failure rate (although it's quite low), but it illustrates how important RAID 1 and other data redundancy strategies are. See my upcoming post on building a building a DIY video editing computer for more information on this hard drive failure.
- Run them together using Raid 0 for increased efficiency and speed. This means that the computer will treat them as one hard drive, but it can write to both at the same time; thus it can write twice the information at once.
- Video Card - A video card is essentially a mini computer with its own processor and memory whose sole function is to process and output video to a monitor. Whenever possible, use a video card that is not built into the motherboard. These are easier to upgrade, and using video card that is separate from the motherboard will divert the processing load of rendering video away from the CPU so your main processor can concentrate on running your operating system and NLE.
I've been thinking about the EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti because it's relatively inexpensive (≈$120) and it has some power to it. If you're thinking about using Adobe Premier with this card, you will need to alter a registry file to unlock these non-supported video cards to be able to use non-supported graphics card properly (check out a list of supported graphics cards for CS6).
I've read recommendations to use the GTX 460 (identical to the GTX560, but cheaper) with your intro video editing workstation.
If you have the money (starting around $250-300), use Adobe's list of supported graphics cards as a guide to begin selecting your video card.
2) You need a flat lens to shoot with a GoPro underwater
! As of October 17, 2012, the new GoPro Hero3 series waterproof cases come with flat lens standard, negating the need for additional equipment.
For the same reason that humans need a mask to see properly under water, the GoPro Hero & Hero2 cameras standard curved lens produces a blurred, unfocused image under water. High end camera housings have precisely aligned hardware that overcome this problem. The GoPro simply needs a mask (a flat lens and an air space between the water and the camera) to make full use of the HD capabilities.
Since GoPro finally released their version (I waited almost two years for the official GoPro Dive Housing), I would recommend their flat lens housing, however there are a number of options available to overcome this problem (don't forget, you can make your own):
Official GoPro Dive Housing ≈ $50
 | |
|---|---|
| Pros: | Cons: |
| • Official / guaranteed (to a point) • Fair price • No vignetting at any resolution (although some of my photos have slight shading around the corners which I don't mind) • Looks awesome/professional • Rated to ≈200' | • Currently no official red/cyan filter • I've heard any of these housings can begin to crack/leak around 140' so I'd recommend considering an insurance plan to help cover it for any deep(>100')/deco diving |
Mako (lens replacement only) - ≈ $20
 | |
|---|---|
| Pros: | Cons: |
| • Inexpensive • Simple • Looks almost identical to regular, curved lens | • I'm unsure of water resistance for deep/long duration diving • Failure not covered by GoPro • Viginetting around the image |
Blurfix Housing ≈ $75
 | |
|---|---|
| Pros: | Cons: |
| • Removable filters (red/UV/polarizing/etc.) that fit standard camera lens sizes • Looks good/professional • Comes with replaceable desiccant balls in the lens to absorb moisture (rad idea!), keeping the lens free of "fog" on the inside | • A bit expensive • Tested to 130' - it's important to have a buffer. 200-300' is preferred for 100' diving • Vignetting @ 960p |
Eye of Mine Housings
| |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pros: | Cons: | ||||
| • Pro version tested to 200' for 1 hour | • Very expensive • Looks like shit • Vignetting @ 960p • Reflects light from the camera body onto back of lens and can distort video | ||||
Backscatter housing ≈ $120
 | |
|---|---|
| Pros: | Cons: |
| • Pressure tested to 180' (same ballpark as official version) • Looks good. Solid. • Adapter for filters • No reflection issues | • Super expensive • Filters not included (dumb) |
3) Choosing video editing and conversion software
! Windows Movie Maker will NOT edit video straight from a GoPro or most other HD video cameras without a format conversion.GoPro and other cameras that shoot HD video in a highly compressed video format called H.264. The file format that the user will be most familar with is .mp4 or .mov which is more of a container than the actual format, but don't worry about that. Read more about the H.264 codec or just assume that this HD video format allows high quality video to stream very efficiently over the Internet. Examples are Flash video (YouTube, Vimeo, Google's video chat), iTunes content, broadcast television, cable & satellite TV, etc.
In the same way that a computer needs specific software to display an image, play an MP3, or compose a text document, you need special software to be able to read (decode & uncompress) the .mp4 (MPEG-4 / H.264) format. Thankfully most operating systems come with a player built in to read this format, but sometimes you have to go download Quicktime / VLC to use as video players. Otherwise you may need to just download a codec or update your current software (like Windows Media Player, etc.) to view video that you shot.
Editing video is another story. Most video editing software cannot edit the MP4/H.264 that the GoPro/Canon/Nikon shoot for video, so it is often necessary to convert the video to something your computer can handle natively. GoPro offers their own software package for free called CineForm Studio that will convert your video or stitch together your time lapse into .AVI or .MOV file formats, then it'll allow you to do some basic editing, trimming, and color correction.
Otherwise, I suggest using another free tool called Format Factory. It let's you easily convert anything to anything. Seriously. It's fantastic. It does a very good job of converting video between compressed (.mp4 /.mov) and uncompressed (.wmv / .avi / .mov) formats without loosing too much quality. You can also choose to reduce the quality and save some space and processing power if necessary.
 |
| Easily convert between video formats using Format Factory |
From here there are a few paths you can take on your way to begin trimming the ends of your video, stitching clips together, and overlaying music and adding effects to your movies.
Review a list of the most popular NLE
- Free - Go low budget. Convert your video and reduce the quality a bit and use Windows Movie Maker. As long as you your computer can handle the video you throw at it (or you are close to finding nirvana in your meditation sessions), WMM is actually pretty effective. Forget have much control over placing text or other visual layers/objects over your video, though.
! Update: Adobe just released a free copy of CS2 for download - no strings attached! That's a free copy of Premiere (video editing), Photoshop (raster graphics), Illustrator (vector graphics), and more. It's somewhat dated, but much of the most powerful functionality you can expect to use today is available. This can be a great tool to learn how to use this software.
Another higher end free option is Lightworks: an open source, professional NLE. I've heard that some of the more powerful tools are only available for purchase. I have yet to try the free/light version.
- Not too expensive - Use a decent editing workstation and use Magix Movie Edit Pro ($70-130), Sony Vegas Movie Studio ($50-150), or Adobe Primere Elements ($60-100)
- Higher end - Sony Vegas Pro (over $300), or Adobe Premiere Pro (≈$500) or add After Effects with CS6 for closer to $2,000.
- Under $2000 - Get a Mac and use iMovie. You're paying way too much, but they're great quality and you will definitely get what you pay for with Macs; you'll be happy. Also, no additional assembly required!
- Over $2000 - Invest thousands in a serious work station, GPU video cards, and use Adobe Creative Suite or Final Cut Pro
4) Choosing photo editing software
I highly recommend using Google Picasa for intro photo editing. The software is free, powerful, and highly organized. It's great if you're a beginner with no knowledge of photo editing, all the way up to playing with impressive image touch-up tools, color adjustments, fun filters, and photo grids/collages.
 |
| Free, powerful photo editing software |
- Basic fixes:
Straighten the image! A grid is overlaid for reference. Make sure your horizon or your subject are aligned properly using the slider bar.
Remove any red eyes.
If there is minimal backscatter or any other unsightly spots that you would like to "photoshop" out of the image, use the Retouch tool to replace unwanted marks/areas across an image - similar to a clone tool. Anything from a blemish on someone's face to a shadow of the camera creeping into a shot, to an annoying kid in the background can be quickly removed with the Retouch tool.
Crop out excess scenery if it takes emphasis off of the subject. I am a fan of using the background as the main subject, but a busy shot can take the focus away from fine detail on a reef or an interesting formation, etc.
 |
| Begin with basic fixes and touch-ups |
- Tune the image and illuminate the scene:
Adjust the Fill Light, Hilights, Shadows, Color Temperature, and (especially for underwater photography) apply a Neutral Color adjustment. Start by using the magic wand button (aka "I'm feeling lucky button") to see what the software thinks will make the image look best (basically, an algorithm attempts to normalize the distribution on the histogram by adjusting these settings). Feel free to undo that statistical guess and/or make further adjustments until you're happy. You can always undo all edits and start over.
 |
| Use "Tuning" controls to bring out some missed detail |
- Fill Light - Controls the overall brightness of an image. Be careful if there are many areas that are already bright or there is a high contrasts between the bright areas and darker sections that are being illuminated with this control, as the bright areas can quickly become overexposed. This shifts color values to the right side of the histogram. Highlights - Increases the range between bright and dark colors, making a richer, vivid image. This shifts the span of color space beyond the upper bounds of the histogram, potentially overexposing certain images. Shadows - Amplify the dark areas -- often representing shadows -- across an image. The color space is shifted beyond the lower bounds of this histogram; inverse to the method used on the Highlights control. Color Temperature - Tune a warmer (more red) or cooler (more blue) tone to the image. Moving the slider to the right (warmer/red) compresses the color distribution on the histogram. Moving to the left (cooler/blue) expands the colors Neutral Color Picker - Select which spot is the "whitest" and the image is adjusted accordingly. This is especially important when filming underwater where the color spectrum is reduced. A blue or green tint is guaranteed to be present at any depth without the use of significant lighting. This is this post-production version of adding a red filter to a camera rig and is a very easy way to restore a natural appearance to a significantly green/blue image. You might need to Undo this and select a few different spots on the image until you are satisfied. Use this along the Color Temperature slider for further adjustment.
- Adjust the texture of an image:
There are a few specific tools out of the 36 total processing tools on the last three tabs that can adjust the focus and bring out shapes like fish that are hiding behind poor visibility in the water.
Sharpen or Soften the texture using these tools on tabs 3 & 5, respectively.
Applying a touch of the "HDR-ish" tool on tab 4 can really help bring out the texture of a reef or a fish through poor underwater visibility. Further, it gives a unique, highly processed look to a photo with vivid colors. Read more about the High Dynamic Range photography if you're interested.
 |
| The last three tabs are a variety of 36 different filters and fun effects |
- Adjust the colors... again:
Now that your image has an improved color balance and texture, you can further process the photo to really make it pop. Here are a few of my favorite filters:
Graduated Tint (at the bottom right of tab 3) - Use this especially for beach shots or photographs where the sky is present to give the sky a more rich color that may be washed out from excess light on a bright day, or from a slightly overcast sky. This tool will apply a selectable color tint to the top portion of the image and it will gradually fade into the natural color of the rest of the image. Turn the
Boost (on tab 5) - This tool is great for emphasizing rich colors across the image. Move the slider all the way to the left and experiment with adding small amounts of this tool at a time. Just a touch can be plenty.
- If necessary, finish with a wild filter:
Play around with any of the other filters. Especially for underwater photography, consider a standard black & white photo for deep dives where shades of blue are essentially the only color that will be observed. I find it difficult to view a rich blue photo changed to black and white, so consider applying the black & white filter early in the processing, and move on to another photo. Come back when your eyes will be fresh and your retinas can readjust to a colorless image.
Additionally, play with Focal B&W to zero-in on a vivid color to highlight.
The 1960's filter gives an image a softer photo with some interesting yellows and greens (which looks great on beach shots with some bright, overexposed areas against a lot of water).
For underwater shots, adding a Vignette, or using a filter with a shaded/darkened border can give a tunnel vision effect, giving the feeling of wearing a mask underwater if the image is in landscape orientation (wide, rather than tall). Be sure to think about how the image is Cropped to focus the attention on a specific object like a fish or a shell in the center of the image.
- Practice!
There's no single correct answer to creativity. Apply these fixes and filters to a series of pictures. Try to make a series of photos flow well with each other by attempting to match color schemes over a few photos. Try transitioning from a very natural looking scene to a highly processed image with wild, vivid colors across a few images as you descend on a reef.
Search galleries from other photographers online and try to recreate their work. Make a copy of your processing, and start again from scratch. Compare the same photo with different styles.
- Do you do cool things (don't worry if you're actually good at doing them or not)?
- Would you like to see those things through a fisheye lens?
- If you were to bring sensitive electronics with you while you do your things, will the electronics likely be destroyed?
- Is anyone remotely interested in seeing what you do?
- Do you have a Facebook/YouTube/Vimeo/Flikr/Twitter/Instagram/etc. account?
 | |
|---|---|
| Pros: | Cons: |
| • Super cool and easy to use • Very small/light so it can fit anywhere you try to mount it • There are lots of mounts (suction cup, head/chest/wrist/base plate/helmet/surfboard/snowboard/handlebar/rollbar mounts, etc.) that allow you to get very createive • It can take a beating • See the world in new ways • High speed video mode allows you to critique your techniques in sports, etc. There used to be up to 60 fps, but the Hero3 Black has modes that shoot up to 120 fps in HD, and 240 fps in a non-HD mode! • It's very simple to create cool time lapse videos. There are a range of rates from half a second to 60 seconds. • It shoots amazing video, and really impressive photos. Seriously, that fish-eye lens is really cool if you've never used one before • Wi-Fi capabilities are cool. The Wi-Fi Remote is easier to use than looking at the camera to check settings, and the higher Hero3 models can use an iPhone as a viewfinder • The new Mic Adapter allows the use of better microphone setups. Very cool. | • Your current computer may not be powerful enough to edit video • A flat lens is imperative to shoot underwater (scuba, etc.), but the Hero3 series come standard with a flat lens housing. Previous HD Hero & Hero2 versions require the add-on dive housing • Get used to the fisheye effect if this is your main camera • No flash / strobe sync • The old LCD screen and the new touch screen are $80 add-ons. The fisheye lens provides a much wider field of view than regular cameras, so it's not absolutely imperative to use a viewfinder but it definitely helps set up shots. Also, it's a little hard to see the older LCD screen in bright sunlight (not sure if the new touch screen is improved) • Mounts and add-ons are addicting. This can become an expensive hobby in itself, so make sure you use it • The Original HD Hero does not perform very well in low light: the image turns to distorted pink and white hot spots. The Hero 2 is supposed to be a bit better with this • SD card not included. I recommend at least an 8 GB class 10 card. A 4 GB fills up rapidly, but will work just fine. • The small, light camera will shake like crazy in the water, but it can easily be mounted to a camera tray with some weight |
! Here were the three options prior to October, 2012 for choosing a GoPro camera:7) Camera Selection Part 2 - Consider a point & shoot with a housing For the amount of money you'll drop on a GoPro rig (camera + LCD backplate + dive housing + mounting accessories = at least $300 to $400), you should consider a simple Canon point & shoot camera with matching housing. Most Canon point & shoots have a good, dedicated "underwater mode" that automatically adjusts the white balance for blue/green saturation, while still giving plenty of room for manual control. I suggest browsing the features and comparing a few different cameras and find a matching Canon or Ikelite underwater housing.$150 - HD Hero 960:The 960 is no longer available as of October-ish, 2012!
- Shoots up to 960p (which is still really good, and is a higher resolution than I've been using for 2 years. I'm perfectly happy shooting 720p. 1080p not included
- 5MP photos
- Does not shoot 60 frames per second. I really like the high speed video for slowing down action sports.
- No bus port for add-ons like a bigger battery pack/LCD back plate/WiFi accessory/3D/etc.
$200/$130 HD Hero:The HD Hero is no longer available as of October 17, 2012
$300 - HD Hero2 (includes selected accessory kits):
- +$30 for the surf accessory kit / +$40 for the helmet kit / + $40 for the motorsports kit (the suction cup mount is amazingly strong!
- Shoots 1080p / 960p / 720p HD HD video
- 5MP photos
- Shoots high speed video (60 fps) @ 720p
- Bus port included for expansion packs
- Improved lens
- Improved image processor
- Is said to do better in low light
- 11MP photos
 |
| Canon PowerShot ELPH 100HS |
 |
| Canon WP-DC39 waterproof housing for the ELPH 100HS |
- Automatic - though manual controls are still available
- Beach - designed for bright, sunny scenes over highly reflective surfaces (sand/glare)
- Underwater - rapid white balance, which does a great job at removing blue/green overtones
