These are great, pink!👍🏻👏🏻 Major kudos for all your help with the community center. I totally enjoyed watching them, and now I want some pasta/pesto and lemonade with herbs and black raspberries.

FWIW, I often break spaghetti in half.😊

Nice news - how cool is that!

Well done, it’s nice that you are engaged in community work in the shadow of where your mother was also active. Hope your project continues !

lpink, I love your project! You’re one of those people who makes a difference in this world.

The pesto looks yummy, perfect consistency!

hey I recognize that FP!

Very decent presentations. Much better than those phony TV cooking shows. I actually believe in the recipes you demonstrated.

Just a very small technical suggestion, may be whoever was filming can use a shotgun microphone (not that expensive), the background traffic noise would be much less distracting.

dcarch

Yes John, you were there in spirit!! The gift that keeps on giving and giving!

I have only the most primitive materials to work with. A nice camera but we're still learning the bells and whistles. We tried using the tripod but it just didn't have the flexibility. We also tried filming in several spots on the grounds, and that spot had the least issue with lighting. Almost every spot there had noise issues, some had wind issues too. My camera guy was pretty good with his transitions not being too choppy, but the focusing left something to be desired too.

And then there is the issue of the editing . . . My dream is to create a "makers space" at the community center where we could have all kinds of digital hardware and software for patrons. I visited one at a nearby library and was enthralled.

However, there are some structural issues that need to be addressed in the building first. We'd also like to create an historical archive, and also a teaching kitchen. We have the rudiments of the kitchen but are waiting on materials to come in to finish it. Same with the interior, waiting on proper fire safety doors. We are going to configure them so they match the style of the original doors, which open in instead of out.

https://www.coldwaterbeechhouse.org/

You can also get noise canceling lapel microphone.

dcarch

::hanging my head:: I tried. I really did. You're doing such a good and worthwhile thing! But I couldn't last a minute with the traffic noise and shadow. I know you were dealing with the best of what was available to you, but my senses were overwhelmed. A couple of reflectors, maybe a ring light, and a good mic would help a lot. Maybe some pros or friends of the center might donate some used equipment?

lpink, have you talked to the Michigan Historic Preservation Network (MHPN) Michigan Historic Preservation Network – Michigan Historic Preservation Network (mhpn.org) They may have resources/contacts for funding, tax credits, volunteers, etc.

A lapel noise canceling mike requires no software, and can cost less than $25.00, that can cut out most background noise.

A high power rechargeable LED photo light can be less than $50.00, also no software needed. you do need to use a tripod.

dcarch

How does the noise canceling mike interact with the video camera if not with software or a blue tooth connection of some type? Doesn't it then need to be attached to feed the audio in to the camera? In that case, in certain situations it wouldn't be very useful since it would impede movement or get in the way. Just wondering. At some point, when I have the time, I might invest in the light. Need to know more about the mic. Also at some point I might get a new laptop and software for video editing. WAY too busy right now.

Depends on the camera, some cameras allow you to plug in your microphone.

Some microphones are wireless.

Or, you just use a voice recorder, and replace the voice track from the video when you are doing video editing.

General (not studio) video software are inexpensive and easy to use.

dcarch

It's an older camera. Not sure if it can accommodate a wireless microphone. I have no idea how to replace a voice track. Wish I did because then I could dub out some errors. I used to have video editing software on my old computer. My current laptop is used and is not as nice. It took me hours to just figure out how to clip the videos and then splice them together using an online editor. Not going there again anytime soon. I'm losing some of my assistant volunteers, they are going back to high school and have part time jobs. So even more work for me alone. I also have to do all the fundraising and all the garden work now.

Does the non-profit have (or can it buy) an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, for the video-editing application?

I used Creative Cloud to splice the videos. We are raising money to rehabilitate the grounds and inside. It's going to take a lot of dosh. So we don't have any money for other stuff. I might buy something like Creative Cloud for myself. Do you use it John? Is it an online thing that you have to log into? I was wondering why it was called Creative "Cloud." The freeware I just used online. I like the idea of something online because my rinky dinky laptop has limited storage space and memory.

I have used the video editor in Creative Cloud, a little, and also the video editor in Apple’s iMovie, a little. Both were fine for my limited use (editing dance video, back when DS was dancing) and iMovie is, I think, still free with a Mac. Are you a PC or a Mac user?

I have a PC.

With the help of a high school volunteer, I discovered the camera has a jack for a blue tooth microphone, so now I have to find one that is compatible and where to buy it. Ah the joys of modern consumer life . . .

The volunteer took a course at the local voc. tech. center in using computers in marketing, but she only had experience using the software and hardware in the classroom, had very little knowledge even of the maker of such stuff, let alone where to purchase it or how to set it up. So much for the computer savvy youth. Not her fault, it's common problem.

So far the wireless microphones I've been seeing are quite expensive. At least for my Fujipix HS50 EXR camera. Seems like the part that sends and picks up the signal is the expense. Not sure if its called "bluetooth" I'm seeing the word "lavalier."

I don't know video editors in Windows (my work computers are Windows/PC but my personal laptop is MacOS/Mac).

My friends who know PCs recommended the free version of DaVinci Resolve DaVinci Resolve 18 | Blackmagic Design or the ClipChamp video editor included with Windows 10 and 11 Create films with a video editor - Microsoft Support

I had a video editing software on my last laptop but my new one is an older, refurbished model that I am supposedly only using temporarily until I have time to research and get one more designed for video recording and editing. I have to hook my laptop up to a microscope for a class I am scheduled to take and theoretically could take videos of what's under the scope if I want to invest in that skill set . . . I haven't started with that mess yet, don't have the microscope either, still trying to clear lab space in my home office.

Meanwhile the only software I have to edit videos on my laptop is "Photos" which I think is a MS product. It will clip videos but not splice them together. For that I went online to CreativeCloud but that was quite unwieldy since it required uploading and downloading at every little tweak. I'm not real good at this kind of fussy thing . . .

I ordered a microphone with seemingly "universal" plug in jacks for several different types of ports so hopefully it will work with the camera port. I really wasn't keen on figuring out all the different names for the different ports. I'm hoping the USB port on the camera will interface, or one of the other ports, there are several, one that even looks like the old jack type.

Except once in a while, like all of you, I do patron restaurants, otherwise I am not in or connected to the food or the eating businesses. But sometime ago I accidentally had a chance to see the inside view of that world.

I had a chance to be there when the TV Foodnetwork first started their business. To be brief, lots of professional cooking shows are fake. That's why I don't watch cooking shows.

I was fascinated with your videos, they are real, honest and friendly.

Don't go "professional". Be yourself. Lots of people enjoy that style.

Do fix the noise and lighting a little. It's not that people are picky. There are people who have physiological sensitive/negative responds to those elements.

dcarch

Yeah, I'm one of them. It really was just the very beginning of the video that was really bad. If I had the right software I could have edited out that truck noise. I also know that my "teacher voice" which projects, bothers people with sensory issue. I once did a program at a school where as soon as I started my presentation (for a group of 5th graders) a kid in the front row broke out screaming and crying. He must have been on the autism spectrum where the combination of new routine, new person and "projectile voice" was too much for him. His aide took him out and I felt terrible but the rest of the class said it was OK. I don't know if they were being nice or what. We were outside most of the time, that incident was just at the very beginning too. In general, I am a "guide on the side" type of teacher and don't spend that much time just me talking. I've never been much good at that, I'm not a public speaker, although there are five year old who think I'm the bees knees, or so I have been told . . .

I really don't have time to devote to finessing this. Wish I did, but it just isn't going to happen, realistically. I'd like to be good at this kind of thing, kind of the "Monty Don" of the environmental field, but it's starting to look rather implausible due to my heavy schedule of responsibilities. I'm sure those shows that are good have a LOT of takes . . . of course they are fake, but a good fake seems real . . . or at least "genuine" whatever that is. These days its hard to tell . . .

Edited to add that I don't have time to reshoot some mistakes, like saying 700 LITERS of lemonade mix vs 700 Milliliters which was the correct amount. Just a brain glitch, I know the difference!!