Take better photos using fill flash Video
Take better photos using fill flash Video Transcript
[ MUSIC ] ^M00:00:09
>> [Brian Cooley:] I'm Brian Cooley with a quick how-to on taking better digital photos by turning the flash on when it's bright. I know it's counterintuitive, but even when you're shooting under bright light, you may want to turn on the flash even if your camera thinks you don't need it. Using flash under bright conditions is called "fill flash" because it fills in the dark parts of even a bright scene. Now you enable it on most cameras by going to your flash menu and selecting the manual flash mode, not auto flash. Auto flash probably won't fire under bright conditions, but the manual flash always will. So get out there and use a flash, even when the sun's out. ^M00:00:44 [ MUSIC ]
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Armor for Sleep: "Car Underwater"
What To Do When You Are Dead, Armor For Sleep's second installment due to be released February 22, 2005 is a record that will breathe new life into the carcass of thought provoking albums that has been lying on the side of the road which is the post hardcore/emo/rock whatever scene for years. Through the prism of buzz bands that flash and burn in dirty clubs under piles of screaming kids who will denounce them a month later it gets harder for words like longevity and individuality, originality and endurance to surface in the wash of MP3s and P2Ps that carry them to spread and deletion. In every band stickered corner in every smoke filled club from New York to California, Armor For Sleep has been showcasing their unique sound to thousands of kids who show up religiously and repeatedly to sing every word almost to the point of absurdity. In the past two years they have supported Fall Out Boy, Taking Back Sunday, Midtown, From Autumn To Ashes, Further Seems Forever, Bane and countless others. They have also done their own full U.S. headlining tours. If the last two years have been only a prelude to what the band is ultimately capable of, and if the success of their debut album "Dream To Make Believe" is any indication, Armor For Sleep is destined for canonization in the fluctuating music genre they have helped to create from the ground up. "We have seen our friends bands blow up overnight," says singer/songwriter/guitar player Ben Jorgensen, "and we?re always happy for them. We have just been working hard focusing on our sound and touring nonstop until we are so close to the brink of insanity that it hurts." Bands grow. Whether it's constant touring, self-reflection, or just being jaded from the crap bombarding modern rock radio, bands mature. "We?re not afraid to write the songs we want to write," Jorgensen said, admitting that the band was a little timid with their debut album. After working with producer Machine (Clutch, Lamb of God, White Zombie, King Crimson, Vision of Disorder) in an assortment of studios in Hoboken, New Jersey for two months, Armor For Sleep emerged with the 11-song album equipped with their signature evocative vocals, and hauntingly catchy melodies. Noted for his work with progressive metal bands, it was Machine's first time producing a band with a sound like Armor For Sleep, and what came out of it is sure to bring a new kind of reverence to the rock and roll community. With the first lines "Believe the news / I?m gone for good," of the opening track, "Car Underwater," listening to the album is like taking the hand of a ghost as he guides you around to the different people and places he likes to check up on, and in doing so, tells you the story of his life. Digging deeper into the musical styles of their genre, what comes out of What To Do When You Are Dead seems less like an experiment and more like what happens when everything just clicks and gears start turning by themselves, creating an album that promises to shine like fresh flowers on the gravesite of an industry of regenerated soulless music to fall asleep to. What To Do When You Are Dead offers the perfect balance between a self-contained concept album and a powerful collection of songs, completely unaware of each other?s existence. "We wanted this record to be a record where each song could be listened to individually," Jorgensen says "But still have a story flickering through every song, pointing the listener down the path we?ve paved for them." Where Dream To Make Believe dealt very much with time and space, What To Do When You Are Dead moves in cinematic scenes through the passage of life and death. The lyrics have the band's original literary presence that makes this album feel like every line was specifically written to fit with every guitar note, bass line and drum beat in perfect cadence. As the album moves from an actual death, to being in heaven and alone, to floating above the trees of a hometown and walking as a ghost through a graveyard, Armor For Sleep encompasses the feelings so inherent with youth. The feelings of loneliness, of social suicide, and of being an outsider conveyed in their songs put them in time with the music, and in the category of bands that connect with an entire generation, something the bigger bands of today seem to fall short of. But don?t expect them to realize the power they have over the people listening to their records. "We are just doing what we love," Jorgensen says, "what never crosses our minds is what other people will like... we just write music and I just write words that make me feel something in my gut. That is our only platform and always will be." The sound is delicate and combustible, using both clean and distorted guitar tones with a lot of slide power chords and punctuating notes that appear like gunfire across the appropriate tracks. The lyrics are meticulously crafted, smart and well placed and Jorgensen's voice is soaked with reverberation and infectious melody that can be both calm at times or impetuously turbulent. The ancient Greeks never wrote obituaries. Instead they asked only one question: Did they have passion? After their major success in such a short time, it is obvious that Armor For Sleep has a positive answer for that question. What To Do When You Are Dead is that answer.
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The Go-Betweens: "Here Comes a City"
The Go-Betweens are the quintessential cult band. Throughout their hugely acclaimed career they have sustained an unparalleled artistic consistency which has year by year elevated them above their contemporaries, many of whom have lapsed in to unfortunate artistic decline whilst the unique songwriting partnership of Forster and McLennan garners more respect and acclaim with each new release. Even Princess Caroline of Monaco and the Premier of Australia have become fans with the latter distributing copies of their latest album in the American Senate! Thanks to a fervent fan base the group is now playing to larger audiences than it ever did in the eighties. Their last release, Bright Yellow Bright Orange, has proven to be one of their biggest sellers to date. The Go-Betweens were formed in 1978, when Grant McLennan and Robert Forster, two Queensland University students with a passion for films and the US punk scene, met and decided (in Grants words) ?to do The Factory in Brisbane?. Musical instincts prevailed and, encouraged by Robert, Grant took up the bass guitar. After playing together for no more than four months, the pair went into the studio to record two of Robert?s songs - ?Karen? and ?Lee Remick?. Pressing up 500 copies and distributing it themselves, they nearly ended up with a deal at Beserkley Records (US indie label and then home to Jonathan Richman) but Beserkley ran into financial difficulties. In fact, the Go-Betweens were dogged by label troubles through out their career. Rough Trade who eventually put out their debut LP Send Me a Lullaby in Europe, had to drop the band after their second album due to a lack of finance. Later, both Sire and Elektra who either had the band signed or were in the process of signing them had to let them go when both labels closed their UK offices. But the Go-Betweens always had a phenomenal drive that kept them going- returning again and again to Britain, as strangers and then as undervalued songwriters, in an effort to establish themselves on the world-wide music scene, self-financing singles, supporting the Birthday Party across Australia, recruiting more members as they went (drummer Lindy Morrison, bassist Robert Vickers and, later, violinist/oboist Amanda Brown, whom the band discovered playing a Forster song, ?Draining The Pool for You?, in a coffee bar) and on the last album, bassist John Willsteed. Their second album, Before Hollywood, was recorded in Eastbourne, autumn 1983 and sounds all the more wonderful for it. Four more albums followed: Spring Hill Fair, recorded in France on a major label budget, the more coherent Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express (for which Robert recorded all his vocals in one afternoon, his voice having been out of action for most of the sessions), the bright poppy Tallulah and finally, the more acoustic and reflective 16 Lovers Lane. The heavily played radio single ?Streets Of Your Town? followed, as did a support slot with REM. However, by this point the pressures of being together for twelve years were beginning to have visible effect and both Grant and Robert were pushing in different directions. Finally, the Go-Betweens decided to call it a day. The set up of the band, with two independent singer-songwriters was (and still is) an unusual one, but in this case it worked out perfectly. Robert?s edgy, dark and highly romantic compositions were offset perfectly by Grant?s lighter, more wistfully melodic and lyrically more expansive contributions. It?s hard to say however, what makes them both so special. Unlike a lot of bands the Go-Betweens just made albums of (admittedly highly accomplished) guitar-based pop songs. They didn?t do anything widely unusual or idiosyncratic, but what they did is beautiful and timeless. Maybe it is something to do with the interplay on two perspectives on what must be similar or concurrent events. Maybe its the underlying romanticism of all their records - that they appreciate the fact that love and life are battles but they are battles which must be fought and one should wear ones scars proudly. They also knew how to craft a subtle arrangement around an intelligent lyric and winsome melody. And that should be enough for anyone. After the split of the Go-Betweens, Robert Forster and Grant McLennan had vibrant solo careers. Both released four solo albums and Grant also released two albums with Steve Kilbey of the Church under the name of Jack Frost and one album with Ian Haig of Powderfinger under the name of F.O.C. Recent projects have included a biography written by David Nichols and published by Allen and Unwin in Australia, a Go-Betweens tribute album, an acclaimed compilation: Bellavista Terrace, and a collection of lost early recordings from 1978-79. Since the split, Grant and Robert have played together on several occasions acoustically including the Beggars Banquet birthday celebrations in Tower Records, in Piccadilly Circus London (August 1994) and most notably with a full band at the Les Inrockuptibles 10th anniversary show in Paris (23rd May 1996) and a run of six full band shows in June 1997, two in Dublin, one in Glasgow, two in London (Forum and Fleadh Festival) and the Roskilde Festival in Denmark. As a duo, Robert and Grant toured the world in 1999 to rave reviews, which prompted the pair to consider recording a new album together. Sitting in a Melbourne seaside hotel on the Australian leg of their tour, Forster and McLennan finally agreed to restart The Go-Betweens with a new album. The Friends Of Rachel Worth (2000) was the result. Ten new songs were recorded in Jackpot Studios in Portland, Oregon. The album was produced by the band with Janet Weiss from Sleater-Kinney on drums, Adele Pickvance (who has played with both Forster and McLennan in their solo careers) on bass, Sam Coombes (Quasi and Elliot Smith) on keyboards along with Carrie Brownstien and Corin Tucker from Sleater Kinney on guitar and backing vocals. The finished record stood proudly alongside anything in their canon and received unanimously rave reviews. The Go-Betweens toured the world with great success playing to the largest audiences of their career and culminating in a headline slot at Australia?s Big Day Out, and Robert and Grant were honoured by the Australian Performing Rights Association for writing one of the ten greatest Australian songs of all time with ?Cattle and Cane?. They completed their eighth studio album Bright Yellow Bright Orange in 2003, which was released to huge acclaim. The group toured again, including Japan for the first time and their UK dates were sold out with a rapturous response. Robert relocated to Brisbane, where Grant is based, and they spent the rest of 2003 and much of 2004 writing. Their work was interrupted only by a short trip to Europe, playing two shows to celebrate the re-release of the albums Liberty Belle & The Black Diamond Express, Tallulah and 16 Lovers Lane. Vicker Street in Dublin and London?s prestigious Barbican Theatre were both sold out. Whilst in London they met up with Mark Wallis, the producer of 16 Lovers Lane, and agreed to return in November to record their new album with Mark producing again. The album was completed in January 2005 and is entitled Oceans Apart. The release date is May 3, 2005 on Yep Roc Records with US tour dates to follow.
