Highball Blog - Outdoor Blog | Gear Giveaways - Gear Reviews | Video Editing Tips & Video Shooting Tutorials | Vector Designs for Mountain Bike T-shirts and Climbing Shirts
Thank you all for participanting and thanks prAna for the opportunity! prAna is a leading apparel brand for climbing, yoga, hiking, beach and living which agreed to do a gear giveaway on Highball Blog.
You can win any piece of gear from prAna store! How cool is that!?
Leave a comment below and tell us what's your favorite place for climbing, hiking or mountaineering and why. It can be a mountain, a cliff, an area, or even a certain route.
You can be a beginner or aspirant for the above mentioned outdoor activities. You don't have to be a top athlete to enter.
Anyone! If you win, prAna will send you whatever you choose from their store, no matter where you live in the world. They'll take care of the shipping costs as well
Deadline
The deadline for this contest is 7 August 2011. That's the last day you can submit your comment.
Tips
Use a public profile when commenting
Make sure there is a way we can contact you if you win - we need an email or anything similar where we can send you a direct message
Post a link to your blog or website as well. If you don't have a blog then post the link to your Twitter or Facebook profile
If you've been following the top rock climbers, you've probably seen the prAna logo on their shirts. Here's a video with climber and bouldering master Paul Robinson.
Mammut, one of the generous sponsors of Highball Blog celebrates its 150th birthday with 150 peak tours around the world!
They have this big contest going on where you can be part of a team that will climb one of the 150 peaks of the world. All you have to do is follow the links below and apply, stating your expertise as a climber & mountaineer.
I wish you success and a safe return from your peak!
Here's your chance to gain a place in one of the 150 teams heading for the peaks of the world. More than 2.500 people created a virtual mountain in Stage 1 of the biggest peak project in history. With these mountains they applied for the position as a team leader in one of the 150 teams. But to achieve their goal, they needed the support of their friends - which was visualized in a growth of their mountains. All in all over 38.000 people showed their support in the last months.
Now the lucky applicants who have secured the most support for their virtual mountain have entered the “team building stage” where they form their team and plan their tours. Each team will consist of between two and six climbers and one mountain guide.
To become a team member in one of these teams you simply have to join the “Climbers Board” (Link: http://basecamp.mammut.ch/en/peaks2/climbers/list ) which is a pool of mountaineers that want to be a part of the 150 peak tours. From there you can apply at the teams or receive invitations from them.
Using various criteria, such as experience, background, project planning, etc., a jury of experts (consisting of experienced specialists from the mountaineering community, Link: http://basecamp.mammut.ch/en/peaks2/the-project/how-it-works) selects the final 150 teams for the event itself, due to be held between September 2011 and August 2012.
Here are a few ways of mounting your GoPro HD camera on a bike using only the helmet mount. I also made a short video with on board scenes from each angle as a demonstration on what's possible.
Basically you don't necessarily need the handlebar mount or the roll bar mount if you only shoot bike videos occasionally.
Now, if you're gonna do bike tricks and jumps, please note that some of these placements aren't as secure as the proper original GoPro mounts designed to hold your camera on the bike frame. These are just improvisations (read that as a disclaimer).
However, I was able to shoot even tailwhip scenes, done on ramps in a bike/skate park. I also shot a downhill clip with the camera mounted on the down tube - there were lots of rocks and gravel on the mountain road/single track - and the helmet mount + two arm piece withstood all the shocks. The footage is pretty steady as well. You can watch the downhill MTB video and see more pictures here: How to mount your GoPro camera on your mountain bike.
Tip: For each camera mounting/placement on your bike you have at least two views:
Front view
Back view
You can (and should, for the sake of video art) tilt the camera up or down for capturing footage from all angles.
For back and front view, simply unscrew the bolt that holds the case on the two piece arm and place the camera back (facing the opposite direction) or just take the whole rig and place it on the other side of the bike. When the situation permits, slide the cam from the quick release buckle and slide it back, lens facing the other side.
Here are the pictures (click for large view):
This way of fixing your cam on your bike is particularly interesting if you want to capture the moment when your chain moves to a higher/lower gear - min 1:01.
And here's the same video with color correction on each scene (the video links at the end don't work on Vimeo).
There's a specific article on how to edit GoPro HD videos if you want to learn the basics of action sports video editing (also the software I use for that) - check that out and leave a comment if you have any questions or suggestions.
One of the biggest problems we humans face is our own sloth. And I make no exception. That's why it's important to create a framework and a set of rules to be guided by if you want to follow through with your climbing training.
For me personally, there are periods when I'm motivated to climb hard and train meticulously and times when I'm like Meh...whetever... The funny thing is, even when I'm motivated I tend to slide into sloth (yeah, this human side of me pisses me off!).
So here are my tips for a solid fingerboard workout:
1. Use printed training schemes
It's simple. You see what you have to do and that keeps you going. You're simply tricking yourself to train by having a concrete plan in front of you - you're much more likely to follow it coz as you stare at the plan, the plan stares back and makes you responsible.
Design your own hangboard training schemes if what you find out there doesn't work for you. There is no right or wrong here. Choose what's best for you and stick to it.
2. Use a wall clock
If for some reason you don't wanna train with printed schemes, then the wall clock is the next best thing.
You can set out to do easy exercises with time constrains like:
Stay 2 minutes on the board and only hold medium crimpers and the large flat edge for resting
Do 10 slow pull ups on medium crimpers during 1 minute or more.
Hang in two finger pockets for 30 seconds in a 90 degree elbow lock off
etc.
Time may be a better measure of your training than the actual number of pull ups, shrugs or lock offs.
Why?
Coz when you're out there climbing onsight, you don't do pull ups while figuring out the next few moves. You may hang there a few minutes before moving on and thus you have to master an equation that involves energy management against time.
If you stay too long to rest, you'll get pumped. But if the route is intricate you have to stay longer to think before each crux and that's why a training based on time spent on the hangboard (or indoor wall) may be better than a training based on the sheer number of moves.
Tip: If you don't have a wall clock, use your laptop or iPad and access http://analog.onlineclock.net/. We're techy, aren't we? :-)
3. Use slings for monos and two finger pockets
It makes no sense to injure yourself during training. Basically each time you're training you're only allowed to push for more volume and occasionally for intensity but only if it is safe.
Be aware though, doing too much volume may lead to overtraining and fatigue.
Hanging in monos (one finger holds) or two finger pockets can count as intensity training. So, to avoid the risk of injury, look for a finger friendly solution.
I like to use slings for training purposes. I simply hang them on the medium crimpers and when I load them with my body weight, the friction on the hold is enough to keep them in place. When climbing on rock faces, I prefer to tape my middle finger and ring finger.
Climbing is a commitment sport and training is ultra specific. However, if you approach it methodically and gradually increase your workout tasks you'll find it quite fun.
Remember to do a thorough warm up before each fingerboard session. Also combine your climbing training with an aerobic activity like cycling or running. It'll do wonders for your general fitness and your climbing endurance will inevitably improve.
With the explosion of social media and the ease of creating and distributing content, there is an army of bloggers looking to monetize their blogs.
While trying to make money with your blog is, in the end, a legitimate thing to desire, your focus should't be on the money. Yes, earning a few (or a lot) of bucks is nice but you have to see that as a byproduct of what you're doing, not as a purpose in itself.
What this means is you must focus on your audience and create useful, mind blowing, entertaining content and the sponsors will follow.
However, you may be anxious to get your first blog sponsor and don't wanna wait until they come.
So, whatever you're looking for - money, free outdoor gear to review, electronic gadgets, etc. - if you think you have something to offer, here are three ways to get blog sponsorship.
1. Ask for the sponsorship - "Grab It!"
As simple as this may seem, there are a lot of bloggers out there wanting to be sponsored but they've never sent out a sponsorship request via email... How sad is that!?
Gary Vaynerchuk, incredible wine video blogger and social media specialist, says it best in the video above: "Grab It!".
And by the way, if you're a blogger or interested in creating online content of any sort, you gotta read Gary's books: Chrush It! and The Thank You Economy. You'll get pumped and you'll learn that you can actually create a sustainable business with your blog.
Speaking from my own experience, the only reason I got a new winter sleeping bag and a new climbing rope, was because I wrote about 10 emails, got about 5 replies and actually got just one brand to agree and send me gear: Mammut.
What you have to remember is the law of averages and in this particular case this is the law of large numbers which can be translated into:
The higher the number of your trials, the higher chances of you getting a good result.
So start sending out emails to potential sponsors. Tell them what you're all about, what outdoor activities you do, what you can offer, etc. It doesn't have to be ultra formal. As long as it's sincere, brief and concise you might get that free gear or advertising deal you're looking for.
The funny thing is that brands who reached out to me never asked for traffic stats, they simply wanted to sponsor me. But when you are the one reaching out, it's good to give them some figures right upfront so they know what to expect.
Be honest about your stats and be honest about the impact your articles can make.
No one expects wonders from an individual blogger so neither should you. What most brands want is to be mentioned and be online through the voice of individuals. They want you and your readers or followers to talk about them (hopefully in good terms but that's another story).
For your convenience, I reproduce below one of my email requests (sent to Mammut) along with the latest traffic stats screenshot (image that you should normally attach to your email).
Hello,
My name is Constantin Gabor and I'm a climber, mountaineer and blogger from Romania.
I would like to offer advertising space and promotion articles to an outdoor gear brand that can sponsor me with a good wintersleeping bag or a down jacket.
You can get any sort of promotional announcements, product reviews, product placements in YouTube videos, links and banners on Highball Blog and you can also host any kind of giveaway contests.
Traffic Stats for Highball Blog (Jan 19 - Feb 18 - 2011):
1. USA
2. UK
3. Canada
4. Romania (my home country)
5. Indonesia
6. Germany
7. Australia
8. Brazil
9. Philippines
10. India
Visitors are mostly men, interested in mountaineering, climbing, mountain biking, gear reviews and related activities (editing outdoor videos, DIY projects, etc).
I am open to any kind of collaboration according to your current priorities.
I won't take it personal if this sponsorship is not possible.
Thanks for reading this email.
Have a good day!
--
Constantin Gabor
004 07...............
Highballblog.com
info at gabtrend dot ro
Yahoo Msg: catascouts
Skype: constantin.gabor
Highball Blog traffic stats
2. Blog to teach and/or entertain
This is just another way of saying Stay away from personal journal land!
If you're not Lady Gaga or Ashton Kutcher, nobody cares too much about you. Except your family and your friends but they get enough of you already so don't expect them to be your most avid readers.
Avoid writing too much about yourself and keep your content oriented to helping your audience. The only time it makes sense to talk about yourself is if your story is somewhat relevant to what you're teaching.
For instance I talk about myself only when my experience may add value to the topic I'm blogging about. I show you how I edit GoPro HD videos and how I built my DIY climbing hangboard coz I know that's what you want to learn. That's why you land on those pages from search results, Twitter, Facebook or your RSS reader.
And I also respect your option of potentially not being interested in what I blog about. How? By being ultra specific in my posts titles - you know from the very start what the article is about so if you're not interested you can just browse away. That's what you should do with your blogging as well.
For online purposes and for getting sponsors over and over again, a blog that speaks only about your realizations (speed swimming records, fast ascents, high climbing grades you were able to pull, long treks, etc.) is not going to do as well as a blog where the content is more about how readers can solve a particular problem.
If you're doing entertainment, the particular problem you're solving is to bring excitement, laughter and smiles on people's faces, if only for 5 minutes.
If you're a successful athlete, the problem you can solve with your blog or videos is to teach people how to train effectively in order to become as successful as you. And so on.
Spill out your secretes and make your content timeless (evergreen).
By the way, notice that my top posts getting traffic in June 2011 were all written in 2010. They're timeless, educational (notice the How To... and Tips) and searched for.
The whole point here is to serve your readers well. This means having a quality blog which means you have readers which means sponsors are interested in advertising with you. You must remember that sponsorship is not a donation and companies want something in return. They also don't want their name to be associated with poor quality content or the wrong people.
The best way to attract sponsors and advertising deals to your blog is to create content for your audience, not for your ego.
3. Forget about writing, do multimedia & physical products = think multi channel
A smart way to attract both readers and sponsors is to create content in multiple formats:
Videos - easier to consume for your audience and more likely to be shared via social networks
Podcasts - some people prefer to listen to whatever you have to say while jogging so offer your content in audio format
Games - if you're a developer and enjoy building games, do one for the particular topic you're obsessed with
Photos - nature photos or extreme sports shots hosted not only on your blog but on all the other platforms out there
Artwork - of any kind. From hand crafted items to mountain bike shirts designs made with computer graphics software, etc., etc.
Building physical products that people want or need is another smart way of getting attention. The effect is three fold:
You build a product that you need - you get benefits by using it
You can create a tutorial and teach others how to do it (hence the chance to add more content: blog posts - tutorials, videos, pictures, etc)
Your product may have commercial value and you can sell it (especially when your audience specifically ask you to). This happens to me once in while - I get requests via YouTube comments from people wanting to buy a DIY glidecam - it's not for sale yet. :-)
People working in companies looking to find bloggers to sponsor in exchange of online advertising have hobbies and interest as well. If your content is high quality, in multiple formats and hosted across a large number of platforms (Blogger, WordPress, YouTube, Vimeo, Picasa, Flickr, Facebook, etc) there are higher chances you will get noticed.
Personal stories:
I was very close to be an actor in a telecom commercial. All this because some advertising agents & film producers saw a climbing video of mine on YouTube (and it's far from being my best video...). They loved the location. The screenplay of the commercial involved a climber who's phone was ringing so they wanted me to help.
In the end, their client dropped this idea as they were approaching the deadline and the weather turned gray (cold and rain).
Recently (July 2011) I've been contacted by a video producer from Bulgaria who's interested in the raw footage from my cliff jumping and DWS trips. They're doing a video to promote Bulgaria as a tourism destination and my "incredible frames" (their words) may be used in their film.
My point? If you only write text, there's less chances you'll get sponsors or potential business deals.
Now, some deals won't go through but if you want the law of large numbers to work, you have to do your part and throw in those large numbers, be it emails, videos or blog posts.
Conclusion
The global audience is more fragmented than ever and this trend will continue as the internet will become a more important part of our lives, propelling us forward into a global economy with small village rules.
If you start a blog and take your publishing effort seriously, you're basically entering the media business. So it's only a mater of time until you make money with your blog or YouTube channel.
Don't forget to:
Ask for sponsorships
Blog well and serve your audience
Deliver content in multiple formats hosted on different platforms (be everywhere)
Over deliver - both to your readers and to your sponsors
What about you?
Do you have any other tips for attracting sponsors to your blog?
How long did it take you to get your first sponsorship of any kind? It took me about 10 months of blogging and the sponsor was GoalZero.com - they still sponsor me with solar gear.
Apart from writing articles, what's your next preferred format and why? I love to do adventure videos mostly because I have to "strive" for creativity and I think that's a good process for me. It's also hard work and that brings a sort of discipline with it - another perk of the trade. :-)
In this article you'll learn how to edit GoPro HD videos without having to convert the MP4 clips beforehand. This tutorial may help you even if you don't have a GoPro camera. You can follow this process for editing any kind of video.
I personally edit all my clips this way - lately using the Sony HX9V compact camera to shoot.
However, if you want to work with your current default video editor (which may not work with MP4 in H.264 encoding), you need to convert MP4 to AVI before dragging the GoPro clips into the timeline of your video editing software.
I edit all my outdoor videos with Magix Movie Edit Pro (or earlier versions). It's easy to use, intuitive and works well even on old laptops.
Shooting first - How to capture interesting footage
Before discussing the technical aspects of editing (export settings, resolution, etc.) let's consider the first step of your work as a video producer and that is shooting video.
You always have to keep in mind that your works starts when you press the record button on your camera. If you shoot thinking about how you're gonna edit then you'll be taking quite a lot of work load off the editing process.
Be creative with your camera. Take various shots from various angles. Show the viewers the subject in multiple ways.
A friend of mine works in television and he said: "Imagine how a bird, a mouse and a worm sees the subject." What this means is this:
A bird sees the scene from above so fly your camera above the subject or take aerial shots if you can (climb a tree and take some shots from there).
A mouse sees everything from ground level. Carry your camera slightly above the ground or keep it fixed there - everything will look big.
A worm goes out of the ground - if you can bury your camera and take it out of the dirt then that would depict what a worm sees when it comes out. (This was in the context of beach sand, where burying the camera was essentially easy, and made sense)
etc, etc.
The point is to illustrate your story in a way that was never seen. If you do that well, even the dullest subject or event can look interesting.
I highly recommend using a DIY Steadicam, a tripod and a glide rail for your shots. All these add to the artistry of the video - plus, viewers are used to watch this kind of steady footage from TV shows, music videos and movies.
Of course, having a head mounted camera adds an urgency to the video and gives a realistic touch of the action being shot. This is called POV (point of view) footage. Also, a hand held shaky camera near an active subject creates a feeling that you're there - what the cinematography industry calls cinéma vérité.
By doing this over and over again, and by studying the work of others, you'll eventually reach your own way of shooting and editing videos, that will reflect your unique style and personality. In the end, it's a creative process and you're the artist.
A few words on editing
One of the best things you can do for your viewers is to keep the scenes short. Especially for online videos (we're not talking documentaries). And why would you edit your GoPro videos if not for sharing them online, right?
Having shorts scenes will render a short video as well. So if you can keep your clip under 5 minutes you'll get more views.
Editing on music beats is another cool trick you can deploy to keep the viewers watching.
Tip: Sometimes, when editing on music beats, it's hard to precisely identify the spikes in the audio chart. So what you do is this:
Play the part of the song on which you want add scenes
Press stop and count in your mind the beats you heard
If you heard 6 beats at equal time distance, add 6 equal scenes to that particular section of audio track
When you can precisely identify the sound spikes, place the scenes slightly before the audio spikes. In the final video, the music beats and the videos scenes will be perfectly synchronized. If you place the scenes exactly on the beats, you'll notice a delay between video and audio in the final video. This, of course, varies from software to software. Earlier versions of Magix had issues like that but the latest versions (17 or more) handles this better - now you can actually place the scenes right on the beats and the rendering will be correct.
Where to get free music for YouTube videos
One of the best source for royalty free music to use on your online videos is DanoSongs.com. He has an interesting collection of audio tracks that are available for download and free to use for your videos as long as you give him credit.
Other free sources include:
http://incompetech.com - a large library of quality music & soundtracks sorted by genre, keywords and feel
I highly recommend you reach out to independent artists on MySpace. Most of them are cool people who will accept you taking their tracks for your YouTube videos.
For instance, I had a nice experience communicating with CantStopWontStopMusic.com who replied to my Facebook messages when I asked them if I can use their "Cool Summer" song. Check out their Facebook page (and download two cool songs for free).
Exporting your GoPro video
After you're done editing, it's time to export your video and save it as a video file to your computer.
If you run Magix on a powerful computer - if you're a gamer you may have a strong machine - you can export the video to an MP4 file. This grants high quality and low file size so it'll be faster for you to upload the video online.
However, I recommend you export the final clip to an AVI file. AVI is an uncompressed video file and thus you get maximum video quality. This is true even with older computers or laptops. So what I'm saying is this: if you're running Magix on a slow computer, export your GoPro HD video to AVI.
Add a name to your file and use a folder where the video will be saved. Use the same folder where the rest of the media files are stored (original footage and audio files).
Select the resolution, the frame rate and the aspect ratio of your video. Stick to 16:9 for aspect ratio and 29.99 or 30 fps for frame rate. Click on Advanced for codec and quality settings.
Select XviD MPEG-4 codec. Click on Configuration button and slide the quality cursor to 1 in the next window.
Click OK on all windows and the editor will start compiling your video showing you a blue progress bar at the bottom of the window (Mixing down... remaining time...).
Tips:
It's advisable to use a laptop cooler if you edit on a portable computer. I use a Canyon cooler and I'm very satisfied with it. Actually, my laptop can cope better with all tasks since the overheating issue has been taken care of.
If your computer is more than 3 years old and has lots of programs installed, you may want to close all other applications when you're editing and exporting videos. Video editing is a hardware resources consuming task and you want to give it all to your video.
Export the time lapse clips before starting the editing process of your video. So when you want to ad a time lapse scene in the clip, simply import your previously processed scene and trim it accordingly. This will take less time for the clip to export whereas if you apply the time lapse effect within the same project file of the final video, it will take too long to export.
Keep all your media files in the same folder: original footage, audio tracks, photos, audio effects files, etc.
Keep the project folder on a hard disk partition where there's enough free space available. All video editors create temporary files that enables them to do their work properly - don't sacrifice that.
Convert your GoPro AVI file to MP4 for fast YouTube upload
After you get your final AVI video file, it's time to convert it to a more suitable format for online upload, and that is MP4.
Another reason to convert it to MP4 before uploading is to keep the same aspect, quality and appearance even after uploading it to YouTube. What I mean is you may have a sharp looking video on your hard drive but notice it gets pixelated after you upload it to YouTube. This happens because YouTube does an extra compression of the initial file you upload, thus screwing the quality. Vimeo does that as well but not as bad as YouTube. This doesn't happen with all file types but I've seen it happen with my GoPro clips that were uploaded as AVI.
If you convert it to MP4 before uploading, YouTube won't compress them that hard as they're already compressed.
For this particular task we'll use the free version of Leawo AVI to MP4 converter.
After you download and install Leawo, click the Add button in the lower left of the window and browse for the AVI file you want to convert.
Select an output video format - you'll get best results with iPad HD video in H.264 encoding.
Tip: You can shoot in the lowest resolution with your GoPro HD camera (R1 - 480 px / 848 px @ 60 fps) and convert the final video to HD for iPad without getting a pixelated image. This means you can shoot in SD and get a HD result with Leawo. Of course, what you get is not a real HD video since the original footage was shot in 480 p but still you can maintain a sharp image even when you increase the actual resolution of the clip.
All my recent action sports clips are shot in R1 and converted to iPad HD video before uploading to YouTube or Vimeo. I prefer R1 for two reasons:
The files are easier to handle and edit for my old Dell laptop
R1 shoots at 60 frames per second which makes it excellent for slow motion rendering (R3 shoots at 60 fps as well but those are HD clips and are harder to handle and edit for a slow computer)
Choose an output destination folder and click the big green arrow button in the lower right of the window to start converting the video. You'll see a size estimate for the new file and a progress bar + the remaining time.
Tip: This process takes up resources as well so it's better to keep your computer in a cool place if you don't have a cooler. I used to take it out in the balcony (in the shade) or in the bathroom (down on the tiles) to avoid overheating - this was before I got my laptop cooler.
Over to you
So there you have it. This is my complete workflow of editing GoPro HD videos with Magix Edit Pro and Leawo.
Is there a particular video editor you like to use for your GoPro HD clips?
What's the biggest problem you face when editing video?
Would you like me to write an in depth post or do a video screen capture with all the editing tricks in Magix Edit Pro 17 Plus?
Leave a comment and we'll have a constructive conversation that will lead to better solutions for all us adventure seekers and film makers out there. Cheers!
Update: This program is currently closed. Subscribe to be notified when we accept new members.
What if you had a blog that enabled you to get free outdoor gear from sponsors? And what if you were able to keep all that gear to yourself, to use and abuse?
Well, here's my proposal to you: Even if you don't have a blog (or if your blog is just too small) you can apply for gear sponsorships on behalf of Highball Blog.
In other words, you simply write emails to sponsors, telling them you're a member of the Highball Blog community, and offer to write a review for whatever gear they send to you. It's that simple.
