As a photographer, it’s likely you understand good composition and what’s necessary to capture beautiful images. But when making the leap to videography, make sure you master these four points to ensure a seamless transition and high-quality video acquisition.
Stability
When shooting video, multiple frames per second are captured instead of just one snapshot at once, making steadying your shots an absolute necessity to avoid an unnervingly unsteady experience for viewers. Although post-production stabilization tools exist to address such problems, these do have limitations and it would be ideal if these issues could have been avoided prior to recording them in the first place.
As anyone knows, keeping a lightweight DSLR or mirrorless camera steady when shooting freehand video can be challenging. Unlike heavier shoulder-mount professional video cameras, lightweight DSLR and mirrorless cameras cannot usually be shoulder mounted and may lack hand holds as well as weight resistance and proper balance to be controlled smoothly – therefore familiarization with video accessories that help ensure stability will help ensure success in shooting freehand.
Nothing beats the convenience and efficiency of using a tripod equipped with spiked or rubber feet for outdoor use, or dolly wheels for smooth movement indoors and on flat surfaces. A tripod’s handle can help tilt and pan while holding onto more expensive lenses as servo controls; in addition, good tripods feature silky fluid heads and drag controls to help move your camera at precisely measured speeds without shakiness or drag effects.
Tripods come in all shapes and sizes, from classic aluminum designs to lightweight carbon fiber options that may suit your needs perfectly.
Gimbals are also available, providing you with an additional way to mount and use your camera by employing gyroscopes to smooth out jerky movements by the videographer. Another piece of equipment which may prove beneficial is a slider; whether manual or automatic operation allows smooth and even camera movements along rails for added motion in shots.
As a photographer, your eye for sharp focus may come naturally; when shooting video however, your subject may move and it is essential that constant focusing is maintained throughout each scene.
Vidographers need to be ready for situations in which they must simultaneously control zoom, focus and aperture settings on the fly in order to capture an ideal video clip. At minimum, you should always be ready to adapt as the subject moves closer or further away – it is not “set it and forget it.”
Your camera should provide multiple autofocus options, including selecting an area on the screen to be in focus, touching subjects to track or holding down halfway the shutter button for autofocus. A test shoot is my top recommendation to newcomers to video, in order to explore these methods of autofocus and find one that best fits you and your subject matter.
While I had great success transitioning from professional video cameras to DSLR and mirrorless options, the transition required some adjustment when it came to focus. Everything seemed smaller – from lenses’ focus rings to LCD viewfinders – making it more challenging to spot minute details.
Manual control gives me full control and instant adjustments on the fly, enabling techniques such as rack focusing. I always use an external monitor when shooting handheld.
If you are using a tripod, arm adapters are available that allow you to hold an additional monitor off to one side. I have purchased several Atomos monitors which provide larger images, focus guides and monitoring tools, allow various video formats and color spaces capture, record speedy SSD files quickly while running off their batteries or connected via power adapter/tap.
Monitors are nearly as important to me as cameras themselves. Without focus monitors, video production takes place too fast for post production to adjust for misfocusing issues; live action videos often only allow one chance at success!
Shooting Technique
Video shooting presents several differences from photographing still images: frame rates, lighting, planning a shoot. First off, learn about frame rates; video is comprised of multiple frames per second – 24fps is often considered standard (think film!), 29.97fps or 59.94fps are other common options.
29.97 (or 30) frames per second is generally sufficient for most videos; however, you can increase this rate for action shots or slow motion videography.
Shutter speed and frame rate are intrinsically connected. A typical shutter speed for recording at 30fps is typically 1/60s; if you experience flickering when photographing electronics or screens, adjusting this setting often eliminates it.
Lighting for video differs significantly from lighting stills as you must light an entire scene for its entirety, taking note of where your subject starts and finishes their shoot. Furthermore, you must pay attention to what may enter into the background and watch for any weird reflections or oddities in the frame.
Although you can sometimes make adjustments post-video shoot, keep in mind that they typically need to make fixes at every frame of the video.
Plan ahead when shooting; be ready to capture multiple angles of a subject from multiple points to tell their story and plan B-roll or cover shots.
Timing of your shoot is key; if it extends too far into dusk, your sunset “magic hour” may pass and it may be difficult to recreate shots from earlier in the day. Tight-knit clothing patterns could produce unsightly moire patterns while be sure to check for runaway hairs which might pop up during motion within your scene.
Audio | Visualisation As the saying goes… without audio, video is just surveillance. Although it may be perceived as less vital to video creation than its other components, poor audio can ruin an experience for viewers and cause them to turn away altogether. Do not depend solely on your camera’s microphone when creating videos!
There are various kinds of microphones on the market with various pickup patterns and connections to a camera. One popular mobile video option is to purchase a shotgun microphone which attaches directly to your camera via TRS or XLR connection and picks up audio from where the mic is pointed directly at.
Or you can purchase more expensive wireless lavalier units. Your talent wears the transmitter with microphone while you attach its receiver to your camera’s audio connection for optimal quality results.
Lav mics come with either an omnidirectional or cardioid pickup pattern; simply read up on their frequency, pattern and connection details to ensure compatibility and ensure they suit your needs. Purchase various clips to attach the mic to clothing, as well as windscreens for outdoor shoots.
Always ensure you use quality headphones when recording audio from any scene – as audio capture can often be just as critical to the finished video product!
Hope these tips help make video acquisition easier! Have an amazing video shoot!