We’ve seen these great videos of people traveling to exotic location, and creating a visual montage of their great adventure. First thing you’re thinking is that they have thousand dollars of camera equipment. I’m here to show you, that you do not need all these equipments, the best camera is the one you have with you.
We’ve seen these great videos of people traveling to exotic location, and creating a visual montage of their great adventure. First thing you’re thinking is that they have thousand dollars of camera equipment. I’m here to show you, that you do not need all these equipments, the best camera is the one you have with you.
Have your camera ready:
Always have your camera ready, leaving your camera at home or the bottom of bag is not useful to capture videos. Being ready at moments notice to capture the action.
Camera Settings:
Set your camera to the highest setting possible. 1080p or full HD is the same, 720p is a smaller HD format yet still brings you great quality. If you are not sure which resolution to use, just google it.
Make the most out of your environment:
Don’t have a tripod? Use your environment, use a bench, chair, friend’s shoulder.
Motion Technique:
To add motion to your video, using a skate board to put your camera on is a great way to give you smooth motion, or rollerblade. Hold the camera in one position, and use the motion of the rollerblade to do the work. Careful use of footwork can also help.
Use duct tape:
Always have duct tape, it’s a camera crew best friend. Don’t have a microphone? Tape an iPhone on your subject, or bottom of table, or around the corner of the wall.
Use smart phone as a light source:
iPhone and other smartphones make for great portable light sources, free apps are great ad-ons giving a bright light, but just using your phone to light up some face at night is quick and easy.
Using car headlight for night shoot:
Shooting at night need a lots of lights, if you have access to a car, try using the car’s head light to light up your scene or subject. If the light is too harsh and your shadows looks bad, tape some tissues on the lights to diffuse them.
Adapting to city nights lights:
If shooting at night in the city, use the all the lights available like neon signs, restaurant signs, traffic lights, etc. Try to shoot under a light post. Thinking outside the box is all you need.
Important of DSLR Zoom lens:
Need to get far or close, and you have DSLR. Beg and borrow, or rent the lens you need for your shoot, you’d be surprised that you can rent a expensive lens you dream about for US$20. Make sure you get the most use out it.
Plan what you want to show:
Think first, most production, big and small are carefully planned out. Think about what you want to show on the video and shoot, then shoot some more.
Now to put all this together, use what you have at your disposal, like iMovie, FCP, Premier, Vegas. You need to be comfortable with the program. Save a copy of your project and play around. Don’t have music for the background? Try using vimeo music store. They’ve got great free music. Just give the artist credits. We all have a friend that knows one thing we don’t. Give them a call.
Happy Shooting…
Thanks to Eric for this Article, he is a instructor here at WCB and if you would like to follow one of his classes check out the Private Photography Course or Photography – Essentials.
