Rewind ten or fifteen years ago and there were very few creatives who shot both photography and video. Dual to video kit typically being very expensive, and knowledge to use the kit usually only being available at college-level, these dual disciplines just seemed to stay on different sides of the tracks.
But things are different these days. More and more photographers, whether they’re enthusiasts or professionals, are moving over to video production and offering these services alongside their photography.
This convergence shouldn’t come as a shock; just look at the way camera brands started to fuse video functions onto stills cameras. First came 720p functions on compact cameras, before Full HD landed on full-frame cameras like the legendary Canon 5D MkII - a camera adopted by Hollywood to film episodes of TV shows including House and 24 and used on big screen production films such as Iron Man 2 and Captain America. Then brands got even more serious about video on stills cameras with the addition of 4K on cameras like the Panasonic GH-4 and Sony’s A-series, with lens manufacturers trying to keep up by offering cine optics. So, it’s clear today’s photographers have all the kit at their finger-tips to make video productions of any size or scale.
Advances in technology have made video production more attainable to photographers. Image by Jakob Owens.
But it’s the technical aspects where photographers have the advantage over newcomers. Quite simply, someone coming into video without any prior knowledge has to learn skills photographers should already possess. How to light and composition are the key two areas, but there’s also workflow elements and familiarity with post-production software too. Having a keenly trained eye for what makes a great shot works just as well for video as it does for stills, leading to dramatic results being captured, whether that’s one frame at a time, or 24 frames per second. For example; including interesting foreground interest or knowing when to crop in tight for dramatic effect are common techniques in both stills and video and shooting around the golden hour will create great looking motion as well as stills.
That’s not to say that photographers have it all their own way when transferring to filming video. One of the key areas that photographers need to learn about is audio, which can make or break a scene. Get the audio right and you’ve stuck gold, but record terrible audio and it will be hard for the viewer to eve make it to the end of the scene.
Audio is a key skill photographers need to learn to master video.
Personally, I love shooting video as much, or even maybe more than capturing stills. The advances in technology have helped me try out and then grow into an new creative area that just ten years ago would have been out of reach due to budget and technology. I can now tell stories in a single frame or in moving pictures, which is not only great for business, but helps me grow at a creative level too. And now that tools like drones and gimbals have become available at prices that won’t break the bank, I can boost the production values of my projects.
Even smartphones can give access to 4K footage and slow motion features. Image by Elliot Teo.
These days, even smartphones can film 4K video and many offer even further creative options such as slow-motion. With additional apps to help to edit the footages, there really are now no barriers to trying out video alongside your photography. And best still, your foundation skills as a photographer mean you’ve already got most of the skills to make it a success.
. digitalrev.com2017-11-2 03:00
