Tips, tricks, ticks, and other stuff involving the creative process, technology, social media, and whatever else seems to fit in!
I have not watched these yet. The first two look fairly basic, but there should be some useful review material in all three. It’s always nice to check in from time to time on the basics, because our workflow habits drift over time, and not always in the best ways… (Bad Habits!)
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A Look Inside National Geographic Cinematographer/Producer David Wright’s Bag In David’s own words, read more about his choice of gear, plus a few valuable lessons he’s picked up while on the job. These are all things you may wish to consider for your own video workflow.
The unsung hero of every video shoot is the sound-recordist. Whether shooting live action, an interview or other subjects in-between, I am often reminded that great capture with bad audio is unusable. On the other hand, good audio, even if accompanied by inferior imagery, is almost always useful; if your visual capture was not up to snuff you can usually shoot it again!
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I’m convinced the Nikon ME-1 is a great way to equip your camera for video work. The ME-1 has impressive specifications and is compact. It is powerful and will pick-up the smallest of sounds.
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Also consider an add-on for improved sound—some sort of wind protection to shield the microphone. If you venture out into the wilds to shoot you’ll benefit from a windjammer (windscreen).
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An interesting point about a “traditional” cinema lens is that the aperture ring does not have click stops. Most new photography lenses don’t have an aperture ring; all adjustments are made via a dial on the camera body.
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The solution? Use that filter for easy on-the-fly exposure control. Practice with the variable ND filter and gain expertise in maintaining correct exposure by merely spinning the front element. With practice you can take the motion of your subject, combined with your own movement, to hide in-camera adjustments. No one will even be aware that changes have been made.
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For my work I often need to look down into a finder instead of the backside of a camera where the LCD screen is. My solution is to add an external electronic viewfinder. These monitors provide extra features such as focus assist modes, histograms for checking exposure and much more. These added tools will likely help boost your confidence in what you are capturing.
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The tripod is not only essential for steady telephoto shots, but the better the head, the smoother the movement during video pan or tilt. There are a lot of brands on the market, but my choice for best build quality, design and price is the Miller range of products. For times when I am on foot and/or need to keep a low profile, I’ll also carry a monopod to help steady the capture.
"Even though our eyes can adjust to varying color, we can still tell that during sunrise or sunset, the light looks much warmer than at midday. This effect is much more noticeable on images. To help understand this variation, the color of a light source is given a value known as the color temperature, which is expressed in units of degrees Kelvin (K). Check the chart below for the typical values of the most common light sources.
Chris Rutter, The Essential Color Manual for Photographers, Rotovision
How to set white balance – a detailed article on white balance by Ken Rockwell
White Balance Gone Wild – a Flickr group with a nice collection of photos using white balance creatively
How to Set Your White Balance Manually – a great post, right here on LightStalking, about manually setting white balance
A Brief Guide to Color Management for Photographers – a useful post, right here on LightStalking, on color management and calibration
Here are some of the basic White Balance settings you’ll find on cameras:
- Auto – this is where the camera makes a best guess on a shot by shot basis. You’ll find it works in many situations but it’s worth venturing out of it for trickier lighting.
- Tungsten – this mode is usually symbolized with a little bulb and is for shooting indoors, especially under tungsten (incandescent) lighting (such as bulb lighting). It generally cools down the colors in photos.
- Fluorescent – this compensates for the ‘cool’ light of fluorescent light and will warm up your shots.
- Daylight/Sunny – not all cameras have this setting because it sets things as fairly ‘normal’ white balance settings.
- Cloudy – this setting generally warms things up a touch more than ‘daylight’ mode.
- Flash – the flash of a camera can be quite a cool light so in Flash WB mode you’ll find it warms up your shots a touch.
- Shade – the light in shade is generally cooler (bluer) than shooting in direct sunlight so this mode will warm things up a little.
"In this episode of Adobe Creative Cloud TV, Terry White takes on the task of explaining and showing the differences between Adobe Bridge and Lightroom. Once and for all see which one is BEST for the things that YOU do! Also see tips and tricks in both applications."Should I use Lightroom or Bridge? | The Complete Picture with Julieanne Kost | Adobe TV: "In this episode of the Complete Picture, Julieanne Kost helps you decide which application is right for your workflow by explaining the differences between Lightroom and Bridge for managing images and assets."
"Discover how to quickly download and import your images into Lightroom. Then, decide which method is the most efficient for your workflow."Why Does the Photograph’s Preview Change in Lightroom and Bridge? | Adobe Evangelists - Julieanne Kost | Adobe TV:
"In this video tutorial Julieanne explains one of the great mysteries of Lightroom and Bridge – why Lightroom (or Bridge) displays a photograph one way and then changes the way it looks a moment later. It will all become clear with just a little information about how digital camera files are captured and displayed by different applications."Lightroom and Photoshop photo workflow | Learn Creative Cloud for Photography | Adobe TV:
Learn how Lightroom and Photoshop can work hand-in-hand to produce stunning images.Lightroom 5 - Moving Between Lightroom and Photoshop | Getting Started with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 | Adobe TV:
Learn how to seamlessly move images between Lightroom and Photoshop with the exact control that you need. Discover how easy it is to create panoramas, merge 16 bit high-dynamic range (HDR) images and open multiple photographs into a single file in Photoshop.The Difference Between “Edit in Photoshop” and “Open as Smart Object “ | Learn Creative Cloud for Photography | Adobe TV:
In this episode of The Complete Picture, Julieanne show you the difference between opening a raw file as a pixel based layer verses a Smart Object and the advantages of both approaches.Opening an image as a Smart Object | Learn Photoshop CC | Adobe TV:
Smart Objects in Photoshop offer you a lot of flexibility. Learn how to open an image as a Smart Object in Photoshop and Camera Raw.Lightroom 5 - Exporting Images | Getting Started with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 | Adobe TV:
"Master the Export options in Lightroom to quickly automate the creation of multiple files for a variety of different output scenarios."
e-IPS vs. p-IPS Vs. H-IPSThere's a lot of confusion when it comes to IPS panel types and their categories. What should be done is some type of standardization in these names; however, here is what technically should be associated with each of these names.
e-IPS
This is a cheaper-to-produce IPS panel that has become very popular as of late. Typically, the color gamut associated with these types of monitors is not as good as Pro-IPS or H-IPS panels, but is still much better than what you see on a typical monitor. For those that don't necessarily have to have brand color sensitivity, then these types of monitors should be good enough. Typically monitors in this category are advertised as 8 bit with 16.7 million colors; however, in the case of some of the least expensive models are more 6 bit with A-FRC or 8 bit simulated. TFT Central's recent article expands upon this.
H-IPS
Most modern IPS panel models are made in this format with horizontal IPS pixels arranged in vertical lines.
p-IPS
The "p" in p-IPS stands for professional and typically means that a particular IPS monitor has a wider color gamut. While many of these models say they have a 10 bit color palette of 1.07 billion very few do and as in the case of e-IPS some which are advertised are actually 8 bit with AFRC simulation. True 10 bit monitors will exceed the 8-bit+AFRC module monitors in price.
Other options:
There are many other IPS options available in the market. Overall, pay attention to customer ratings and reviews for a more accurate depiction of what you're getting in a monitor.
