Videography

If you live in or are traveling to the Boston area next weekend, be sure to check out the city's first Drone Film Festival for some inspiration for your next project. 

If you are thinking of venturing into videography and looking for an entry gimbal, check out the compact ZHIYUN Crane M2, compatible with a variety of lightweight mirrorless, compact, and action cameras, as well as smartphones.  

In this video by John Hess from Filmmaker IQ, you will see how 120 fps affects the experience of watching a film in a way you probably haven't thought before. 

One of the things that I personally struggle with when it comes to producing video content is color grading. This is especially true when it comes to log profiles and for that reason, I generally just rely on using LUTs that I've bought or downloaded for free.  

The internet is awash with camera hacks, and most of them end up being pretty disappointing, often involving a glass ball, some fairy lights, or a cracked mirror. By contrast, this is a collection of five ingenious methods that not only offer shortcuts to getting some cinematic footage, but will hopefully trigger some inspiration. 

Today, DJI announced the Mavic Mini, a 249-gram drone priced at a stunning $399. This makes the Mavic Mini one of the most affordable drones on the market, but what does this drone have to offer? 

When DJI's digital FPV system was first announced, it was big news for a lot of people in the drone industry. How does this new system stack up against what already exists in FPV and how will DJI's Digital HD FPV system play a role in its new ecosystem? 

StudioBinder, the production management software company, has created a series of short documentaries to assist filmmakers in understanding and navigating production pitfalls in translating their stories to the screen. Making It.

GoPro has just launched the GoPro MAX, a 360 camera that’s quite difficult to sum up in a few words.

Have you ever wondered how you could recreate the amazing flying food slow motion videos that seem to be trending lately? If you have, you probably have an idea how to do it, but lack all the fancy gear and equipment the pros are using in those commercials.  

To some degree, animation, at least in films, has always attempted to capture that cinematic feel. However, in the last few movies made by Pixar, there has been a real attempt made to replicate camera techniques and lens characteristics that seemingly most of the audience wouldn't notice.  

If you think you know all there is to know about filmmaking, you can still take some time and see if indeed Hollywood director David F. Sandberg knows less than you. Otherwise just watch this.

"Video quality is powerful but it's not the whole thing." Paul Xavier speaks about how the message of your video is more important than the gear you are using.

It's exciting when you are hired for a music video, but you are allowed to film it as a drama short film with elements of musical. In this article I will share the challenges in such a production.

If you have ever wanted to start a YouTube channel, here is my experience of setting up a new channel and giving it a real go for 30 days.  

I was not very impressed by the Canon M50 camera when it came last year. But mounting a crazily expensive cinelens on this entry level mirrorless is an entertaining challenge. 

With drones becoming more and more mainstream, people are doing some new and interesting things that require a lot of skill and control. In this video, Mr. Steele, an FPV freestyle pilot and the owner of Ethix, takes us on a ride through his house on one of his 5" custom builds.

I just finished shooting my first video for Levi’s and it was a learning curve of note. 

Aside from 6K/24p, one of the most exciting selling points of the S1H that Panasonic launched back in May was its dual native ISO, a feature that allowed users to switch between ISO 640 and 4000 without changing the levels of noise. Strangely, it seems that this feature might also have quietly been included in the much cheaper S1. 

Palette Gear has announced new modular hardware controllers while rebranding to become Monogram. Cited as 40% slimmer compared to the original Palette, Monogram's new and re-engineered modules offer compact yet versatile control and backward compatibility with first-generation modules using the new Monogram core hub.

Shooting out on location in a busy environment like New York City can be extremely difficult. When dealing with police, public safety, traffic, and pedestrians, it can often be near impossible to create the look you want without sacrificing your lighting. The way videographer David Geffin tackled these issues in his latest project, "Let's Dance," is pretty brilliant. 

As high quality RGB Led light panels become cheaper and more compact, more and more photographers and videographers are finding just how useful these little lights can be. In this video, I compare the new Falcon Eyes Pocketlite F7 light to my favorite RGB light panel as we explore a few unique lighting setups any photographer can create on the fly. 

Morgen Cooper tells the true story of Moji, a young shreditor (shooter-director-editor), whose life is saved by his camera. Moji's story is full of lessons for young creatives.  

Making music videos is really difficult. No money, big value. That is what is expected. However, they are a lot easier with these tips from producer Moses Israel, who has produced nearly 1,000 music videos. 

It's no secret that producing still as well as motion gives any photographer an edge over his competition. As the years go by, creating animated content is getting increasingly more accessible. In this article, I review Flugo, an iOS app that turns any still portrait into an eye-catching motion shot. 

Documentary movies and photography aim at creating plausible images of certain events and phenomena. But what is plausible? Can we even catch an unaltered scene? 

One of the best ways to get better as a photographer is to watch good movies. While the aspect ratio might be different, the same rules of composition and style apply. Here are some of my favorite films that will make you a better photographer to get you started. 

Steven Holleran has been interviewed for the Fstoppers before … twice, actually. But, with good reason: His approach to cinematography and his work behind the lens is constantly pushing the boundaries of creative, thoughtful filmmaking. Read more to learn of Holleran’s most recent accomplishment.  

Every well-known movie has specific scenes it is famous for. This is the case with the bike fight scene in John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum, where we take a glimpse behind the scenes to see how the production team made that action choreography.

Spiffy Gear has made a name for itself by creating unique lighting products such as Spekular and the Light Blaster. They are now adding a third exciting solution to their range of products with Lumee. 

Action cameras are all the rage these days. As cell phones get better, more weather-resistant cameras, some may say that they're past their prime and on the way out. However, Insta360, the makers of the Insta360 One X 360 degree camera, has released a new camera: the Insta360 Go. 

Video is an amazing way to showcase things when people are watching something of interest. For years, people have been glued to TV shows and movies but now there seems to be a shift to fast paced, fun edits that people can watch and be inspired by.

Technology in the video world is moving at a blistering pace. With new features being released seemingly every month, once-hyped cameras are being tossed by the wayside faster than ever in favor of the next big thing.

Even when you've got the skills, the equipment, and the creative vision, it can be daunting trying to land a videography gig. This great video will give you some helpful advice to increase your chances of landing that next job. 

In this Behind the Scenes Video, Daniel Schiffer shows his workflow in shooting an insane cooking sequence.  

In a recent video, we take a look at the FeiyuTech AK2000 gimbal to see how good it is and if it's worth recommending. This gimbal is the smaller version of its bigger brother, the AK4000, and I wanted to see how the little one compares.  

Insta360 promised a camera smaller than your thumb, but with unique capabilities. Have they delivered? 

One of the current cool types of shots are the so called "cinematic photographs." It's not the software filter that makes the photo cinematic or the black bars. Something else does it.

Any video editing task depends on what type of video it is (documentary, music video, industrial/business, TV show), what style will be used, will it include extensive animation/effects/titles, and so on.

Lens choice affects everything about a scene in a movie. In this video for Vanity Fair, Newton Thomas Sigel explains some of the reasons why cinematographers choose wide angle, normal, and telephoto lenses. 

Calling all nature photographers and filmmakers. A groundbreaking new media platform designed to connect more of us to nature is launching its apps' first beta iteration this week.

In this short video, videographer Max Yuryev puts the Sony a6400 and the Fuji X-T30 to the test to compare and see which one has the best colors straight out of the box. 

Visual effects (VFX) are a great way of achieving spectacular results when the budget doesn't allow filming for real or it's too risky for the actors. Up till now, these were achieved mostly by filming on green or blue screens. This new way of filmmaking presents a way for shooting scenes with VFX directly in camera.

Go behind the scenes on this short film's set, as videographer and filmmaker, Armando Ferreira, teams up with Nikon for their "Follow Your Passion" competition to win $25,000. 

In an industry dominated by budgets in the millions, or even hundreds of millions, how can an independent filmmaker get their vision to market? YouTube, VIMEO, luck? The festival circuit? Making a movie is expensive, so how does a rising artist find enough financial support to break into the business of film?

Our usual way of looking at scenes and people and all the things in the world is at 120-200° depending upon the different things that we see. We were use to seeing our horizontally. That is until we got into smartphones and further into Instagram stories.  

Gonzalo Amat, who’s up for an Emmy for his work on Amazon’s Man in the High Castle, tells us the steps he takes to make a scene stand out in darkness.

There are many smartphone gimbals on the market but one of the most well known comes from the company DJI. The Osmo Mobile 3 is the most convenient version yet considering it is able to fold up for transport, and can be operated with just one hand.

Once you've learned the rules for photography, should you learn to break them? Perhaps. 

The most common complaint with nearly all video editing software available on the market is the learning curve. Most programs lack a certain degree of intuitiveness, so any attempt to tinker leads to exasperation. That was certainly my number one frustration with past attempts to teach myself to use some of the heftier video editing suites.