Videography

If you're just starting out in video, lighting can be one of the most daunting things to learn. Knowing all the lighting rules and just as importantly, how to selectively break them to create your own personal vision, is a huge undertaking. This video provides some great tips to get you off and running.

As photographers, we're often found shooting familiar subjects in everyday spaces. It's not uncommon for us to be found in some rather precarious positions from time to time as we invest ourselves in attempts to separate our images from the rest. Whether it's squatting down in the mud or climbing up a tree or a sketchy ladder, we do what it takes to get just the right angle to portray our subjects in the most appropriate way. In this short video, Photographer Ted Forbes talks about how shooting at a lower camera angle can help add depth and drama to your photographs.

In a previous article, I shared some tips on scouting locations for a documentary video shoot where interviews would be captured. The next step is to decide on a frame that complements your talent, topic, and tone. In this video, we discuss background elements we see in potential frames, any why one “look” might work better than another.

Jerusalem is an incredibly historic city overflowing with people and culture, and successfully capturing and representing its many facets is not an easy undertaking. This amazing short film certainly pulls it off.

Mastering how to control and manage light is essential to becoming a proficient photographer or videographer. If you are new to using off-camera lighting, this short video by Film Riot provides an excellent demonstration of how a single light can be used to produce a variety of effects.

Smartphones keep becoming more and more capable. Put in the right hands, they can create beautiful work, such as this touching wedding video.

The best creative projects will leave a permanent impact on someone, whether that's the photographer, subject, or viewer. The best projects will move the world. Renowned sex and relationship expert Layla Martin set out to help women feel more comfortable in their own skin by showing them and their partners pictures of their genitalia, and the results are remarkably powerful and moving.

I posted about Matt's work a while back, but during the past few months he has been working on creating and directing his new film, "Thump." The film is about a little boy who becomes more and more worried about how his heart may stop beating after watching his grandfather pass away from a heart attack. The idea alone is powerful, and after watching some of Matt's other work, I can see this film really being one of his best.

Inauguration weekend was an absolute whirlwind for Washington D.C. as well as the nation at large. Opposing forces converged on the nation's capital, and this short film from NPR is a striking encapsulation of the events and people of varying personalities, gender, beliefs, race, and walks of life that made their voices heard as Donald Trump became the 45th president of the United States.

They say every relationship needs humor in it, and if that's the case, this marriage should last a long time. All it took was a T-rex costume.

This week I had the pleasure of visiting Adorama in NYC, for a deeper look at Panasonic’s groundbreaking camera. While there, I discovered some interesting specs that aren’t being talked about. Let’s take a look at the innovations and pitfalls of the camera at a deeper level.

When doing a documentary-style video production, an interview or series of interviews is often at the heart of the content. Uncontrollable lighting, background noise, and the size of the space you have to work in all play a significant role in capturing a quality testimonial, so location scouting to check on these is an important facet of our production process. In this short video, Joshua Pardon and I explore two rooms at a location and discuss what we look for when making a decision on where to set up for a shoot.

As most of us know, DJI came out with the Phantom 4 Pro a few months back and decided to add a few collision/infrared sensors to it along with putting a larger sensor inside of the actual camera itself with a mechanical shutter to allow for more control of the camera. After my buddy, Vin, got his Phantom 4 Pro, I realized this whole sensor size thing was no joke. I expected better quality when compared to the Phantom 3 Pro, but not this much. I decided to run a few tests comparing photos and video with the two drones going head to head.

The Mirage Trio by FotoDiox is a novelty multi device charging dock that can charge up to 3 devices simultaneously. It's design is similar to an A series camera from Sony with lots of intricate details, including removable lens and lens cap.

I was initially drawn to photography mostly because of color. I find its usage both beautiful and fascinating and a power narrative tool. This great video celebrates some of the best uses of color in all of film.

The aurora borealis are hauntingly beautiful, but we're used to seeing images of them shot from the confines of the ground. One photographer looked out his airplane window and saw them, however, leading to this unique and spectacular time-lapse.

Vimeo launched the upgrade to their Profile Pages a couple of weeks back and they aren't sitting back. They just came out with Review Pages, based on team and client collaboration. It's a space for notes that can be made at certain points of a video.

The music video might be the perfect vehicle for an artistic statement: It's succinct, it has a built-in springboard, and it's conducive to both abstract and literal statements. Here are 18 of the most creative and interesting music videos out there.

Shortcuts for Adobe Premiere Pro are like the force is to a Jedi. The alt/option key on the keyboard allows you to remove some time-consuming drags of footage across the timeline. It speeds you up. Moving footage around on your timeline can often be exactly that: a drag. Enter the alt or option key.

Often, lower-priced LED panels will have a color cast that can be difficult to correct in post, particularly if you're working with mixed lighting. This great video shows both how to detect the issue and how to correct it.

Like it or not, in just a few days, President Obama will leave office and Donald Trump will take his place. Filmmaker Ryan Scafuro spent election night in a London pub that was fixated on what was happening across the pond, and his short film is an elegant look at the evolution of real-time reactions as the night wore on.

There is always something going wrong on set. Always. It could be something minor, like the gaffer forgot to tape a section of a stinger or something major, like the talent shows up hours late and then refuses to get out of the car. That's what happened to Co-Director Ryan Staake in his latest Vimeo "Staff Pick" video of rap artist Young Thug's "Wyclef Jean."

Your smartphone is about to take another step toward becoming a professional videography tool. Filmic Pro will soon be releasing an update that will include a log mode, increasing the app's versatility and capabilities all the more.

If you're a football fan, you're in for quite a treat during this year's Super Bowl. FOX Sports has teamed up with Intel to provide in-helmet views, all without ever placing a camera in a helmet.

The Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany is one of the world's most advanced concert halls and is an absolute sight to behold. To commemorate its opening and showcase its grandeur, this video tour was created, which used drones to provide some unique views of the hall.

In this simple lighting tutorial, I discuss how to create a soft and dramatic image by placing my light overhead.

I initially dove into the world of cinema and photography because of my passion for the automotive world and the arts. I have had some plans for more video work with cars in action but I always wanted more than action camera footage that’s stationary on the vehicle. Even with a jib and other equipment, I wanted more production value out of my work. Really, what I had in mind was a vehicle camera crane system.

Visual and special effects have a long history; they've been around since the dawn of filmmaking. Here are some great examples from silent films where the techniques used behind the scenes are still relevant today.

CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, held each January in Las Vegas, is usually a place where new technologies compete for eyes and wallets, where, in a way, the world of the future is presented to us. We can experience this future first hand on the show floor. We can turn on a TV, or click on news links and YouTube videos. We can also read the glossy, picture-laden pages of electronics magazines, and the somewhat less glossy ones of newspapers. These analog news sources are where one of this year's most talked about photography and film-related invention should feel most at home: Super 8 is back.