When I started shooting my landscapes with the 5DMKII, I also started doing little video shorts of the scenes as well. Years ago I had a nice little side career in video that helped with beer money in college.
What I learned quite quickly is ... your post processing skills, when developing an image in a photographic arena, need to have parity with your editing skills in the video world. Let me say that again. You need to have the same level of skill and artistic craft in Photoshop as well as a high end video editor. Unless of course your more of a pure documentary shooter or minimalist. Easier said then done.
My question to you all is, do you think there is a place in our artistic endeavors for video ? I really enjoy editing in Final Cut Pro. It's new and different. The beauty and form of the moving landscape accompanied with some pleasant audio makes for a nice experience. But, an experience quite different then photography. I could see a dilemma with video potentially "diluting" our portfolio.
And... What to do with video? Is it a supplement via content to support our online presence? Is it slumming for an extra buck for stock footage ?
Here is a link to a video I just finished up that was taken near the same location of some dune shots I have posted recently. There is a full 1080P version if you select it with the full screen option.(Although the YouTube Codec and re-scrubbing of the video has killed the details and posterized the gradations)
It makes a nice blog entry for content, and may give me some hits on youtube.
But really, what else is video good for ? Are any of you pursuing video in your endeavors ?
Posted by Richard Wong on July 17, 2010 at 1:52 AM
I would say stock which used in everything pretty much from editorial to big-budget movies. Branding if you want another way to show what you do. If you shoot for commercial clients they might try to squeeze in some video out of you if they're hiring you to shoot stills.
At this point I just use video for promotional and blog content. Photography comes first.
I haven't fully embraced video. When I am in the field I "think" in still photographic terms. I have shot some short video clips and hope to include them into slide shows as adjunct content. (do we still call them that even though they are digital projections of digital images?) I really do need to practice more and learn to edit the digital video content.
I personally don't do video at all. To me it's an entirely different art form. The well-known Adirondack photographer Carl Heilman II has produced some documentaries using his still shots; one or more of them can be viewed on a visit to the Wild Center in Tupper Lake, NY, which commissioned them; others are available for purchase. Although they are entirely of still photos, between the way the images flow together and the clever way the (video) camera zooms in and out of the stills, you forget you're watching a series of stills; it looks like video.
I'm definitely pursuing video, because its a good way to combine things with my music (am working on cd #5 right now) Am currently working on some time-lapse phtoography for that purpose, though--im not terribly interested in video per se.
Posted by Matt Anderson on July 17, 2010 at 11:25 AM
Stan, check these out.
I'd love to have the mechanical rig that Phillip Bloom uses to create these perfect time lapse videos with subtle movements. Amazing.
I've been considering it from the perspective of pro video companies I've worked with on productions here in my neck of the woods. They always shoot "B Roll" as they call it while on location, whether wildlife, scenic or urban. It's useful in their own productions, but to a person they all have gone through a phase of considering sale of the short clips to others producing video.
In a nutshell, they say the market for B Roll is almost non-existent among video producers because they shoot their own while on location. And there's usually nothing in video production budgets for buying B Roll. If the production companies (in particular the producers and editors) are aware of something really good that beats their own in-house B Roll, they might go after it if they can get it for free.
Needless to say, I'm not putting any effort into video after those collective experiences. If individuals using the very best video equipment aren't having any luck selling in an environment where they know the companies, the producers and the editors, it's not too encouraging an outlook for amateurs using amateur-grade equipment (which is all a DSLR can be considered in the pro video arena) who don't know the individuals and markets.
Video for your own productions is another matter entirely. But the video is going to be a contributor to the income of the final production, rather than an independent source of income.
I like video for certain wildlife situations. A photo of some birds can look nice, but to actually hear the racous sounds of birds in breeding season is something completely different. The same with an elk bugling during the rut. A photo can't capture that. I recently came back from Alaska with lots of bear photos, but what really got people's attention was a close-up video of a bear digging for a clam, finding one, opening the shell and eating it. I don't see myself using videos professionally, but it does add that missing feature from a wildlife photo.
Posted by Rudy Ruberti on July 21, 2010 at 6:40 PM
I made a few ski movies that have consisted of a combination of camcorder, helmet cam video (very cool for skiing) and still shots. I had a lot of fun editing the footage to music, then have my ski friends over for a bbq and movie. Photography has taken more of my time lately and I haven't made one in the last couple of years, but hope to do it again next year. One thing I started (but never finished) was putting together some of my favorite photos along with appropriate music. Maybe this will give me some incentive to finish. I learned how to edit movies before I knew anything about Photoshop, and I do think that made learning PS a lot easier.
I used the video on my 5dM2 for some short clips of my oldest son's college graduation and youngest son's HS graduation. Have not used it for landscape or nature scenes. Once I broke the ice on using video at all on the 5dM2, I saw many opportunities...... crashing waves, ominous clouds, grass moving with the wind, but in the end I just prefer stills. Maybe some day I'll change my mind.
I've been shooting some video on my LX3 while shooting stills with the 4X5. The quality isn't that great, but to see the landscape moving can bring great joy. My biggest problem is sound and no good way to capture it. The morning sounds of birds calling and fish jumping on a lake are a beauty in themselves. I enjoyed the sunrise earth series on HD Theatre and would have an interest of creating something of the same. I mean no insult to Matt, but the overlaid soundtrack on video is so cheesy and to me, indicative of an amateur capability in video. I could further make a connection to a particular genre of video, but I think I'll leave that alone in this public forum.
There is a great amount of talk of image display moving from paper to plasma and I think fine fine art video has a place there, but the market isn't there yet.
Mel, I can understand you saying it's cheesy. I grew up on MTV I'll have you know! Actually, the overlaid soundtrack is a crutch for not having a high-end microphone in the field. IMHO high quality cheese audio is better than low quality monotone noise. Bare with me until the Sennheiser hits my door step...
If it's any consolation (or maybe a forewarning) Matt, the pros have a really tough time recording "nature" convincingly with any brand or grade of equipment.
I don't claim to understand the process, but the pros always record "white noise" and add that as a second track over their principal sound track in post. They've explained it several times, but I still don't "get" it. I can however report that I've sat while several discussed the need to do it for nature shoots just like all others, and their results certainly sound better than simple single-track recordings regardless of equipment used. That might be fruitful ground for you to explore.
Posted by Nat Coalson on August 6, 2010 at 10:24 AM
I've been doing [very casual] video editing for many years; I'm now really developing an interest in shooting video as well. For me, it's an idea "whose time has come".
Discussion
13 repliesWhat I learned quite quickly is ... your post processing skills, when developing an image in a photographic arena, need to have parity with your editing skills in the video world. Let me say that again. You need to have the same level of skill and artistic craft in Photoshop as well as a high end video editor. Unless of course your more of a pure documentary shooter or minimalist. Easier said then done.
My question to you all is, do you think there is a place in our artistic endeavors for video ? I really enjoy editing in Final Cut Pro. It's new and different. The beauty and form of the moving landscape accompanied with some pleasant audio makes for a nice experience. But, an experience quite different then photography. I could see a dilemma with video potentially "diluting" our portfolio.
And... What to do with video? Is it a supplement via content to support our online presence? Is it slumming for an extra buck for stock footage ?
Here is a link to a video I just finished up that was taken near the same location of some dune shots I have posted recently. There is a full 1080P version if you select it with the full screen option.(Although the YouTube Codec and re-scrubbing of the video has killed the details and posterized the gradations)
http://blog.commercialfineart.com/2010/07/sinuous-solstice-%E2%80%A2-mesquite-dunes-%E2%80%A2-death-valley-national-park-by-matt-anderson/
It makes a nice blog entry for content, and may give me some hits on youtube.
But really, what else is video good for ? Are any of you pursuing video in your endeavors ?
At this point I just use video for promotional and blog content. Photography comes first.
I'd love to have the mechanical rig that Phillip Bloom uses to create these perfect time lapse videos with subtle movements. Amazing.
http://philipbloom.net/dslr-films/skywalker-ranch-5dmkii-and-7d/
http://philipbloom.net/dslr-films/toronto-falls-timelapse-film/
http://philipbloom.net/dslr-films/dungeness-timelapse-experiment/
http://philipbloom.net/dslr-films/above-skywalker/
In a nutshell, they say the market for B Roll is almost non-existent among video producers because they shoot their own while on location. And there's usually nothing in video production budgets for buying B Roll. If the production companies (in particular the producers and editors) are aware of something really good that beats their own in-house B Roll, they might go after it if they can get it for free.
Needless to say, I'm not putting any effort into video after those collective experiences. If individuals using the very best video equipment aren't having any luck selling in an environment where they know the companies, the producers and the editors, it's not too encouraging an outlook for amateurs using amateur-grade equipment (which is all a DSLR can be considered in the pro video arena) who don't know the individuals and markets.
Video for your own productions is another matter entirely. But the video is going to be a contributor to the income of the final production, rather than an independent source of income.
There is a great amount of talk of image display moving from paper to plasma and I think fine fine art video has a place there, but the market isn't there yet.
I don't claim to understand the process, but the pros always record "white noise" and add that as a second track over their principal sound track in post. They've explained it several times, but I still don't "get" it. I can however report that I've sat while several discussed the need to do it for nature shoots just like all others, and their results certainly sound better than simple single-track recordings regardless of equipment used. That might be fruitful ground for you to explore.
This site has loads of great information: http://www.fdtimes.com/