Video from Photography
16/07/22 07:17
How to get started in videography from a photographer
When I first started to think of shooting video that it will be an easy transition, you are just shooting a lot more frames. If you think photography is hard, videography is a whole other ball game. There is so much more that you have to remember and take into account for since you’re continuously shooting still images. For the most part, shooting video is equivalent of a JPEG photo–which means that all that latitude and editing ability that you get as a still photographer might not be there unless you have the right camera or the right hack.
Here are some of the things that I found quite different during the change over.
Frame Rates
When you read a camera’s specs, chances are that they say something like, “30p, 24p, 60p, 60i.” So what does that mean?
– 30p: 30 progressive frames per second. 30p was rated as best for internet videos for years
– 24p: 24 progressive frames per second. 24p is best for cinema shooting and as of a couple years ago has been perfectly compliant with web formats.
– 60p: 60 progressive frames per second. This mimics the way that the human eye sees and is very much a video standard in some ways due to the higher frame rate. Most users shoot at this frame rate and slow it down.
– 60i: 60 interlaced frames per second. Interlacing involves meshing lines of data together and is best for television.
For the most part, I found shooting at 24p all day every day. It is by far the most beautiful format.
Exposure Is a Totally Different Game
If you’re shooting a video, you’ll need to keep your exposures constant for the most part. For that reason, I recommend never shooting in P or automatic modes. Just go manual.
Now everything else works in a totally different way in video.
– Shutter speeds are basically an exposure first and foremost. Let’s say that you’re shooting at 1/15th and your frame rate is 24p. That means that in a period of one second the camera will shoot 24 images exposed at 1/15th of a second. To get the best image quality, the golden rule is to set your shutter speed to be double what your frame rate is to prevent any movement or rolling shutter problems. That means that if you’re shooting at 24p, 1/50th of a second is your ideal shutter speed.
But then what if you’re in bright sunlight? 1/50th is extremely bright? We’ll get to that later on in this section. Whatever you do, don’t change your shutter speed when shooting videos.
– Apertures in video are stated to mostly control depth of field. While we also know that apertures also control light, the ideal application is using it for depth of field control. Sure, if you’re in bright sunlight you can shoot at 1/50th, 24p, and f22–but then you lose the point of using a large sensor camera. And even if your ISO is set to 100, your scene might still be over-exposed.With all this in mind, we always recommend manually focusing.
When I first started to think of shooting video that it will be an easy transition, you are just shooting a lot more frames. If you think photography is hard, videography is a whole other ball game. There is so much more that you have to remember and take into account for since you’re continuously shooting still images. For the most part, shooting video is equivalent of a JPEG photo–which means that all that latitude and editing ability that you get as a still photographer might not be there unless you have the right camera or the right hack.
Here are some of the things that I found quite different during the change over.
Frame Rates
When you read a camera’s specs, chances are that they say something like, “30p, 24p, 60p, 60i.” So what does that mean?
– 30p: 30 progressive frames per second. 30p was rated as best for internet videos for years
– 24p: 24 progressive frames per second. 24p is best for cinema shooting and as of a couple years ago has been perfectly compliant with web formats.
– 60p: 60 progressive frames per second. This mimics the way that the human eye sees and is very much a video standard in some ways due to the higher frame rate. Most users shoot at this frame rate and slow it down.
– 60i: 60 interlaced frames per second. Interlacing involves meshing lines of data together and is best for television.
For the most part, I found shooting at 24p all day every day. It is by far the most beautiful format.
Exposure Is a Totally Different Game
If you’re shooting a video, you’ll need to keep your exposures constant for the most part. For that reason, I recommend never shooting in P or automatic modes. Just go manual.
Now everything else works in a totally different way in video.
– Shutter speeds are basically an exposure first and foremost. Let’s say that you’re shooting at 1/15th and your frame rate is 24p. That means that in a period of one second the camera will shoot 24 images exposed at 1/15th of a second. To get the best image quality, the golden rule is to set your shutter speed to be double what your frame rate is to prevent any movement or rolling shutter problems. That means that if you’re shooting at 24p, 1/50th of a second is your ideal shutter speed.
But then what if you’re in bright sunlight? 1/50th is extremely bright? We’ll get to that later on in this section. Whatever you do, don’t change your shutter speed when shooting videos.
– Apertures in video are stated to mostly control depth of field. While we also know that apertures also control light, the ideal application is using it for depth of field control. Sure, if you’re in bright sunlight you can shoot at 1/50th, 24p, and f22–but then you lose the point of using a large sensor camera. And even if your ISO is set to 100, your scene might still be over-exposed.With all this in mind, we always recommend manually focusing.