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Video and Photograph Production Tips

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Introduction

Most of the problems you will encounter with your video and photograph quality stem from one of the following:

  • Lighting
  • Color
  • Focus
  • Camera Movement
  • Noise
  • Framing

  • This section shows some examples for the above concepts, and briefly discusses some tips to help with the most common of these production issues. Keep in mind that with so many variables, solving problems is often an issue of tradeoffs. Experience is the only way to handle the variety of situations videographers and photographers encounter.





    Lighting

    Failure to properly controlling the lighting is one of the most common problem areas with a video or photo shoot. Poor lighting or improper camera settings can ruin an otherwise quality shot with harsh shadows, improper exposure, or flareups.

    Shadows and Textures

    Other than allowing for proper exposure, controlling the lighting in your shot allows you to control the shadows and textures visible in your final image. Hard lighting can be problematic in that shadows become more abrupt, and fine-scale texture (such as skin pores or wrinkles) appear more pronounced. As a general rule, soft lighting is preferred, as it reduces both these potential problems. Hard light is typically produced by a narrow, direct light source. Light from such a source should therefore be softened by using a diffuser, reflecting the light before it reaches the subject, or moving the light source closer to the subject so that its relative size increases. The result will be more gradual shadows and more appealing complexions. On the other hand, lighting can also be too soft, virtually eliminating all shadows and texture and giving the subject a "flat" appearance. As with most aspects of photography, you will need to find the right balance to achieve your desired result.

    Poor lighting: Hard light with harsh shadows Good lighting: Soft, diffuse light. Shadows minimized.


    Tips: A broad light source helps fill in shadows because light is coming at the subject from multiple directions. You can also simulate a broad light source by moving the lights closer to the subject, or by using diffusion (e.g. umbrellas or softbox) or bouncing the light of a surface (which acts as a diffuser)



    Exposure

    Exposure determines the amount of light captured by your camera sensor. Too much exposure results in a washed out image, while too little results in a video or photograph that appears too dark. Most cameras have built in light meters which detect the amount of light and attempt to set an ideal exposure. However, better results can often be achieved manually. The two main controls over exposure are your cameras shutter speed and aperture size. Shutter speed determines how long your camera's sensor is exposed to light, while the aperture size is the size of the hole through which the light passes through to the sensor. With regards to exposure, either setting alone could be used to increase or decrease exposure. However, because these settings also effect other aspects of your image, the proper balance between the two must be found. For example, when attempting to capture crisp motion in overly bright light, simply decreasing the shutter speed to decrease exposure would result in choppy motion of the subject. To achieve the best results in this scenario, finding the right balance between shutter speed and aperture size would be required. Additionally, it is common that additional steps, like adding filters to help reduce the amount of light reaching the sensor, are required to achieve perfect results.

    Another tool available in most cameras is ISO or gain. This is basically the sensitivity of the camera's sensor, so without adjusting the shutter speed or aperture size, you can have some control over exposure. However, increasing the sensitivity of the sensors introduces noise into your images, and should be uses as a last resort.

    Overexposed Underexposed


    Tips: Adjust aperture size and shutter speed, but when necessary use filters or add additional lighting. Avoid gain wherever possible, and never rely on autogain.



    Depth

    Depth in your photographs or video imagery can mean a lot of things. There is depth of field, which is a focus concept, as well as the creation of a sense of depth (e.g. through creative foregrounds, backgrounds, and geometry). Here we are referring to depth created through lighting. The basic idea is that good light sources (see Shadows and Textures above) combined with creative foreground and/or background lighting elements can help produce an image that really stands out.

    Flat lighting produces a flat image Good lighting adds depth


    Tips: Add accent lighting in the foreground or background to create perspective of the subject's location in space.



    Lens Flaring

    Lens flare results from non-image forming light hitting the camera sensor. At times, allowing lens flare in your image can result in a nice artistic effect, but generally, it is a phenomenon to be avoided.

    Lens flare dominates image and washes out contrast Lens flare may produce a desired artistic effect


    Tips: To reduce or eliminate lens flare, use a lens hood and avoid pointing camera directly at bright light. Make sure your lens is clean.


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    Color

    As with most photography concepts, color is a subject unto itself. Entire books are written on color and how to capture the right colors in your images. Here we briefly mention a couple color challenges you may confront.

    White Balance

    Most of the time, our eyes and brain compensate for lighting conditions and we are able to accurately perceive color. Cameras are not so good. Color temperature is a concept used by photographers to describe the color of light in terms of its coolness or warmth. Different types of light produce different color temperatures. For example, an ordinary tungsten incandescent light bulb produces a warmer orange cast than a fluorescent bulb's blue cast. To achieve an accurate representation of colors (and true whites), the white balance for the shoot in incandescent light would need to be 'cooled down', and the shoot under fluorescent lights 'warmed up'. White Balance is the process of correcting for these color casts to accurately represent the true colors of your subject matter.

    Orange Cast Blue Cast

    White Balanced


    Tips: Manually white balance the camera from the primary light source. Use filters when needed.



    Color Banding

    Color banding is often an artifact of the finite color palate used in digital images. When compressing a digital image file, the compression algorithm may fail to preserve enough information to present smooth looking color gradients. Color banding may also occur optically while taking a picture when a polarizing filter is used.

    Too much color data has been lost during file compression and color bands appear in the final image. Using a polarizer (particularly with a wide angle lens) can result in optical color banding. Often encountered in shots of the sky


    Tips: Do not over-compress files. Avoid using polarizing filters with a wide angle lens... especially for shots including the sky.


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    Focus

    In almost all cases, your subject matter should be in focus. While there are times when something else will be in focus to invoke a certain feeling in your video, something must be in focus. The autofocus setting of cameras are seldom up to the task of producing the best quality, so you are better off manually finding your focus.

    Focus: In vs Out

    Bad Example: Focus too soft Good Example


    Tips: Carefully choose the subject of your focus, focus manually



    Focal Choice

    As a general rule, the subject matter should be the point of focus. There may be times when, for an artistic effect, another focal choice is used, but this is the exception.

    The fence as the focal point does not make sense Good focal choice. The subject is in focus.


    Tips: Carefully choose the subject of your focus, focus manually



    Focus Racking

    Focus Racking is a technique that can be used to control the viewer's attention across different focal lengths within the frame during a single shot. It can be used to highlight a process by following a subject that is moving across different focal lengths, or to reveal something in the foreground or background by drawing the viewer's eye to it. A well-executed rack focus can make an otherwise static frame be more engaging to the viewer.

    Poor Example: The focus shift is not smooth enough Good Example


    Tips: Make note of the focal points and pull the focus smoothly. Be sure to hit your focus marks.


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    Camera Movement

    Camera movement should typically be smooth. At times, a handheld effect may be desired, but use with care. For still photography, any movement of the camera during exposure can introduce blur into your image.


    Blur

    Particularly for still photography, if a camera moves while the shutter is open, it will cause a ghosting effect, or directional blurring of the subject. This will make the frame appear as if it had been smeared. It is most common in low light situations where the camera might be decreasing the shutter speed to properly expose the image. This can be helped by using a tripod to stabilize the shot, as well as adding light and increasing the shutter speed.

    Tips: Use a tripod, increase shutter speed.


    Follow Shots

    For follow shots, a pan/tilt, dolly or crane should be used. There are exceptions when a handheld shot can add an emotional connection between viewer and subject, but handheld follows should only be used to intentionally create a desired effect. Below are some good and bad examples of follow shots, along with a handheld vs. a dolly follow.

    Poor Example: Jerky movement Good Example: smooth movement

    Follow Handheld Follow using a Dolly


    Tips: Use a tripod dolly, or crane. Take special care with handheld shots.


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    Noise

    Noise can be caused by adding gain or increasing iso to help in exposing a dark subject. With digital cameras, noise is often seen as colored specks across the whole image. This hurts the color and clarity of your image. Noise can also be introduced when compressing images in post-production.

    Gain: Too much iso/gain can cause a granulated look. Digital Noise: Results in a pixilated appearance


    Tips: Add lighting or increase aperture size to increase exposure, Avoid using iso/gain (especially auto-gain). Export the highest resolution clips to avoid digital noise.


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    Framing

    Often, the most noticed frames are the poorly composed ones. A comfortable frame allows your subject room to move and appear complete. Framing with appropriate spacing in front, behind, above, and below your subject will make a frame much more comfortable. If you imagine lines breaking your frame into thirds vertically and horizontally, you will want your subject placed on one side with their eyes placed roughly on the top third. Avoid framing a subject on any joint. This creates the illusion of a missing limb or a floating head.

    Poor Framing Good Framing


    Tips: Use the rule of thirds


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