"You can take as many pictures as you want, but please no video," said the tour guide. "It is for your own safety," he said. Ok, I am rarely the one to break any kind of rules at all. As a matter of fact, I usually go out of my way to follow them. But when a person is trying to start a YouTube channel, that person needs video footage to be successful. So this is where I was with this weeks vlog. The main reason why I was there was to capture video, along with seeing something really cool and amazing.
So this weeks video started off with some frustrations, even before we arrived at the cave. As I have stated previously, my usual schedule is Monday thru Saturday. It is a rare occasion that I receive two days off for the weekend. So once again I wake up exhausted. We finally wake ourselves up and hit the road, grogginess be damned. In this video I began once again with my strategy of beginning, middle and end. With the road being the beginning and end, and the cave being the climatic middle. The road to Marengo is what I believe to be a scenic drive and I really enjoy the views. Watching the video footage afterward doesn't really do the views justice, it really is a nice drive. Yes I know, I have dirty windows and videoing through them is not a good plan, but hey, I want my viewers to see the sites.
So being told please no video was frustrating. There is no other way around the disappointing feeling when I had to put away my camcorder. Luckily for me, the FinePix shoots full 1080p, 60 frames a second video along with taking decent quality pictures. As an added benefit, it is water proof and shock resistant, so in reality, it is a good choice in this type of environment. I knew from previous experience that being able to record video in the cave that was dark was going to be a challenge, after all caves are dark, so I decided to take lots of stills with the flash. This turned out to being a great idea because most of the pictures turned out bright and clear. I only had a few that turned out poorly due to me walking or the lens building up condensation.
Taking much more pictures than video led me to the idea that I could incorporate the pictures in with the video and for me, the video turned out great. Mixing the pictures in with the beat of the music has given me a new insight into video editing and I hope that this will be enjoyable to the viewers. There is nothing I hate worse than watching shaky video where the photographer is walking and moving the camera around a lot. It gives me a headache and I'm sure it does that to just about everyone else as well. I try to avoid this in my videos as much as possible, but with the equipment that I currently have, it is impossible for me to remove the shakes completely. Having the stills incorporated into the video makes, for me at least, a nice break from dark shaky video. I am looking forward to viewer feedback from this technique and I am hoping that I will receive some useful critique which will lead to better video making. Trust me when I say this, I am all ears. Thank you for reading and please subscribe.
Cameras used:
Fujifilm FinePix XP80 This was the only camera used in the cave and walking to the cave entrance.
Canon VIXIA HF M41 Ok the link I provided was for the M40, but they are the same camera, Just mine has more memory. But it doesn't matter, they are both obsolete. This camera was used everywhere else in the park. This Canon VIXIA would be a better buy. I do not own this one, but I may in the future.
Canon Rebel T2i This camera was used for the time-lapse photography. This is an older version of the Rebel line and I would not recommend purchasing this one at this point. The newer versions of this are so much better. I recommend at least a Canon Rebel T4i. The newest version of the Rebel line being the Canon Rebel T6i. I would love to own this in the future when my budget permits it.
No comments:
Post a Comment