from still to motion – table of contents
DESCRIPTION
With the arrival of high-definition video-enabled DSLR cameras, photographers are faced with an opportunity for creativity and a competitive edge in their field unlike anything they’ve experienced before. Add to that the expanding demands from a video-hungry audience and it’s no longer a matter of if you are going to add video to your repertoire of skills, it’s when. Here to guide you in a thorough exploration of the video-making process — from preproduction to post — and to ease your transition from still to motion are four veterans who speak the language of both photography and video fluently. With their clear, instructive approach, they quickly get you up to speed on everything from picking your gear, to properly lighting for motion, to using professional-level audio, color correction, and editing techniques, to media management and outputting, and much more. Here are just a few highlights from this richly illustrated, completely interactive book and DVD:TRANSCRIPT
vi FROM STILL TO MOTION : A PHOTOGRAPHER’S GUIDE TO CREATING VIDEO WITH YOUR DSLR
Contents
PART I A NEW WAY TO TELL STORIES
1 From Still to Motion: An Evolution of an Art Form . . . . . . . .4
Who This Book Is For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7What Gear Do You Need? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Our Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9The Journey Ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Meet the Cast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12About the Disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Additional Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 Sequential Images: It’s No Longer Just About the Shot . . 16
Making the Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19The Language of Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Composition Rules for Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Sequencing Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Making a Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3 Before You Shoot: The Need for Preproduction . . . . . . . . . .38
Organizing the Planning Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Performing the Site Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43From Site Survey to Final Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Crewing the Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Determining What Gear to Bring to the Shoot . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4 Crash Course in Video Technology: The Technical
Essentials of Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
Frame Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Frame Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Line Scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Aspect Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
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PART II CINEMATIC LIGHTING
5 Playing with the Light: Bringing Your Subject to Life . . . . .66
Think Fast and Go with Your Gut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69The Essentials of Three-point Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Preparing the Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Techniques for Controlling the Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
6 Using What You’ve Got: Making the Most of
Available Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86
The Goal of Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Capturing Accurate Color in the Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Shooting with Outdoor Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Shooting in Low-light Conditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
7 Little Lights: Compact and Lightweight Solutions . . . . . . . 108
LED Lighting Essentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Other Lighting Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116Recommended Kits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118
8 Make It Good, Fast, and Cheap: Lighting on a Budget . . . 122
Low-cost Alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Adapting Photo Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126DIY Lighting and Grip Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
PART III GEARING UP FOR MOTION AND SOUND
9 Body Parts: Selecting a Camera Body for Video . . . . . . . . 138
Selecting a Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Powering the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145Recording Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146On-camera Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148External Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
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10 Through the Lens: The Unique Demands of Video . . . . . . . 154
Selecting Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Match the Lens to the Shot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162Using a Follow Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
11 Get a Steady Shot: Basic Camera Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Going Handheld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171Stabilizing with a Tripod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173Using Monopods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Other Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
12 Great Support: Putting the Camera into Motion . . . . . . . . 184
Handheld Rigs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187Stabilizers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188Dollies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190Jibs and Cranes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
13 Audio Is Half the Story: Great Sound Is Essential . . . . . . 200
Capturing Quality Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .203Technical Essentials of Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205Microphone Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206Microphone Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208Microphone Pickup Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211Monitoring Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212Recording Professional Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
14 Capturing Securely: Field Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Selecting a Storage Format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221Backing Up in the Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
PART IV POSTPRODUCTION
15 Get It Together: Media Management for DSLR Video . . . 230
Choosing a Media Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233Transferring Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236Organizing Media for an Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237Transcoding Footage to Edit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .240Converting and Conforming Frame Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242Backup and Archive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
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16 A Cut Above: The Basics of Video Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . .246
Selecting an Editing System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249Three-point Editing Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .250Syncing Picture and Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .256Transitions, Effects, and Speed Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . .260
17 Color Control: Color Correction and Grading . . . . . . . . . . 264
Color Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267Calibrating Your Video Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .270Correcting and Grading On Set and in Post . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271Color Correction and Grading Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277Broadcast Safe Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
18 Distribution Deal: Publishing Your Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Output Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283Creating a Master File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285Creating DVD and Blu-ray Discs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .286Outputting for the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .288Creating Prints from Video Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
PART V CREATIVE EXPLORATIONS
19 Stop and Go: Creating Stop Motion Animation . . . . . . . . .296
Gearing Up for Stop Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .299Preparing for Stop Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .303The Production Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .306The Postproduction Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .309
20 Time Floats By: Creating Time-lapse Animation . . . . . . . . 310
Essential Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313Shooting Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315Technical Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
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