10 9 Things a Photographer Needs to Know About Video
Gail Mooney’s blog Journeys of a Hybrid, has a list of 10 things a photographer needs to know about video. Sometimes simple is best and a straightforward acknowledgement that there’s more involved in shooting motion than just having that capability built into the camera is helpful to photographers new to video. Some of the highlights I think she nailed:
- Buying a DSLR is only a start
- It’s More than just the shoot
- Shooting Video is a different mind set than stills
- Audio is everything
As a hard and fast rule, I don’t agree with her number 5, “Shoot Horizontals”. It is important to know where your video is going to be used and to capture what is appropriate, but I would argue that TV is not where most DSLR video is going to end up. Video is no longer constrained to horizontal formats and I find it interesting that most video shooters and cinematographers are so hesitant to literally think outside the box.
One thing to take special notice of is her statement on positioning yourself as a motion shooter:
There are many facets to video production. In fact positioning yourself as just a camera operator may not be the best business model.
I have had this conversation with numerous photographers moving into shooting motion. Is a photographer who is used to doing it all, better suited to direct motion or should they be the camera person? I think that for the most part, photographers have a broader skill set because they end up wearing multiple creative and technical hats during a photo shoot. Still photography hasn’t been as compartmentalized as filmmaking. It comes down to what you are capable of delivering and what will help your business grow.
The trick to finding your place in the world of motion is figuring out what you can bring to the table combined with your artistic and financial goals. Look to what photographers Alexx Henry and Greg Williams are doing as a motion photographer/PhotoCine roadmap.
Do you really want to work 15 hours a day on films or shoot run-and-gun video interviews? 
Remember, video cameras are a mature technology that have offered an easy solution for photographers wanting to shoot motion for quite a while and buying a $4500 Canon XL-2 kit isn’t a barrier to entry for most working pros. So why haven’t you shot video before?
I personally think that creating moving stills for kiosks/digital signage, iPad Magazines and web content should be the jumping off place for most pro photographers instead of trying to deliver a feature film.
Be sure to go read the complete top 10 list and while you are there, check out the rest of Journey’s of a Hybrid for articles like “Tips for Getting Good Video Interviews” and “Putting Together a DSLR Video Kit – And Why“.
