Modern digital cameras are more than photography tools. They shoot video and can record audio. However, many photographers are reluctant to use the powerful video capabilities of our cameras.
Some have absolutely no interest in video, and that’s fine. Others are wary of having to learn new techniques and ways to compose. There is no doubt that shooting video requires a different mindset; however, much of what we know in photography can be translated to shooting video.
Today we are going to look at how to move your mindset from photography to video. To do that, we first need to know some advantages to shooting video.
This is Why You Should Shoot Video
As photographers, our aim is to freeze a moment in time. That can lead us to spectacular still images. However, there are times that we wish to document a story, show a scene unfolding, or even add more emotion to our visuals. Video allows us to do that.
Video has an extra, often overlooked aspect as well: audio. Combining motion visuals and audio can give us a very powerful storytelling tool. One that can also include still images.
The way to see video, I believe, is as a medium to complement photography.
Still and motion images are two sides of the same coin, and if you shoot one well, you can easily shoot the other just as well.
Another reason to shoot video, for some, is the engagement it gets on social media. Shooting behind-the-scenes clips of how you create a fantastic still image can actually give that image a major boost on the likes of Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.
How to Get Into A Motion Mindset
As I mentioned earlier, as photographers we seek to freeze motion, to capture one precise moment in time. That’s the first thing we need to get out of when shooting video. We need to embrace that motion, make it part of the scene.
There are two basic ways we can do this, depending on whether the subject is moving or not.
If the subject is moving, we can keep our camera either still or panning and tracking that subject. If the subject is still, we need the camera to do the motion work. We can do that in a number of ways. Tilting or panning the camera to the subject on a video head is the most basic way of doing this. However, these days, with the advent of gimbals, sliders, and drones, we have multiple ways to make our cameras move.
For our larger cameras, gimbals are a great way to make the camera move when the subject is stationary. We can walk in or away from a subject, track around it or slide across it, all from a relatively cheap gadget.
Once you get into the mindset that you need to embrace motion in your video, you are halfway there. A lot of the compositional rules we use in photography translate over to video very well. There is a slight caveat though.
Going Wide – Thinking In 16:9
As stills photographers, we tend to compose our shots in the format of the camera. Generally that will be 4:3 or 3:2, sometimes 1:1. In video the standard image ratio is 16:9, a significantly wider aspect than stills. This takes a little more mental adjustment when composing shots, but as you start to embrace motion in your shots, you will realise how much more useful the 16:9 ratio is in video.
The first and most obvious advantage is space. You have space for a subject to move through if they are in motion. If they are still, you have a wonderful opportunity to present the environment in which the subject lies. By placing the subject on one of the thirds, you can embrace the background as a part of the story you are telling. A classic example of this might be an interview of an academic where the background is a library.
One thing to note is how powerful an element the horizon becomes in the 16:9 format. Simply because there is more of it. You can use the horizon as a powerful element in your shots. Be sure to get the horizons dead straight though, as if they are off they become much more obvious. You can also intentionally tilt the horizon to introduce tension to your video shots; this is called the Dutch Angle.
Stronger Composition In Video
Composition is a universal thing. It didn't start with photography; it has been around for millenia with artists embracing the natural order of the world. As photographers, we have borrowed those compositions, and we do the same in video.
Rule of thirds, leading lines, and negative space are all powerful compositions in video, particularly negative space. With that extra width to our frame, we have a lot of potential in the negative space to bring attention to our subject.
When we add in the motion, those compositions come alive. For leading lines, you can position a camera low and slide it left or right, the eye being lead through the moving lines to the subject. Thirds, speaks for itself, especially in the wide aspect ratio. With a gimbal, we can slowly track around a subject on a third. This is particularly powerful on talking head shots, where the subject follows the camera. It gives the viewer the feeling that the subject is talking directly to them.
Combining many of the compositions we know and love, with our newfound love of motion, we can quickly become as good at video as we are in stills.
The Essential Technical Elements
Whilst this article is about composition in video, we should briefly touch on some of the technical elements of the shoot. I won’t go into detail as this has been covered before.
The fact is that exposure and focus are broadly the same. In video, our cameras tend to use continuous focus, locking onto a subject and staying with it. Alternatively, we can focus manually, and many filmmakers will.
Aperture, shutter speed and ISO all work in the same way, with a couple of caveats.
The first is shutter speed. In general we want our shutter speed to be twice that of our frame. This allows the individual images that make up the video to have motion blur to them. For example, if our video frame rate is 25 frames per second, then we should aim for a shutter speed of 1/50th.
The other caveat is ISO. Whilst it works in the same way as still images, we have much less ability to reduce noise in post production. For this reason we need to be careful of what ISO we are using.
Video is a powerful and creative tool in its own right. It’s also one that we as photographers can adapt to fairly easily. We already have cameras that are capable of almost Hollywood levels of quality so why not embrace them and add motion to your stills experience.
