Today I shot video at a wedding and man do I suck.

rocketman122

Senior Member
I did learn a few things but man I felt so incompetent. I felt that people noticed I was an amateur in videography but I think it was just in my mind. so shaky. composition was weird at times. I did try to switch my mind to watch my frame all the time but at times I was cutting heads. had a led (which helped with backlighting) on the D600 and an audio technical lavalier mic on a short boom connected from the bottom of the camera. not a pro setup but sound was great. luckily my experience from working in a lab and stills helped me a lot with regard to exposure.

my problem is shooting in different lighting situations. it was outdoors. left in shutter priority. iso was at 200 or so. and aperture kept going to f/16 or so. used a 35 f/2 lens. its kind of stupid that any exposure you make the jumps are so apparent. so you see the video jumping brighter or darker. its not a smooth transition. I just kept playing with the exposure compensation instead of the aperture. I have played with the video in the past, and changing exposure with the aperture and it also is very jumpy. meaning, you clearly see the stops. its not like when its in auto and does the smooth under or over of exposure. there has to be a better way. damn I need to get an lcd loupe pronto


it was a good experience. I admit im not strong on white balance. not that I dont want to learn it, but I hate dealing with it and trying to put it off as much as I can but it catches up to me and bites me at times. I bought an exposure disc similar to expo disco just to start gauging kelvin. im very good with judging exposure compensation in outdoors situations so kelvin should be something I will also be proficient in.
 

Blacktop

Senior Member
Sorry to hear about your failed attempt. Usually there is plenty of free liqueur at weddings, to calm the nerves and get the creative juices flowing.:D
 

rocketman122

Senior Member
Sorry to hear about your failed attempt. Usually there is plenty of free liqueur at weddings, to calm the nerves and get the creative juices flowing.:D

HAHAHA. nice. I wasnt nervous. it was just new to me. I did learn quite a few things though. next time will be better. but it was good practice and I cant wait to have another go at it.

the bride and bride didnt want a videographer and simply asked if we could only shoot their ceremony. so I shot their entrance then put it on a tripod and let it go. then grabbed my other camera and shot stills. came back every few minutes to see that all was good. I also did shoot a little when they were dancing and before that when the guests came and a bit at the tables. so they got a lot more coverage.

I told my friend, next time a couple say they dont want video (most do though), offer them for me to shoot. charge them a little and ill shoot it. give me part of it and take the profit for yourself. I mean, after all, wedding photography is a business. there is a trend thats happening more and more. for stills photographers to shoot video as well. its quite easy to switch the camera to video, do small clips and go back to stills mode. just have to switch my mind from video to stills and back. different thinking.
 

aroy

Senior Member
Transition of aperture smoothly is why video lenses have step less aperture. I have shot a couple of videos and realised that for video you have to plan the sequence in advance so that the panning and focusing is smooth.
 
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