Benjamin Marks
Veteran
I have just got a low-end digital video camera as a gift and it has set me to wondering: has an interest in imaging generally led any of you to video. It is interesting, I have almost no interest in video as a medium, although I won't deny that there is some magic to seeing home movies of my daughter when she was really little. Magic for her, too, I should add.
Your thoughts? Have you been tempted by the moving image or are you a fixed-image type?
Curiously,
Ben Marks
Your thoughts? Have you been tempted by the moving image or are you a fixed-image type?
Curiously,
Ben Marks
ywenz
Veteran
cinematography is as powerful as photography.
As a photographer, one person with a little Leica can be the sole individual responsible for a fantastic end product.
In the motion image department it is much much more difficult to individually achieve the same level of quality.
As a photographer, one person with a little Leica can be the sole individual responsible for a fantastic end product.
In the motion image department it is much much more difficult to individually achieve the same level of quality.
jlw
Rangefinder camera pedant
I used to produce television commercials, so I have some lingering interest in video. The thing that always strikes me as odd when I do video is how little it has in common with still photography!
Even the most basic elements change when you're dealing with a moving image vs. a fixed one -- for example, creating a harmonious, well-balanced composition is very important for a still image that viewers are going to contemplate over a period of time, but in a moving image the composition is going to change continuously anyway, so things such as screen direction and continuity become more important. Also, you need to plan a still image to lead the viewer's eye in the desired path around the frame, whereas with a moving image you can explicitly move the camera's field of view.
So yes, it's an interesting challenge, but it's almost a completely different challenge. And as ywenz pointed out, it takes a huge equipment and time investment to produce anything approaching a professional level of quality, whereas it's possible to create still photographs of the highest quality with very modest resources.
Side note: An interesting way of combining both challenges is trying to animate your still photos, the way Ken Burns does in his documentaries. If your experience is like mine, you'll find that it's fairly easy to produce mildly interesting results, but quite difficult to get something that really flows well. Here's a YouTube link to one of my own experiments with this, and there's an RFF group on YouTube that contains some others as well:
Click here
Even the most basic elements change when you're dealing with a moving image vs. a fixed one -- for example, creating a harmonious, well-balanced composition is very important for a still image that viewers are going to contemplate over a period of time, but in a moving image the composition is going to change continuously anyway, so things such as screen direction and continuity become more important. Also, you need to plan a still image to lead the viewer's eye in the desired path around the frame, whereas with a moving image you can explicitly move the camera's field of view.
So yes, it's an interesting challenge, but it's almost a completely different challenge. And as ywenz pointed out, it takes a huge equipment and time investment to produce anything approaching a professional level of quality, whereas it's possible to create still photographs of the highest quality with very modest resources.
Side note: An interesting way of combining both challenges is trying to animate your still photos, the way Ken Burns does in his documentaries. If your experience is like mine, you'll find that it's fairly easy to produce mildly interesting results, but quite difficult to get something that really flows well. Here's a YouTube link to one of my own experiments with this, and there's an RFF group on YouTube that contains some others as well:
Click here
ywenz
Veteran
sound is also a crucial part of video/film work. 50% of what you see is heard, so that is another challenge one has to face when dealing with moving images.
David Goldfarb
Well-known
I'm experimenting with Super-8 a bit--silent for now. It's interesting to see stuff move.
Benjamin Marks
Veteran
I always viewed movies as having all of the problems of photography, but with the added problem of time. If you have 30 seconds of video, something has to "happen" during that time for the image capture to be useful/meaningful. Otherwise, all you have is a still photo, with all of the compositional problems that poses.
shadowfox
Darkroom printing lives
I enjoy watching videos, but I have zero desire to create them.
