Shooting video, many do it...... poorly!

[ElderGeek]

We have all seen videos of our sport, riding quads. But how many almost make you sick watching them, or cause you to wonder if you need glasses?

Too many to mention. Here are a few tips on how to shoot better video.

1. The most important one!! Get a tri-pod or a mono-pod.
Yea it's easy to just grab the camera and start shooting, but very few of us can hold a camera still. Any movement of your body effects the shot. Even breathing can cause some movement.

I know when you are out riding or at the dunes it is not convenient to carry a tri-pod so do the next best thing. If you are next to a tree, boulder, canyon wall or something solid, lean against it with your shoulder or back. This helps steady your body. Even leaning your leg or hip on your quad is better then standing there. If nothing is around then kneel down, or sit down. This lowers your center of gravity and keeps "wobble" to a minimum. Even sitting on your quad is better then standing.

Nothing takes away from your video more then the camera moving all around making it hard for the viewer to focus on what you're actually shooting.

2. Turn off the auto-focus.
Most of our shots are going to be motion/action shots. Meaning what we are shooting is moving all the time. Most of the time we will not be zoomed in very far. When what you are shooting is moving towards, or away from you, it causes the auto focus to try to compensate for the focal point changing. This is why you see many clips that go into and out of focus for a second throughout the shot. Set the focus to "manual" and "infinity". This will work for most of your actions shots. Sitting around the camp or shots where what you are shooting is staying the same relative distance from the camera you can leave the auto focus "on".

3. Put the sun or other light behind or above you.
This is not always possible but when you pay attention to where the sun or lights are, your shots will not be so dark. Be aware that in the early morning or late afternoon your shadow may show up at the bottom of your clip. Move accordingly.

4. Plan your shot
Think about what the clip will look like "on-screen". We've all seen a director holding his hands in a square or look through a hand held lense. They are seeing what the shot looks like "onscreen". If you're following a quad through a corner or over jumps, try to get ahead of the quad. Let them come to you. Which leads us to #5

5. Keep panning and zooming to a minimum.
Using the Zoom feature is very much like not using a tri-pod. It will also let you know you left the auto-focus on, as zooming makes the auto focus work extra hard. So plan your shot ahead of time and set the zoom "before" taking the shot. If you do "pan", do it very slowly. Slower than you think it should be. If you're shooting a rider going across a tabletop, postion yourself closer to the leaving end of the table. Set your Zoom setting so you have room in the frame to complete a SLOW pan. Let them come to you and start to pan shortly after they enter the frame, Pan a little bit and let them drive out of the frame. This makes it more enjoyable to the viewer.

6. Start recording early and end late.
Having a few seconds of video before and after the actual shot gives you some room to edit when you get it back to your PC. The more the better you will discover.

7. Don't talk when you are shooting.
The reason for this is your mouth is much closer to the camera mic than what you are shooting and it just booms in from the video.

For example, your shooting your buddy taking the big table at SW. You hear the quad going through the gears. bbrraaappp, brrrraaaaapppp, braaaaaaa, then your voice, all distorted and nasty, comes booming from the clip ..... HOLY CRAP, DID YOU SEE THAT!!! .....

Not cool.

I hope you find these tips handy. You will forget one or two from time to time, but the more you think about them, the more they become second nature.

If there is enough interest I will add posts about how to make your clips look good on YouTube. Why they look like crap most of the time and how you can upload them to other places on the net "Fo Free". Like your high speed internet account with either COX or Qwest. You did know you have webpage space with both accounts didn't you????