KO/4Photography: How to Demystify Shooting Video With Your dSLR

It’s almost impossible these days to get a camera that doesn’t have a video mode yet I’m going to guess that you have either never pushed the record button, or you have and you weren’t happy with the results so never pushed it again. Or maybe you’ve avoided pushing the button simply because you don’t want to deal with editing the video. It becomes one of those things that’s easier to avoid than it is to try and possibly fail at mastering immediately. And while it’s true that the record button is red, you shouldn’t let that stop you shooting video.

shotting video - red button

If you are one of those photographers, let’s demystify some of the ins and outs of shooting video with your DSLR and open up a new string to your bow. The biggest tip? Just to get out there and shoot some video. Not all the footage will be amazing, but the more you do it the more you’re going to learn and the more comfortable you’ll get with it. Dare I say, you may actually have some fun learning something new as well.

Why bother?

But why would you want to add the shooting video to your arsenal in the first place? Let’s be honest, even if you aren’t making money from your photography, if you’re like most of us, you really like getting attention online and engaging with others. Video is a great way to get attention on social media and begin a dialogue. A fake survey that I am about to make up said that people are 800,000% more likely to stop and look a post if it includes a video.

On a serious note though, video can help improve your storytelling and it’s fun to learn new things. Perhaps if you find yourself in a bit of a rut, it could be just the thing to help get your creative juices flowing.

Smiling shooting video

Storytelling and video editing

Video, just like photography, is about telling a story.

The first thing to think about with video is that you will most likely have to edit it, not much, but at least just a bit. It’s important to have at least some idea of what your edit is going to look like before you shoot video. I’ve been working in the film industry for almost 20 years and even I have times where I get back to the editing suite and realize that I’ve forgotten to get a shot that would really help. The more you shoot, the more you’ll realize how many different angles and shots you actually need to tell the story.

Interview shooting video

A good tip is to always get wide and tight shots. Your close-up and medium detail shots are most likely going to be your beauty shots, artsy-fartsy if you like. Then the wide shots will help you establish your scene and let your audience know where your story is taking place, which is absolutely vital. Once you have those shots, just have fun and be creative. Take more shots and angles than you think you’ll need. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did!

Camera settings for shooting video

When it comes to the settings on your camera, you can go really deep but don’t let it stop you from starting! There are some basics to start with:

1. Select a frame rate

If you’re in North America or Japan, select 30 frames per second and if you’re anywhere else select 25 frames per second. There are a few other options and reasons for all of them, but this is a good place to start.

Frame rates are normally found in the “movie settings”, which is at the bottom of the “Shooting Menu” on Nikon.

With Canon, you may have to turn on Live View mode before the movie options will appear in the menu.

2. Aperture, ISO and Shutter Speed

These work exactly the same in video as they do when taking still photos, so that’s easy.

But shutter speed is slightly different. As a general rule, set your shutter speed to double the frame rate. This is so that movement in your video will look natural. If you set your shutter speed low – in video mode, most cameras won’t let you go under 1/20th – then any movement will be blurry. If you set your shutter speed higher than 1/60th or so, then things moving in your video may appear too sharp. Yes, too sharp can be bad in video – try it and see for yourself.

Here is a short video to help you with video settings:

3. Audio

Lastly but probably most importantly, think about your audio. Without realizing it, you’ll find it makes all the difference in your video. The built-in microphones on most cameras are not great, so a good way to get round that is… don’t use it.

So what DO you use? Well, microphones are a bit like cameras, the best one is the one you have with you. So just use music over your whole video to cover anything until you can get a better audio source.

Gear

What about gear, you ask? Don’t you need loads of different equipment than what you use for photography? What about external monitors, tripods, and video lights? Do you need a fancy rig? Sure, you can get a whole lot of new gear but you don’t NEED anything to get started. It’s too easy to let a lack of gear stop you but if you have a camera with a record button, you have everything you need to start.

record button shooting video

Conclusion

You just need to get out there and shoot – anything. Just press the red button, because this is one situation where red means go. Go shoot some video and have some fun like this!