Here are 2 videos to to help you suck less when you pull out the camcorder this holiday season.
The 5 Deadly Sins of Amateur Video
The Rule of Thirds http://vimeo.com/14315821
Here are a few of my hard earned tips.
- The zoom button is not your friend. Set a frame and try to stick with it.
- Light on the subject is good. Light behind them is bad – zooming in on the subject can correct the back light problem
- Your batteries hate you and will deliberately go flat if you don’t pay enough attention to them.
- Hard drives and SD cards have finite space, and it’s less than you think it is.
- Cameras get heavy after being held in the same position for 10 minutes. At school concerts look for something to brace your camera against (I bought a lightweight monopod).
- Finally, back them up, I’ll repeat that BACK THEM UP. That poorly shot, crappy, noisy video of your family at Christmas will become a joy and a wonder as your family changes. Tapes degrade, hard drives die, burned DVDs only last about 10 years, so BACK THEM UP.
Have a safe and happy Christmas.