DSLR Picture Profiles

You may have heard about flat picture profiles for HD-DSLR cameras but do you know what they mean and why some experts recommend them? Digital cameras and especially HD-DSLR cameras need to have a colour recipe for the sensor to know how to output colours and exposure for your photographs and video. Until the widespread uptake of video functions on DSLR cameras, they were designed by the camera manufacturers to mimic film, the types of films that enthusiasts had been used to in analogue cameras. To keep those consumers familiar with the change to digital, the picture styles or camera profiles were set up to produce results similar to the popular films of the eighties and nineties like Kodachrome and Fuji Velvia. 

These are great profiles to have for still pictures because we can get vibrant colours straight from the camera and as an added bonus if we shoot RAW format, these picture styles are not baked in, they can be changed with RAW processing software. That's fine for photographs but with video most everything we do to set the camera up before filming is baked into the footage, leaving little nondestructive editing post shoot. The profiles are using the senors dynamic range, meaning the difference between the lightest part of the image to the darkest. This is fine if your scene falls into the dynamic range but very often it doesn't and most HD-DSLR camera manufacturers set their cameras meter to prevent the highlights blowing out, meaning the shadows on a higher contrast scene are left to drop to deep black with no shadow detail, or at best minimal.

Flat profiles to the rescue or is it, these types of profiles artificially extend your dynamic range to add maybe another couple of  stops, but really it is just reducing the contrast in your video clip, allowing you in post production to choose which information is more important to you. Do you add contrast to bring out more shadow detail and risk loosing some highlights. The only useful time to use flat profiles is when you have a high contrast scene in bright sun with deep shadows and bright highlights. The cost to using the flat profile is the risk of introducing more digital noise and ultimately spending too much time on a video clip for stock footage.

Choose a camera picture profile to suit the scene and maybe have a flat profile for those times you might have a high contrast scene to have as a safety net, getting it right in camera as much as you can for stock video is still more important.

Stock Video Clips Subjects That Sell

If you are new to stock video production you might be like a lot of us who were new to the magic of video, seeing your first time lapse of clouds is such a thrill, maybe a sunset hits the spot for you, others might film farm animals in a field or maybe some flowers. Nothing wrong with these subjects, they are readily available and that is the problem lots of people video tape these types of clips because it is easy. Maybe you should look at harder to film subjects or set up shots that require some planning and investment. The harder the shot to get the less competition you will have, as I'm writing this I'm having visions of some over zealous filmmaker taking personal safety risks, please do not do that. There are plenty of subjects you might have access to through your work or personal interest.

Traffic sells, my best selling clip on Pond5 is a traffic jam on a highway, this subject is getting saturated but if you have a new take on it perhaps you could unlock some success.

People, at any age doing realistic things, from lifestyle to business, hobbies to healthcare. Research some of the areas like the elderly and emotions but remember that model released video clips are far more valuable than just filming strangers in the street. Always respect a strangers dignity and privacy.

Travel, yes your family vacations can now be a source of tax deductions, no longer being couped up in a car with your kids constantly saying "are we there yet", travel is a whole topic on it's own and worthy of a another more in depth blog post from me. I specialize a little in travel and have worked out how to maximize the potential from travel filming and also have realized the limitations you have not only in time but weather. 

I hire Models for stock video shoots and have good luck finding some very talented people locally, generally I go for a two hour shoot, that I have preplanned, found or bought props and know that in two hours I can produce some variety of shots and get my investment back in around 3 to 6 months if I'm lucky. No matter what subject I'm shooting whether it be models on location or in a studio,  flying to a travel location I try and keep my expenses low so that I can produce a finished clip for around $2.00. Before you say that is unrealistically cheap, think about this I might produce thirty finished clips at a shoot and if I'm lucky one or two will sell the rest might be duplicates or variations of a theme that fade into obscurity. At $2.00 a clip it's a rule of thumb that I have been working to, often it is based around travel to a location where I have hundreds of dollars invested and I work the location to produce enough clips to take me to that $2.00 per clip average.

Keep shooting and uploading regularly.

Which Video Camera To Buy

I know it's been a long time since I posted something which I'm sorry for but I did take my own advice and sent a couple of months shooting video for my stock video portfolios at Shutterstock and Pond5. Having come back from Havana Cuba with some great footage I'm busy editing that, then I got an opportunity to book a local model who is very keen to act in video and ultimately T.V. It was a great pleasure to direct her in some stock video clips and I got to do it on location, taking all my video softbox lights with me and using my trusty Canon 5D MKll for the whole shoot.

Well it's springtime here in Canada and snow is still on the ground, no spring flowers yet but I feel the need to spring for a new video camera, I'm keeping the Canon 5D MKll as it is a great stills and video camera, no what is on the chopping block is my Panasonic TM700, it's time to say goodbye. There are a number of issues with it that slows me down for stock video, these are small things, but over time or in the heat of run and gun can be frustrating and costly. The main problem is the "Bondi Blue" effect, which means that the white balance has a cyan cast if there is a lot of blue or sky in the scene, there is a work around but sometimes I forget in the rush of a city tour.

What Specifications

Any new video camera I buy or DSLR enabled video camera has to have 1080 60p I'm not negotiating this point. Having shot with the Panasonic TM700 for a couple of years the picture quality is amazing, very sharp and because it shoots 60p you have native half speed slow motion built right in, just slow your footage down in post to 50% (playback) and the software already has the extra frames from shooting 60p so the slow motion at 30 fps is great quality.

You do not need to pay a fortune for this either, recently another footage contributor made me aware of the Panasonic FZ150, now discontinued and replaced by the Panasonic FZ200, these cameras are called bridge cameras between DSLR and point and shoot cameras. The FZ150 looks at first glance like a DSLR, but it has a fixed power zoom 60x lens that is Leica  glass and yes it does 60p. I did a quick search for the price of this camera and Henry's cameras in Canada listed a used one online for sale in a 8+ condition for $249.99 I bought it and man this is a sweet camera for stock video footage, it is small lightweight and does fantastic video, great for run and gun. This type of camera could be the one camera you walk around a city doing video and stills for your video stock portfolio and the value is great, I only need  eleven downloads from Pond5 to pay for the camera.

The next camera for me to replace the Panasonic TM700 is the Panasonic X920 I'm about to order it as it is generally not yet available in Canada.

Cameras to consider

Panasonic FZ200
Panasonic GH3
Panasonic HC-X920

Sony HXR-NX30

Sony NEX-FS100

Canon XF100

Sony RX100

I would be interested in hearing your choice of video cameras in the comments section below and your reason for suggesting them. This list is not a total review of the market just some cameras that I have noticed, I'm not at this moment considering camcorders in the $6K to $10K range.

Don't panic, Keep shooting!

10 Tips To Succeed In Stock Video And Stock Photography

10 Tips To Succeed In Stock Video And Stock Photography

Happy New Year, here we are at another January and no doubt looking forward to the new year selling stock video clips and maybe stock photographs with the excitement of a five year old at Christmas time. What are you going to do to maximize this sales opportunity to make sure your portfolio gives you the return you deserve?

Let me give you some tips to try and get the best sales out of 2013 with stock video.

1. Know your camera, seems obvious but do you know how to set custom white balances quickly and be prepared to do it before shooting. Stock video is not like shooting photos in a RAW format, the white balance is cooked into the video codec and trying to adjust color casts in post production is time consuming and soul destroying. Be truthful to yourself and read about features you are not sure about, after all here in Canada it is very cold outside and a good excuse to hit your instruction book or Youtube and become a master of your camera.

2. Go through your online portfolio, especially the older clips and photographs and admit to yourself that the captions and keywords could be better. Look at the captions and describe in full sentences what the image is about. If there is a real place accurately identify it, especially major cities and tourist destinations. Caption wildlife and plants with their scientific names in brackets  Also put obvious sppelling mistakes into keywords and if you are from one of the English speaking countries, include the other English speaking countries names of stuff i.e. small cake with icing: cupcake, cup cake, fairy cake, patty cake, frosting, icing, buttercream, butter cream. Just some examples, think British, American and Australian.

3. Just like, The Who sang about Who Are You? Yes you, who are you? do you work in a niche area, have access to places like I don't get to go, do you have a hobby that is a niche area , if so set about owning that niche, it will lead to sales. It is a good habit to search sites like Shutterstock and Pond5 to find out exactly how many video clips are there of ..........snow plows as an example, desperately plucked out of the air:

snow plows   Pond5....................275

snow ploughs Pond5.....................30

snow plows   Shutterstock............169

snow ploughs Shutterstock.............14

Hands off snow plows this is my niche! You get the idea find subjects that are under served and your clips have a better chance of being found and the potential buyer then heads over to your portfolio to see your other clips or photographs.

It's OK knock your socks off go after snow plows, I would love to see the snow plows in Sydney Australia! or maybe Cuba.

4. Your cameras back panel LCD monitor lies to you...............OMG it's true that sneaky little TV screen on the back of your camera misleads you. Make sure you compare the results you see on the screen to your computer monitor, in most cases the camera LCD needs to be turned down in brightness. Seriously you should rely on your cameras meter and use the exposure compensation or even better in video go manual with your shutter and aperture settings, perhaps take a test still if you are filming and see if your histogram is good.

5. Your footage and stills need to be adjusted a little in post processing, everything can benefit from a slight levels and saturation adjustment, just don't overdo it. 

6. Use your cameras ability to set white balance as a creative tool, there is no law against using a tungsten setting in your cameras white balance when shooting in bright sun. Use this feature as another creative tool, to set a mood or give you a more unique clip than the other twenty photographers stood next to you at the Eiffel Tower! 

7. Do not let the opportunity pass you by wherever you are to pick up a magazine or newspaper and quickly scan the images to get a feel of what professional stock looks like and to recharge your creative batteries. Do not copy, just get used to thinking creatively so your mind will conjure up ideas for you and when you do think of them write them down, because having a to do list is golden.

8. Take more video, take more photographs, you get better with practice, so instead of watching 8 hours of television a day, go out and try and shoot something everyday.

9. Upload regularly to your online portfolios, especially Shutterstock they respond to regular uploading and can reward you with a clip sale almost immediately, where as  Pond5 can take a lot longer to get your new clips selling. If you upload 5 clips a month, it would be better to upload one a week, rather than all five together and wait another month for you to have the next batch ready to go. In reality you need to be uploading a lot more than my example.

10. I'm sure like me you want to upgrade your camera, but think of this first, have you worn the shutter out with over use? Instead of ditching a really adequate camera, why not go and get a really decent lens, do you own a f1.4 lens if not you are at a disadvantage when it comes to low light, other photographers and filmmakers can shoot at lower ISO than you and have cleaner clips. Get good glass, at least one lens, the kit lenses with DSLR's have limitations in sharpness and aperture settings. Both Nikon and Canon have great 50mm prime lenses which are very sharp and have wide apertures at f1.8 or f1.4 ranging in price from $200 to $500.

Best of luck for a great sales year ahead, what are you waiting for film something!