THURSDAY.
I started my Thursday off going to a health care Q&A event with Melissa Phillip. Instead of shooting still images though, I shot video for the first time since I've been down here. Then, when we went back to the office, Jeremy Carter helped me edit the video. This is how it turned out. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6571953.html
I learned some great things from this opportunity.
- If at all possible have your audio plugged in so you aren't recording it through the shotgun mic. Unfortunately, when we got there all the plug-ins had been taken so we were unable to hook it up that way. Jeremy Carter told me that if that ever happens again, it's always a good idea to put the wireless mic just a couple inches in front of the speakers and it'll pick up the sound a whole lot better than it does on the shotgun mic.
- Each shot in a video should be at least 8-10 seconds long. Get a tight shot, a medium shot and an overall shot. But hold each one for at least 8-10 seconds and let people and things move in and out of the frame. (Melissa Phillip, Jeremy Carter)
- You can get away with panning at times, but don't do it very often.
- Make sure to keep the video rolling at all times so that if a person is talking you don't cut them off at an awkward time. (Melissa Phillip)
- Keep the camera on a tripod if it's an ideal situation for one - the footage comes out much better that way. Sometimes hand-holding is the best scenario, and in that case keep the camera still. (Melissa Phillip)
- Move around. Just because it's video doesn't mean you have to sit in one spot. Shoot from behind, shoot from the side, shoot from the front - get all angles so that when you go into edit the video you have a multitude of options to work with.
- Sometimes you have to take still photos and do video. In that case, it's good to have the video set up on a tripod rolling, and then move about the room with your still camera. Then you can go back to the video and move it around the room. (Melissa Phillip)
- B-roll is always a good thing to have. Focus in on what people are doing so that there are plenty of cutouts for the person editing the video to use while the audio is trailing. (Melissa Phillip, Jeremy Carter)
- At an event where people are talking, make sure to get a good amount of time of the person speaking before grabbing b-roll in the audience so that viewers can identify with who is talking. (Jeremy Carter)
Those were some of the highlights. Melissa did a fantastic job of walking me through the whole process while we were at this event. When I saw Jeremy editing the video in an editing bay I wanted to go in and sit with him as he did to not only learn some of the ropes to editing but also to get feedback on what I had turned in.
We also had a staff meeting on Thursday where everyone chose their best photos from the past month and Steve put music with it all. It was good to see the best of the best. Then the three best videos produced by the photo staff were showcased and talked about why there were selected.
All in all, I learned a lot as I worked my way through Thursday, and that's not even where it ends.
I was pretty much stationed in the office with the other photogs and decided to jump around from person to person and see what everyone was working on.
I spent a little while talking to intern Evan White and he was showing me some of his work that he does - portraits, weddings, etc. Then we looked through various web sites and he talked to me about different photographers in the area.
Then I checked out Michael Paulsen's freelance portraits on a woman who witnessed her fiance's suicide. He edited them down and then had Photo Editor Billy Smith edit them down even more. Billy explained who he chose the one's he did, and Michael continued to narrow them down from there.
As Billy looked through the take, he was asking Michael how the shoot went - what he said to her, how she responded to him and how aggressive he was with posing her. It's actually pretty fascinating to listen to a photographer talk about how they go about photographing someone. He said that they started building their photographer/subject rapport the night before via text message and so in the morning they were semi-comfortable with one another. They started talking when she arrived. He asked her to go stand next to the grave first to see how their interaction went - and he photographed that. Then, he said that it wasn't quite working so he had her go put her hand on the grave and then he just let her be, working all the anlges. He said at times he would let her do her own thing, while other times he would direct her to look in one direction or another.
What I found extremely fascinating though was that he said she began to get emotional during the shoot, and when that happened - he put his camera down and gave her a moment. Then they went back to shooting.
Many photographers would disagree with this execution, but I find myself relating to it. As a photographer, at times it's difficult for me to expose someone else entirely. There's a time and a place for it. Sometimes emotion shows without the tears...and if you can get that, then you don't need to expose the tears. And that's exactly what he did.
Watching the editing process was pretty interesting though because sometimes one person will choose a certain photo for one reason, and someone else will choose a completely different photo. It's important to give your photo editors options so that they are happy with what you turn in or what they run.
While Michael was narrowing down his photos he helped me update my version of Photoshop and then we opened up my portfolio and edited that down. He explained to me why certain photos worked, and others didn't.
He not only talked to me about my portfolio - but also about editing down some photos to apply for various workshops. For workshops, he said, you want your work to show some sort of cohesiveness, whereas, a portfolio needs to show well-roundedness. He also said that still photos in a portfolio need to be able to explain themselves. Although you must include captions with your work, your photo should be able to tell the story itself.
James Nielsen walked into the room when we were going through my stuff, and he gave his opinion on cropping and portfolio work as well.
I actually had a number of conversations with Michael about photojournalism - why we do it, what you gain from it, what you learn from it, how you learn something new every time you go out, how you have to be confident in what you do, how you have to be agressive in getting the photo you need - but not putting people in a position where they feel uncomfortable, how networking works, how you get from one thing to the next, how you really have to love the job, how you will still question it, etc. etc. etc.
Although I retained all the informaiton he gave me, it's difficult to account for it all.
No comments:
Post a Comment