Video basics
Your camera and your phone record video, and almost everything you've learned in photography still applies: exposure, composition, light. But video adds time and, with it, two new concepts: frames per second and a shutter speed you no longer choose with complete freedom. Watch how the cyclist moves with each setting.
Frames per second
A video is a succession of still images played back at high speed. Cinema uses 24 frames per second (fps), which gives its characteristic filmic cadence. The TV standard is 30 fps in the US and other 60 Hz countries, and 25 fps in the UK and Europe. At 60 fps (or 50 in the UK), motion looks smoother, typical of sports and live broadcasts.
If you record at 60 or 120 fps and play back at 30, you get slow motion: two or four times slower. That's why phones record at 120 or 240 fps in their slow-motion mode. Choose the frame rate before recording, based on the final use, and don't mix rates in the same project without a reason.
The 180-degree rule
Shutter speed should be roughly double the frame rate: 1/50 at 24 or 25 fps, 1/60 at 30 fps, 1/120 at 60 fps. With that relationship, each frame contains the motion blur the eye perceives as natural.
The name comes from film cameras, whose shutter was a spinning disc open over a 180-degree sector. With much faster speeds, motion becomes choppy, an effect used on purpose in action scenes; with slower speeds, everything smears.
Shutter speed = 1 / (2 × fps). At 30 fps, 1/60.
A frame from the same video recorded at 25 fps.
The ND filter, essential in daylight
In full sun, 1/60 lets in a huge amount of light. To avoid stopping down to f/16, with the loss of sharpness and background blur that implies, videographers use neutral density (ND) filters, which reduce the amount of light without changing the color. An ND8 takes away three stops; variable NDs let you adjust the strength by turning the filter and are very handy to start with.
Keys to making your video look professional
- Stabilize: a tripod, a gimbal or, at the very least, elbows tucked in and slow movements.
- Record static shots of 5 to 10 seconds and let the movement come from what you're filming, not your hands.
- Vary shot sizes: wide, medium and close-up. B-roll (hands, objects, atmosphere) makes editing much easier.
- Take care of the sound: a cheap lavalier mic improves a video more than an expensive camera.
- Lock exposure, focus and white balance so they don't change mid-shot.
Your turn: your first mini video
A phone and an afternoon are enough.
- Film someone walking at 30 fps with 1/60 and with 1/1000, if your camera or app allows it, and compare the smoothness.
- Film the same walk in slow motion.
- Edit a 30-second video with five static shots of your neighborhood, combining wide, medium and close-up shots.
- Add royalty-free music and share it.