Photography and Video: Short and Long Lighting

Short and long lighting are techniques used to bring out the best qualities of your subject. These techniques can also be used on objects but let's talk about faces here. The face can be classified in one of three shapes; narrow or oblong, triangular or heart-shaped and round. No face is exactly any of these but they are more one than the other. Working with the face is a good way to improve your ability to see the natural shapes within a subject but that's another lesson. In most lighting schemes the aim is to make the face look triangular. If you find this idea to be superficial, or worse, untrue, think of this. Most hairstyles are cut to frame the face in a triangular shape. When people look in the mirror they tend to turn their face so it presents them with a triangular appearance. Maybe not when you're concentrating on a task in the bathroom mirror but catch a glimpse of yourself in a store window and notice your reaction. Of course the first thing is you'll do is stop slouching and suck in your gut, then you'll turn your head slightly to one side or the other.

No one wants to look at a mug shot of themselves or anyone else; unless it's the only picture you have of a loved one. So when you're posing a subject you will turn one side of the face slightly closer to the camera. This is very slight in an interview situation or it can be very extreme in a portrait or artistic sitting. The side of the face closest to the camera's lens, no matter how slight that may be, is the long-side. The side of the face furthest from the camera's lens is the short-side.

Now, even though you may be using more lights, let's just talk about two of them: The Key Light, your brightest light, and The Fill Light. Look at your subject and decide on the shape; does it tend to toward being round or oblong? This is easier to see with women since they will have already done most of the work with their hair styling. But it's still important for you to identify it. Then at least the two of you are working together.

Now for the simple part. If the face is oblong shine your brightest light, which is your Key Light, on the Long-Side of the face, the side closest to the camera's lens and your Fill Light on the Short-Side. This will give the face what it lacks: fullness. If the face is round place the Key Light on the Short-Side and your Fill Light on the Long-Side. This will slim the face.

This works on people, dogs, cats, oranges, bananas, jewelry, cars, whatever. Identify the shape. Identify what you want to do with it. Then do it.

Thanks for listening.

Joseph Valentinetti is an author of novels: fiction and fiction based on fact. He writes articles on a variety of subjects, from impressions of travel spots to speculating about the name of the moon, but his focus is on his writing and author interviews. Get better acquainted at http://www.valentinetti.com/. Join his site and get a free booklet on photographic lighting. Pick up his feed and become part of the dialog. Read A Book.

Original article

Video Tripod and Camera Bag

Getting a camera or video camera is a great way to be able to keep a record of things, to make videos and take pictures and to create media that can be a part of websites, magazines or other creations. There are plenty of reasons why anyone should own a video camera and they are a fantastic purchase for hobbyists, professionals and beginners alike.

However getting cameras or video cameras on their own is a risk and a mistake and there are many other things that you should certainly consider purchasing if you are going to buy a video camera. Here we will look at two very important purchases if you have a camera or video camera.

Tripod: A tripod is a highly important purchase for those with cameras for many reasons. The main time you will use a tripod is to steady the camera. This is very useful when you are making videos of things and you want to do away with that shaky 'hand held' effect. If you want to record normal steady video then you will need to use a tripod in order to achieve that. Likewise a tripod is necessary for some photography. This is often the case when there is no flash on the camera as this forces you to turn up the light sensitivity when you are in dark areas. That then in turn means that the camera is far more sensitive to tiny movements and these end up making the pictures look very blurry and almost 'smudged'. If you want to take photos that don't have this problem then you will need to use a tripod when taking such photos.

Lastly a tripod is very important for being able to make videos and take photos of yourself. If you are on holiday for instance, then there is a good chance that you and your fellow travelers might want a photo together in front of a landmark. To do this you'll need to stand the camera somewhere and put it on timer and that's why you need a tripod. Without one you will end up having to balance the tripod and this will mean it risks falling over or breaking.

Camera Bag: A camera bag is also very important if you are going to be carrying the camera with you anywhere. Portability is an important feature of a camera and most people unfortunately don't have much of note worth photographing in their own bedrooms etc so they won't be taking photos from home. This then means that they need a camera bag in order to take the camera around with them. Without it if you left the camera loose in your bag then you would risk scratching the delicate lens or the LCD screen and this would then mean you were unable to use it. At the same time a camera bag protects the camera in case you drop it and usually comes with an additional chord allowing you to hang it from your wrist or around your neck when it's out of the bag but not in use.

Cameras can be quite expensive and costly to repair or replace. By keeping your camera in a Video Tripod or Camera Bag, it will protect it from damage. Camera Bag and Backpacks can be fairly cheap too.

Original article

The evolution of marriage video

In the 1980s, a technological revolution began as the first digital cinema cameras were born. In fact they were not silver because they did not photograph the images on film 8 mm or 35 mm but rather recording images on re usable tapes. But these are very expensive, the attraction of being able to use re cassettes can be used instead of the constant expenditure of the use of film each time to make these cameras more in more popular. The most common use of these cameras was for social and family events, and so it became inevitable that they would be used for social and family, there is the largest event. And so the wedding video is born.

First of all, they have made amateur who has only mission is to about to point the camera in the direction of what was going on, but as the years went bye, more and more professionals began to engage and improve the quality. The professionals had a clear distinction of uncle Bob that is passed to a camcorder, they edited the film to give it a professional workflow and usability. They also added fancy graphics and text so that anyone watching know it was a professional production.

Finally, not content to produce a video of marriage that seemed to be better than "what uncle Bob would have" professionals have begun to use multi cameras so that they could use all the hits they would use if they were actually shooting a good movie. With the cutting of the edition of one angle to the other, the camera could stay focused on the bride and the groom and never miss the emotion of the day. Over the past ten years, the camcorder professional's got better and better. Cameras like the Sony z1 with its lens from Carl Reiss, its processor megabit 25 records in HD 1080i for a camera that produces superb images even when played on a 50 inch plasma TV. There were still questions how ever, both because it as such as cameras are, they are not very well in low light, making some difficult turn in churches. As a result of this and manufacturers understand that registration real-time such events accounted for a large share of the market, camera with a value of "ansi lumen" have been designed (better in low light). As a professional myself I have just traded in my Sony z5s Sony z1s, and I can say with a clear heart that the z5 is surprisingly low light.

Discover some of the sequences http://www.totalweddingvideos.co.uk/ and http://www.totalweddingvideos.co.uk/Page/weddingvideonewcastle.aspx. Here, you'll see samples of one and two video camera marriage turned to Newcastle.

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