Great video tips from Peiter De Vries
- Using the Auto setting leaves you very little control and could better be known as the Average setting.
- Pans will offer up helpful choices in the edit, so don’t be tempted to stop recording as soon as you arrive at your final glorious composition. Leave a good ten seconds static shot at the end.
- A sequence made up of little more than a swag of wide angle shots taken from similar positions will result in a series of awkward jump-cuts which are tricky to piece together.
- Zoom out when you are going to reveal something to your viewers. The end of the zoom should always be more interesting than the start, if not, you lead your audience nowhere.
- As you cover action, keep the camera close to your subject and leave the zoom at the wide angle position.
- Instead of using the pan/tilt handle on the tripod head to move the camera, grip both hands around the collar of the fluid head and use it as a fulcrum to turn the camera.
- A technique that pros use is to compose an interesting shot on the tele-photo lens and then allow things to pass through the foreground. These soft-focussed foreground objects can reveal an ideal moment in your pre-framed shot – you’ll be impressed with how good this can look.
