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How-To

Pro Tips For Making Multimedia

HD video in DSLRs is a hot topic, and more nature photographers see the potential for creating a new way to display and share images. OP went to a seasoned pro for the secrets to a first-rate production.

This Article Features Photo Zoom

If there’s a single buzzword in the photo community that has emerged in the last year it would be multimedia. New DSLRs are humming with bursts of motion, bringing the photographer’s vision alive in exciting ways. There are more questions on this new topic, though, than there seem to be answers. Even the meaning of the word “multimedia” has become convoluted and has taken on many aliases, such as rich media, new media and mixed media, just to name a few. Like the many names to which this format has been referred, however, there are equally as many new challenges and ways of thinking that will take photographers out even farther from the days of 36 exposures per roll and into the realm of 24 frames per second.

How To Think About Video
Multimedia is a unique skill set. Like the many years it takes a photographer to find his or her own style, multimedia has a similar learning curve that’s first about learning the tools available and then implementing them in a way that defines your own unique vision. Unlike photo retouching, batch processing and many other processes we’ve become accustomed to automating, there’s no assembly-line method to producing a finished multimedia piece. At its core, it’s a creative work with no one way being the “right” way, but like photography, there’s always the end goal of having a finished piece that most resembles what you saw in your mind’s eye. A painter’s tools barely have changed since the days of Michelangelo, but the photographer’s tools not only have changed entirely, but a new end product also has emerged, the result of which makes multimedia one of the greatest challenges facing this visual creative community.

Quick Tips To Get Started Establishing Shot With any video or multimedia project, it’s a good idea to start off with an establishing shot, something wide that shows the scope of the scene. This gives viewers a sense of the setting; it puts them in the place. From there, you can transition to close-ups or get into motion. The establishing shot itself should be mostly static. Be Thoughtful About Recording Motion It’s easy to become enamored of a video camera’s ability to move, but you need to be careful about doing it too much. The rule of thumb is to let the camera record motion, don’t make it create motion. Here, Shive has mounted the camera on his Jeep® and he’s letting the world pass by as he drives. Give Your Audience Some Perspective On the face of it, a shot like this may not seem too exciting, but in a video or multimedia project, it’s useful. Having a few seconds with footage of a sign at the entrance to a park, like this one, can give viewers perspective. Hold on the sign just long enough to give everyone time to read it, then move on.

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