How to Improve Your Product Videos

Since we’ve revamped our indoor studio at Windwood we’ve been able to shoot a lot more product videos. If you’re jumping more into product photography or videography like we are, then we have some tips to help you narrow down ideas for your shoots.

• Crafting Your Setting

1. One of the most important aspects of product videos is preparing a relevant style and color scheme. Take the time to talk with your client and research the product (or product line) that you’re promoting. Is the product in line with the company’s past work, and if so what kinds of promotional material have they made in the past? You want to be sure that you align with the appropriate color schemes and styles that fit for this particular product and brand.

2. Once you know what style and colors you’re looking for, it’s time to prepare your set. You want to coordinate an appropriate backdrop, table covering, and any additional props that might fit with the product. Think about what will complement the product and emphasize any points you want to make. If the product has bright colors on it, then you could stick with a solid dark color background so that the product stands out. Alternatively if the product is more simple, you can add background objects around it that spice up the image like product stands, fruits, beads, sand, etc.

3. Since product videos are often short glimpses into a company’s branding, it’s also especially important to find the right music. Really take your time and find something that suits this particular product and brand. Your goal should be to help shape the viewer's perspective of this product. Should you strike a serious tone or is this product more focused on a laid back style? Additionally, make sure to record and include sound effects that enhance the feel of the product, like the drip of condensation, or the perfect pour of a drink.

• Camera and Visuals

1. Once you have your background and maybe even your music all set up, it is equally important to set up an effective lighting layout. You want to make sure that all sides of the product and the background are well lit and look appealing. We recommend setting up at least a traditional 3 point lighting setup. This includes a key light in front lighting up the subject (slightly to the side of your camera), a fill light to help balance out any shadows created by the key light, and then a backlight behind the subject to help give the subject more depth. If you have control over color temperature you should also make sure to choose something appropriate for your product that matches the rest of your color scheme.

2. Most products that you’re going to film aren’t going to move dynamically on their own. That’s why you should focus on finding creative ways to include dynamic movement into your product video. This could mean actually moving your camera in creative ways, like a dolly in shot to set the scene. Additionally though you can move the object. One common method is to use a turntable. This is great for beverages and other tall container items that look good spinning.

3. In addition to setting up your lighting and planning dynamic movements, you also want to make sure you film with the right lenses. Just like shooting portraits, different lenses will have different effects on your subject. If you have a lot of different objects in your studio setup and you want to compress the depth of the image, then you want to use a longer lens. Longer lenses are also generally more flattering for people and products. Alternatively though, if you want to capture an image closer to what your eye sees, or give a little bit more depth to your image, you can shoot with wider or medium length lenses. Experiment and find what works best for your particular product.

Just like any other video style, product videography just takes planning and practice. Get out some materials in your house or studio and have fun with it. The more you practice, the easier things will be when you need to shoot a video for a client.

If you want more examples of our own studio work, check out our studio page. Alternatively, if you want help with your next product video, or studio project, contact us here.

Setting Up a Quality Studio Backdrop

If you’re working in film production, studio work can be just as valuable as location work. When you’re on location, it’s often important to adapt and find the best lighting and angles. However if you’re working in the studio, it’s crucial that you craft a quality studio backdrop and lighting setup to make the most out of the space you have. If you’re looking to set up for a studio photo shoot, talking head interview, filmed podcast, or product shoot, here are some strategies to boost your own setup!

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Backdrop

• Green screen

One useful tool to have for any studio shoot is a green screen. If you need a backdrop that you don’t have, or something other than a solid color, a green screen is a great way to add a more interesting backdrop to whatever you’re shooting. If you do decide to use a green screen, the key is simplicity. Stick to soft focus backgrounds with lighting that matches well with your own studio lighting. The better you can match the theme and lighting of your added background with your original image, the more cohesive the final image will look.

• Textures

Another way to boost your work in a studio is to use visual textures. Tile, wood grain, brick, and even water are all useful textures that will help draw your viewers into the environment you’re crafting. If you add texture to an image you give your viewer something familiar to connect with. When choosing textures, think about the themes and subjects of your video/photo shoot, and choose textures that fit appropriately with those themes.

• Props/Background Elements

Once you’ve settled on a backdrop, another way to add to your background is to add objects to your space. Think about who/what your subject is going to be, and if there are objects that could help compliment that subject. If your subject is some sort of food or drink with a specific flavor, you can add the fruits, vegetables, etc. that make up that flavor to the backdrop.

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Lighting

• Lighting Setups

One crucial aspect of studio work is using lighting to make your subject look more flattering. There are all kinds of lighting setups, most of which can be created using 3 main light sources. If you want to learn more about 3 point lighting, check out our blog on the basics of studio lighting.

• Light Shapes

In addition to setting up lights in different orientations to make your subject pop, you can also use different kinds of lights for different visual effects. There are tube lights, ring lights, bulbs, etc. Often times, you can use these different lights to heighten the quality of something. Tube lights for example can reflect off of tall slender subjects and heighten the effect of how tall they look. Meanwhile ring lights can bring your viewer’s focus to a subject’s eyes by creating a distinct catchlight. If you can afford to buy different lights, try out different shapes and styles and find what works best for your particular studio shoot.

• Color Temperatures

Another way you can manipulate light is with color temperature. LED’s often allow you to adjust your color temperature to different levels of orange and blue light, and there are also gels you can put over your lights and add different colors to your images. Changing the color temperature of your lights can add a particular visual style. If you want a sad, moody look, you can add more blue light to your subject. Alternatively if you want a sunny, summer feel, you can add more orange light to your image. Consider what feelings you want to convey, and then use the colors you think will best convey those emotions while complimenting your subject.

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These general tips should help you get started with different backdrop and lighting setups. Your background and lighting are “make or break” factors in creating engaging studio images, so take your time and focus on different elements of your image as you set up your studio.

For examples of our own studio work, check out the studio page on our website. Additionally you can contact us for help on your own project!

Camera Settings Part 3: Shutter Speed

As we’ve said for every blog in this series, a key part to working in videography or photography is knowing your camera. Obviously there is a lot that goes into visual art, and it’s important to pay attention to framing and subject matter, but before you start focusing on what to shoot with your camera, you want to know how to shoot with your camera.

The third step we want to cover is shutter speed.

• Definition:

The shutter speed of a camera is how long your camera’s sensor is exposed to light from your surroundings. Camera’s have blinds, or “shutters” that block the light from going into the camera sensor. When you go to take a picture or a video, your camera’s shutter will open to let in light and capture that image. The shutter speed of a camera is how long that shutter is open. This is one of the three main settings for determining your camera’s exposure (the first two being aperture and ISO). 

• Effects:

Since the shutter speed determines how long your camera sensor is open and exposed to light, the longer the shutter speed, the brighter your image will be. Alternatively shorter shutter speeds will make your image darker. The shutter speed also has an additional effect on your image, which is motion blur.

Whether you’re taking a photo or shooting video, lower frame rates mean that your camera sensor is open for longer, capturing more of the motion from an object, blurring the exact position of that object. If you’re taking photos of a bird with a slow shutter speed for example, the bird will look blurry because of all of the motion that was captured for one single image. On the other end, fast shutter speeds allow you to “freeze” motion by capturing crisper images of fast moving objects.

• Camera Settings:

In your camera, your shutter speed should be labeled appropriately, followed by a number (usually a fraction). Shutter speeds are measured in seconds, but more often fractions of a second. This means a slow shutter speed of ¼ would be 0.25 seconds, while a fast shutter speed of 1/1000 would be 0.001 seconds. Shutter speeds range anywhere from multiple seconds, to multiple thousandths of a second.

• Using Shutter Speed:

1. Photography: In photography you want to pick a shutter speed that balances the proper exposure of your image while allowing you to capture the speed of your subject. If you’re taking still life photos or landscapes, you can generally stick to slower shutter speeds. However if you’re taking photos of athletes or moving animals, chances are you’ll need a high frame rate. Additionally, if you’re working hand held, you usually don’t want to drop your shutter speed below 1/40th of a second to avoid blurring your image

2. Videography: In video you need to balance your shutter speed with your frame rate. Since video is essentially just a series of photos played one after the other, your frame rate (fps) determines how many frames/photos are taken each second. Your shutter speed works in combination with your frame rate to determine the look of your video. To capture seemingly “natural” motion, shoot at a shutter speed double your frame rate. This means if you’re shooting at 24fps, then your shutter speed should be roughly 1/48, or 1/50. No matter what, don’t choose a shutter speed slower than your frame rate, because it will distort your video.

Now that you know what your camera’s shutter speed is and how it works, go test it out. Try filming the same actions or subjects with different shutter speeds to see how it affects your image. This way you can develop your own personal style.

If you want additional help working with your camera, you can check out the rest of our blogs here, or you can contact us about help with your own project!

Camera Settings Part 2: ISO

As we mentioned in part one of this blog, a key part to working in videography or photography is knowing your camera. Obviously there is a lot that goes into visual art and it’s important to pay attention to framing and subject matter, but before you start focusing on what to shoot with your camera, you want to know how to shoot with your camera.

The second step we want to cover is ISO (click here to read Part 1: Aperture)

• Definition:

The ISO setting for your camera, is a measure of how sensitive your camera sensor is to light. Originally, back before digital cameras, the iso was a measure of how sensitive the type of film you were buying was to light. Now though with digital photography and videography, you can adjust your camera’s iso as you work.

• Effects:

You can keep your ISO low for bright outdoor shots

The ISO setting on a camera has two main effects. Since the ISO is a measure of how sensitive your camera sensor is to light, the higher the ISO number, the brighter your image will get. Additionally, by increasing this sensitivity, you also add more grain or “noise” to your image. Alternatively, the lower your ISO is, the darker your image will be, and the finer the grain is, meaning there is less “noise” in your image.

One additional factor to ISO, is that as cameras are improving camera companies have been able to improve camera sensor qualities, meaning that higher ISO numbers will still be able to produce clean looking images with less grain/digital “noise”.

• Camera Settings:

On your camera, the ISO setting should be straight forward, listed directly as ISO. You can set your ISO generally anywhere between 100 on the low end, and 6400 on the high end. Newer cameras today though have ISO ranges that can go above and below these standards. An ISO of 100 will give you a darker image with little to no grain, while an ISO of 6400 will give you a brighter image with some digital grain (exactly how much depends on the quality of your camera sensor).

• Using ISO:

Unless you’re going for a specific “grainy” look to your image, we recommend using the lowest ISO possible for whatever situation you’re shooting. If you’re working outside on a sunny day, this means you could go as low as 100 for your ISO and still have plenty of light to produce a quality image. If you’re indoors, or shooting at night, you might need to boost your ISO to get a bright enough image.

It’s also important to know how your particular camera performs at different ISO levels. Since some camera sensors are better than others, and particular cameras have cropped sensors, some cameras will perform better at higher ISOs than others.

In a dark room like the photo above, you might have to boost your ISO to brighten your image.

Now that you know what your camera’s ISO is and how it works, go test it out. Get your camera, and figure out how to change your ISO. Then go experiment and take photos and videos. Try filming the same actions or subjects the same way but with different ISO settings to see how it affects your image, and to see when the grain in your image becomes too distracting.

If you want additional help working with your camera, you can check out the rest of our blogs here, or you can contact us about help with your own project!

Camera Settings Part 1: Aperture

A key part to working in videography or photography is knowing your camera. Obviously there is a lot that goes into it, and it’s also important to pay attention to framing and subject matter, but before you start focusing on what to shoot with your camera, you want to know how to shoot with your camera.

The first step we want to cover is aperture.

• Definition:

Your camera or lens’ aperture, is the opening in your lens that lets in light when you trigger the shutter. Essentially your aperture is how big or small the opening is that lets in light to your camera to craft your image.

• Effects:

Depending on how big the opening or aperture of your camera lens is, it will affect how much light is able to enter into the lens while the hole is open, and it also affects which directions of moving light are captured.

If the aperture is really big, then the camera will capture a lot of light, moving in lots of different directions, meaning only some of that light will be directed right at the camera. This means that your image will be brighter, and that only a small amount of the image will be in focus (which is called a shallow depth of field). The reason you will have a shallow depth of field is that only the light that was directed at a specific angle into the lens will be in focus, while the rest of the light captured moving in different directions won’t be in focus.

If the aperture is really small, then your camera will capture less light, but all moving in a similar direction. This means your image will be darker, and most of the image will be in focus (which is called a wide depth of field). Since the opening is smaller, only the light that is directed right into the camera will be captured, which is what creates that wide depth of field.

An example of a shallow depth of field (bigger aperture)

• Camera Settings: 

Now that you know what aperture is and what effects it has on your resulting image, it’s time to learn how to adjust that in your camera. Most cameras, analog and digital, allow you to change the aperture by adjusting the F-stop setting of your camera. The F-stop is a ratio of the camera’s focal length to the diameter of the entrance. This can be confusing, but what this means is that a high F-stop is a small aperture, while a low F-stop is a large aperture. Most apertures range from anywhere as low as F1.4 to about F22. The smaller the F-stop, the wider the aperture or opening of your camera lens.

• Using Aperture:

Camera settings are all about finding a balance in order to achieve a look that you like. There are no specific right answers on how to use aperture, but changing it will affect your image. As a general guide, to determine your aperture or F-stop, think about how much of your frame you want in focus. If you’re taking photos of beautiful open landscapes, you probably want a small aperture (or high F-stop) in order to see all of that landscape. If you’re shooting a specific subject like a person, and you want a shallow depth of field to soften the edges around them and direct your focus to their face, then you want to set a wide aperture (or a low F-stop).

An example of a wider depth of field (smaller aperture)

Now that you know what your camera’s aperture is and how it works, go test it out. Get your camera, and figure out how to change your aperture. Then go experiment and take photos and videos. Try filming the same actions or subjects the same way but with different aperture settings to see how it affects your image.

If you want additional help working with your camera, you can check out the rest of our blogs here, or you can contact us about help with your own project!

Studio Lighting: Tips for Lighting Up Your Subject

A crucial aspect of visual work, photography or videography, is getting the right lighting on your subject. Especially if you’re working in a studio, you should have full control over the look of your subject, because lighting can make a huge difference in transitioning your photos or footage from looking amateur, to looking professional.

However with lighting, like any creative endeavor, there is not one correct answer, but a number of effective ways to approach different situations. To get started, here is a list of some basic lighting tips and styles.

• Basics

Before we talk about any specific lighting style, we should talk about typical 3-point lighting. A good start to any studio lighting setup, is having three main sources of light set up around your subject. Each of these 3 lights serves a different role, but together they should help you construct a more dynamic image.

The first and main light is called the key light. The key light usually lights up the front of your subject, and brightens that subject to help them stand out from the background. This is usually your main light source. Your second light is the fill light. Since your key light often creates shadows across your subject’s face, you use the fill light to supplement some of those shadows so you can see more of their face. Third, we have the back light. The back light is usually used to light up your subject from behind and add a little more depth to your image. Often the back light creates a subtle “halo” of light on the edges of your subject, separating them from their surroundings. When you use all these lights together you can create a number of engaging visual looks.

• Soft Light

One basic lighting style is “soft” lighting. Soft lighting means that there is a lot of light, evenly spread out across a subject, and usually their surroundings. A good natural example of soft lighting would be a cloudy day, or a bright sunlit room. To achieve soft lighting, you usually want your key light just above your camera, or slightly off to the side. Your fill light should even out all the shadows, and create an even brightness on the whole subject. In this scenario you can use your back light to subtly add depth to your subject, or you can use it to light the background. This lighting style is great for light hearted, or happy material like weddings, senior portraits, or client testimonials.

• Hard Light

In contrast to soft light, there is hard light. Hard light is when you add shadows to your subject to convey depth and drama. To achieve hard lighting, move your key light off to one side of the camera and higher up, so that the light comes down across your subject’s face. If you move the light too high, you’ll create a shadow over their eyes, but if you move it too low you’ll light up the bottom of their chin, nose, and eyebrows. This means it’s important to find the right height. Next, you want to either dim, diffuse, or turn off your key light so that the shadows are prominent. The shadows don’t need to be pitch black, but you want significant contrast between your highlights and shadows. For your back light you want to light up one side of your subject’s back, either to match the lighting from the front, or contrast it. Hard light is great for dramatic scenes or for a more “cinematic” look to your images.

• Split Lighting

The next technique is split lighting. For split lighting you can remove your fill light entirely, and shift your key light so that it is 90 degrees from your subject’s face, lighting up only half of their face. This creates a really dramatic shadow, splitting their face into half light, and half dark. This lighting technique is useful for intense moments, or when you want to convey a character’s decision between two choices.

There are lots of different variations of these lighting techniques, along with many more styles that you can try, but this is a basic guide to get you started. Check out some of our own video and photo work to see how we light our projects. Additionally you can contact us for help with your own project.