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The Myth of the Shaky Video From a Flip Camera or iPhone

February 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

One of the questions I’m frequently asked is “isn’t the video shot by your friends on an iPhone or Flip shaky?” Check out today’s Tuesday Tutorial (short) video to see why that simply isn’t true – well unless you really do have the wedding jitters. :)

Don’t miss my flub about 2/3 of the way through. Feel free to make fun of me in the comments below.

 

See how we can help you capture and enjoy your big day for a lifetime. Learn more about DIY affordable wedding video at our website or feel free to give us a call at 800-831-1649.

Ariane

Filed Under: Shooting Video, Tutorial Tuesdays Tagged With: , , ,

How to Hold a Camera or iPhone for a DIY Wedding Video

February 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Ok, I know this sounds like a “duh” moment, but the question really does come up a lot. Hopefully everyone knows not to put their fingers over the lens, so I won’t talk about that. But I see people send in sideways video sometimes, so I thought it might help to talk about how to hold the camera.

Think about it this way, when you watch tv, are the videos taller than they are wide? No. When you watch TV do they have black bars along the side of the video? No. So why do people sometimes hold the camera or iPhone that way when shooting wedding video? I think it’s because brides and grooms are taller than they are wide. Duh, again.

No worries, we can fix it on your feature length wedding video, but it does take a little longer to get back to you, and doesn’t look quite as good. Here’s a little video tutorial I created to show you the right way to hold a camera for your DIY wedding video.

 

See how we can help you capture and enjoy your big day for a lifetime. Learn more about DIY affordable wedding video at our website or feel free to give us a call at 800-831-1649.

Ariane

Filed Under: DIY, Tutorial Tuesdays Tagged With: , ,

Why to DIY Your Wedding Video

January 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

In this kickoff of Tutorial Tuesdays, I wanted to give you an overview of HOW to DIY your wedding video. What?! Why in the world would you want to DIY a video????? So, before beginning with the HOW, I thought we should begin with the WHY.

When you think about wedding video, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Is it cheesy? Is it soooooo long that you’ll never watch it? Or perhaps you have that vision of gorgeous wedding films… like those produced by Hardeman films.

Whatever your vision of the product, there’s something else you may want to consider. How are you going to remember your wedding 10 years from now? The photos are awesome. But, there are some memories that just come to mind better in video. Like your dad’s toast. Or how about your sorority sisters doing a reenactment of spring break while you’re posing for pictures?

When you DIY your wedding video, you also get to include whatever you want in the final video. Why not include the bridal shower and honeymoon? How about your own Say Yes to the Dress?

As for the cheesy factor, that’s where your own creativity comes into play. If you don’t want a two hour video, don’t direct it that way.

And if you want a wedding cinema film, by all means, you should get a pro videographer. A pro video is really a different type of video than what you can get with a DIY service like Storymix Media. If you want to hear your vows clearly, or get that cinematic style where you are in focus and everything else is fuzzy, you’ll need the expertise of a gifted pro. There’s really no reason not to do both, though.

But, you know what, don’t believe me. Believe Laura, our awesome bride from Queens, NY, “Having the chance to re-live our favorite moments over and over again means more to us than you can ever imagine. Every time I watch it, I can’t help but smile!” She loved the concept of DIY wedding video so much, that she decided to work with us after her wedding. You can find her here on the blog. :)

 

See how we can help you capture and enjoy your big day for a lifetime. Learn more about DIY affordable wedding video at our website or feel free to give us a call at 800-831-1649.

Ariane

Filed Under: DIY, Tutorial Tuesdays Tagged With: ,

Looking for a Wedding Photographer? Trendy or Timeless?

May 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In this next installment to the series: Four Questions to Ask Yourself Before Looking for a Wedding Photographer, we’ll look at your style. Not the photographer’s style. But yours. Planning a wedding entails a lot of following current trends. The popular colors. The popular favors. The popular drink. Is the same true of your wedding photos?

You really need to ask yourself… do I want my wedding photos to look trendy or timeless in 20 years? It’s more than the content of the photos. Of course your dress will look so 2011… it’s strapless, isn’t it? This is about the style of the photography.

Group Photos

Here’s a classic example where trends are seen. Below is a traditional photo taken by Hudson Valley Wedding Photographer Rose Schaller.

Hudson Valley Wedding Photographer group photo

Image by Rose Schaller Photo

It’s a gorgeous photo. Well lit. You can clearly see every member of the wedding party. But, the photo below is what you’d likely see in a popular wedding blog:

Hudson Valley Wedding Photographer Group jump

Image by Rose Schaller Photo

Same photographer. Same wedding party. Same location. Awesome fun.

The Portrait

Rose was kind enough to also provide an example of a traditional wedding portrait.

Hudson Valley wedding photographer portrait

Image by Rose Schaller Photo

Note the well lit faces of the bride and groom. And the fact that the entire scene is in focus.

Here is an example of a more on-trend wedding portrait from Tampa Bay wedding photographer Booray Perry:

Tampa Wedding Photographer Booray Perry portrait

Super fun! Notice the colors are a bit muted. This is a different look, more artsy than realistic. And this is when you have to think about your style.

Do you want props?

mustache wedding photo
The guy look

potato sack wedding race
A day at the races

What’s Your Style?

So, again, this is when you need to ask yourself “How do I want to view my photos in 20 years? Do I want artsy or realistic? Do I want action shots or candids?” This is not a matter of photojournalism versus traditional photography. The scenes above didn’t just happen. You want to look for a wedding photographer who works in the style of photography that matches your style. In the next post of the series we’ll delve a little deeper into the various styles and what they actually mean.

 

See how we can help you capture and enjoy your big day for a lifetime. Learn more about DIY affordable wedding video at our website or feel free to give us a call at 800-831-1649.

Ariane

Filed Under: Photos, Tutorial Tuesdays Tagged With: ,

Mommy, What’s a DVD? Why Digital Negatives Aren’t Enough

May 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

“Mommy, what’s a DVD?”

Don’t laugh. 25 years from now when you want to see your wedding pictures, your daughter may just have to field this question.

One of the trends today is for couples to bypass the traditional way of saving their wedding photos in an album by just getting the disc of images from the photographer. Sure, I know, albums are expensive and you would just as soon do your own album because it will be more personal. Unfortunately, life may get in the way.

While you are planning your wedding you have many wonderful dreams, but real life jumps back on the scene in short order. There is work and family, maybe a new home to finish, kids to raise, and bills to pay. Time marches on and that album never quite makes the top of the to-do list.

 

Meanwhile, technology marches on.

Ask your parents or grandparents when was the last time they drug out the slide projector to look at those old pictures? Exactly. I’ll bet there are some beautiful memories stuffed in those old carousels.

What about floppy discs? Sony announced they will no longer be making them.
Likewise, do you even own a VCR? Even Kodachrome is obsolete. What makes you think that in 15 or 20 year DVDs won’t suffer the same fate?

Do your self, your kids and their kids a favor; save those precious wedding day memories in the only format that will live for ever. Get a wedding album.

Want to read more about what makes a good album and why it really is the best way to save your images for posterity, read this article.

Filed Under: Photos, Tutorial Tuesdays Tagged With: , ,

A Real Life Flipper | Andrea and Jeff Preserve a Marriage

April 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

 

My Flip Wedding in Action

Andrea and Jeff leave the church. See the person shooting with a Flip?

That’s right. You’re going to Flip over this one. Get it? Flip. Hehehe. Here is the real life experience of a happy couple that used our Storymix Media My Flip Wedding Video Package. So convenient… rent the cameras in pre-packaged mailers, have friends and family shoot the video, send back the cameras, receive a finished edited movie. You can even extend the rental to take the camera on your honeymoon!

Andrea and Jeff read our blogs about the value of video from your wedding, but didn’t have the budget for a high quality professional videographer. Rather than simply have a friend video their wedding and hand them some useless computer video files, they decided to go for the convenience of renting our Flip cameras and having us edit a beautiful movie for them.

 

Some things I really like about how they filmed this:

  • Andrea assigned people to either side of the ceremony site, one camera was near a speaker, so we used the audio from that one, but the video from both cameras
  • Lots of details – her “videographers” were thoughtful enough to capture many of the details of the day

Another benefit shown in the full-length feature was all the behind-the-scenes footage captured by the multiple cameras. One camera followed Andrea getting ready while another followed Jeff. Well wishes were captured by guests from both sides of the family.

After the wedding, Andrea shipped the cameras back in the pre-paid mailer. We uploaded her finished video for her approval shortly after that. Within a month of their wedding, Andrea and Jeff received the finished movie, along with the all the original video files shot by their friends. Oh, and did I mention this was all for way less than the price of an inexperienced videographer?

 

 

See how we can help you capture and enjoy your big day for a lifetime. Learn more about DIY affordable wedding video at our website or feel free to give us a call at 800-831-1649.

Ariane

Filed Under: Real Wedding Videos, Shooting Video, Tutorial Tuesdays, Wedding Video Tagged With: , ,

Do it Right First – Photo Mistakes You Can’t Fix in Photoshop

April 5, 2011 By 1 Comment

It’s usually possible to fix most bad photos in photo editing software like Photoshop. But there are some things you just can’t fix – bad focus and overexposure. So let’s learn how to have fun with those bad photos anyway.  These examples aren’t from a wedding, but the tips will help you (or your guests) take the right right shot the first time.

Bad focus

Poor focus can be caused by actual bad focus or camera shake. You can wind up with bad focus because you focused on a moving target, or used auto focus but didn’t lock the focus on your subject first. You can wind up with camera shake if you are using too slow a shutter speed. Or, as I found out recently, you have an old point and shoot with a real sticky shutter button.

In the photo below, we see a fantastic expression on our clown’s face. The photo seems to be pretty well exposed, and yet… it’s out of focus. Let’s see a close-up of his face.

closeup of blur

What a waste of a great shot. Oh well, it’ll look good in wallet size prints.

Let’s see if the sharpen tool or filter can do anything for us.

smart sharpen

Not too bad. I tried the sharpen filter a few times but didn’t like the results. This time I tried the smart sharpen filter. I set amount to 445% and the radius to 3.6 pixels. Any larger radius and a halo appeared around the nose. here’s a close-up:

It’s still not good. Photoshop can’t really fix bad focus, but perhaps I can print out a 4×6 instead of a wallet without wanting to throw it away. This would also work in a slideshow for the web if there is no zooming into the photo.

Overexposure

Overexposure can be caused by a couple of things. You were playing around with the manual settings and forgot that you changed locations (or took the lens cap off). Or, you had it on a programmed mode, aimed the camera at something dark and let the camera set the exposure based on that. Or, it could be that you have a scene with a large dynamic range (the contrast between the darkest and lightest elements of the composition). You exposed for something in the middle and hoped for the best.

overexposure

Either way, you now have a photo with detail that is lost due to overexposure (see above). The blurred background appears to be correctly exposed, but our subject is bathed in too much light.

So, let’s bring it into Photoshop and try to fix it. Here’s what happened when I tried a simple levels adjustment.

photoshop levels adjustment

No good. Still no detail in his face.

Let’s try adjusting the exposure. I’ll just darken it a bit. After all, that’s what I messed up on in the first place.

exposure adjustment photoshop

My, my. That photo is still looking like it’s heading for the trash bin. Time to play.

photoshop levels contrast adjustment

Like this post on shooting portraits into the sun, this one is a bit artsy and not to everyone’s taste, but it suits me just fine. I got rid of most of the contrast and added a levels adjustment. It brings out his ginormous dark eyelashes and cute nose.

Basic Photography Skills Do Matter

This is when you realize that it’s important to have a grasp on the basics of photography. Know how to hold your camera so that it doesn’t shake. If you are on auto mode and your subject is not centered, aim the camera at them to set the exposure and focus. Most cameras will allow you to hold down the shutter button halfway and recompose the shot, while retaining the proper focus and exposure.

After the wedding and you’ve collected hundreds of guest photos (make it easy), don’t delete those that didn’t come out perfect.  Try some basic fixes in a photo editor can bring them to life.  Plus you can have fun playing with the photos. See what happens when crop, add filters, brighten. Have fun with your photos.

 

 

See how we can help you capture and enjoy your big day for a lifetime. Learn more about DIY affordable wedding video at our website or feel free to give us a call at 800-831-1649.

Ariane

Filed Under: DIY, Photos, Tutorial Tuesdays Tagged With: ,

A Save the Date That Will Make All of Your Friends Jealous

March 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Is your photographer taking engagement photos for your wedding? Well, they should and here’s why. It let’s you know them personally before the big day and gives you some great opportunities to be creative. Last fall, I had the opportunity to follow along with fabulous Chicago photojournalistic wedding photographer Christine Otte while she shot engagement photos for Joe and Lindsay. Plus you can use the photos (and video if they have the capability on their camera) to create a super creative Video Save the Date.

I went along for the ride to play with shooting video on a DSLR (Christine’s big honking Canon 5D Mark II). On a whim, I decided to see what I could do with the funky professional photos from Christine and video clips that I took. Keep in mind, I’m not a pro videographer. This was my very first time shooting video on a DSLR. I actually had to read the instruction manual!

Christine took Joe and Lindsay on a whirlwind tour of the Hyde Park neighborhood for some fantastic photo ops.

"save the date, chicago hyde park, graffiti, engagement photos"

Chicago's Hyde Park has a wide array of photo opportunities

We saw some gorgeous graffiti art, gave the kids on the playground a show of kissy-face, and made an extended stop at the gorgeous 63rd Street boathouse on Chicago’s lakefront.

"Chicago 63rd St. Beach, engagement photos, save the date"

The Chicago skyline as seen from Lake Michigan

Joe and Lindsay were great sports as Christine and I made them kiss over and over again. Guess it’s good practice for their reception. Here is the super cool video save the date I was able to create for them. What do you think? Is this something that will make your friends green with envy at your eco-conscious method of spreading your good news?

 

See how we can help you capture and enjoy your big day for a lifetime. Learn more about DIY affordable wedding video at our website or feel free to give us a call at 800-831-1649.

Ariane

Filed Under: DIY, Photos, Tutorial Tuesdays, Video Save the Date Tagged With: , , ,

How to be a DIY Bride without Looking Like a Cheap-Ass Bride

March 23, 2011 By 2 Comments

Everyone loves DIY projects. We did tons of them for our own wedding. But there is a definite difference between DIY and cheap. Of course you want to save money, but you certainly don’t want to look cheap. Here are some tips to get you in there.

Attention to Detail

Craft projects are awesome, but you want it to look beautiful, not like it was slapped together. Be careful with that glue gun, don’t leave trails. If you’re sewing something, make your seams clean. Creating your own bouquets? Learn how to do it first, don’t just tie some daisies together and call it a day.

Use Quality Materials

Dollar store is not the place to shop for wedding materials. You can spot dollar stuff a mile away. It looks cheap, some kid in China made it, and by the way, it didn’t save you any money. What?? That’s right, decorating materials at the dollar store are far more expensive than wholesale or vintage.

When I say wholesale, I do NOT mean Sam’s Club. Still looks cheap. I mean wholesale decorating supply companies. Did you know that you can access their discounts with something as simple as a Mary Kay consultant card? Signing up with Mary Kay gets you 30% discounts on many wedding decorating materials.

It will also allow you to play with makeup prior to contacting your professional makeup artist for a consultation. Believe me, I DIY’d my makeup. It made getting ready for the wedding somewhat stressful and resulted in a less than stellar makeup job.

Work with Your Vendors

Do not, I repeat, do not haggle with your vendors over price. It is disrespectful and will set the wrong tone in your relationship. Many vendors will work with you to craft a package that meets your needs, but don’t haggle over price. How would you like it if your boss said, “I didn’t budget enough for your paycheck this week, so you’re going to have to take a 20% pay cut.” Plus, in the end you might be disappointed when the reasons you selected a vendor don’t materialize because they’ve cut back items to meet your price requests.

Look at the average prices in your market for the services of that type of vendor so you can create a realistic budget. Just because you want to pay $200 for a wedding cake for 250 guests, doesn’t mean they actually cost that.

 

See how we can help you capture and enjoy your big day for a lifetime. Learn more about DIY affordable wedding video at our website or feel free to give us a call at 800-831-1649.

Ariane

Filed Under: DIY, Tutorial Tuesdays Tagged With: ,

Wedding Videography: The Great Debate

February 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you spend any time on the many wedding forums you will certainly come across a thread asking for opinions on whether or not to hire a pro videographer.  Usually the advice from other brides is very good, especially those who have already gotten married.  To help you with your decision as well as to save you time combing through forums, here are some things to consider.

You don’t get a do-over.

If you decide against having your wedding taped the decision is final.  You aren’t going to be able to go back in time and fix your ‘mistake’.  Some times you can re-shoot some photographs, but with video there is no chance.  As someone who decided against having a pro videographer I can tell from painful experience how much I wish I had that footage.  You might not think you’ll care, but a few years down the road when you have kids or are celebrating your anniversary you’ll wish you had it.

The day will be a blur.

Even though your wedding day may seem like it will be the longest of your life, it will be over in a flash.  Many couples feel as if they don’t remember anything that happened.  Besides, there are so many things happening during the day and you are going to miss most of it since you’ll be focused on specific events.

Pro equipment isn’t cheap.

Hiring a pro doesn’t guarantee great results and you need to do your homework before signing any contract.  The one thing you can almost always count on is a pro is going to have equipment that will end up with good quality footage.  A $5000 camera is going to run circles around your cell phone.

Photos aren’t video.

Many couples think that having good photos will be enough to capture the memories.  While good photography is very important and may be your favorite method of remembering your wedding, still photos cannot recreate the sounds, visuals, and emotions of video.  A video of your grandmother dancing to YMCA will be much more enjoyable, since there’s a good chance you were talking with table 15 or at the bar when it happened.

Alternatives to a pro.

Some couples just can’t afford to hire a pro or do not want to deal with another vendor.  That doesn’t mean you should just give up on capturing footage from your wedding.  At a minimum ask an acquaintance (friends and family prefer to enjoy the day) to shoot some video.  You’ll at least have the footage and can have it edited later by a company like Storymix Media or do it yourself at home.  Another option is to rent Flip cameras and give them to your bridal party, friends, and family to capture the intimate and personal moments.  In fact, this is a great idea even if you hire a pro they’ll be mainly focused on the bride and groom.

Hopefully these tips will convince you of the importance of recording your wedding day.  In a future post we’ll discuss what’s important before hiring  a pro or what’s needed to make sure your uncle gets the important shots on his camcorder.

Filed Under: Tutorial Tuesdays, Wedding Video Tagged With: , ,

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