Reader Q&A

For more information on shooting/selling stock footage check out my other posts:
GETTING STARTED
KEYWORDING
WHAT SELLS?

Q. Hey, my name is Blake. Love your blog! I'm starting to get into stock footage shooting, and am a total novice. Do you have website recommendations for me to learn more?

and How did you light your car stock footage? Was that with your t2i, if so what lens did you use. I use a t3i and Most indoor footage I get a lot of noise, no where as clear that!

Thanks for all your tips!

A. Hey Blake,
Thanks for checking out "Shooting Stock Footage" and thanks for the e-mail. A great place to get an overview of the process is at http://www.istockphoto.com/help/sell-stock/training-manuals/video

That's awesome you're getting into it. Don't putt too much pressure on yourself, just have fun with it and shoot what you like. The car shot you are talking about I believe was just shot with natural light, and I probably shot it with an HVX200. Although I have used a converter in the cig lighter to put small lights in a car before.

t3i is great for shooting video, the #1 thing to remember with DSLR cameras is do not shoot at a high ISO, the highest I ever shoot is at 200. Shoot at 100 whenever possible, the higher ISO's introduce a lot of grain. If you do any color correcting, that usually creates a lot of unwanted grain as well, try to avoid that. Adding a little light to the scene will help, it's not too hard to grab a desk lamp, and pull it close to your subject. Might even be worth picking up some higher wattage bulbs and keeping them on hand to boost the light where you are shooting.

Finally, a "fast" lens will allow you to shoot indoors with less light, I have a 50mm lens that is a f1.4, the lower your f-stop the faster your lens, and the less light you can shoot with.

Low f-stops also allow you to get that really cool shallow depth of field look that can make the right shot look really nice.











I haven't shot ink drop shots, but it is definitely on my list of things to try and shoot, when I do I'll have to do a tutorial on it. Great ideas for shots, you mind is definitely in the right place.

Great questions, Happy Shooting!
HDCineman