10 Shots you Must have

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

In general, shooting stock footage has no rules, you can shoot what you want, when you want, how you want and make a good stream of passive income to help supplement your day-job earnings. However, there are some topics/shots that a stock footage portfolio is incomplete without. There are probably many more important shots, but here is my list of 10 shots. My hope is that this list will get you thinking about the variety in your portfolio. If you would like to view my example, click on the thumbnails to see my clip. Without further delay, here's the list.

Real dust particles flicker slow

1) - Unique Moving Background - a good motion background has big demand. There are tons out there so be unique.

Carnival Slide POV

2) - Something Rare - There is a great stock footage shot that only you can get because of your proximity, knowledge or access. Less competition is good.

Skyscraper tower over fisheye

3) - Business Related - One of the top uses for stock is business presentation or corporate vids. Topic is saturated, but shoot something anyways. Good demand.

Candle Seamless Loop

4) - Health and Wellness Related - Another top... topic. Easy setups, good stills out there to emulate.

Los Angeles Night Traffic

5) - Your nearest major city - Make a day of shooting your "downtown." Lots to shoot. Think establishing shots, tourism, corporate, businessmen, night life, urban jungle.

Analog TV Screens

6) - Set up a scene at home - utilize lights, props, furniture, pets, heirlooms, antiques. You don't need a sound stage to set up a worthy scene. Just a little free time/creativity.

Motocross Jump

7) - Something you know really well - You are an expert at something. Shoot that in an authentic way. It will give your shot an advantage over posers who have less informed shots of your job/sport/hobby.

Toddler watermelon laugh

8) - A friend or family member emoting - People are hot. People showing emotions even hotter. If you can't hire an actor/sound stage then shoot someone you know. Usually they'll do it for free and sign the waivers.

Spooky Halloween Jack O Lantern

9) - A seasonal/occasion shot - Valentines Day, Birthday, Wedding, etc. - Tons of possibility here, the time for sales is narrow, but high volume.

unroll toilet paper frantic

10) - Something just for fun - shoot a wacky, off the wall subject really well, even if you think no one would buy it. You will have fun and I have been amazed what shots sell.

Whether you're starting out, or you're a seasoned vet, hopefully this list of "Must Have" shots will spur some fresh ideas that will help you improve your portfolio, and increase your ability to create passive income.
Happy Shooting, HDCineman

Case Study - Roadside Time Lapse

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

I've been eyeing this spot for a night time lapse. It's just off of the freeway, on my commute home. A distant view of Downtown Los Angeles through the beautiful hilly city of Eagle Rock.

It can be tricky to get an unobstructed view of an entire city that is accessible and there is a place to park your car. Somehow the stars aligned and I was able to get to the right spot, although I felt a bit like a fugitive in the pitch dark hopping guard rails, ducking through holes in fences all the while worrying I would step on a raccoon or a homeless man at any moment.

I had my camera set up in the car ahead of time so that all I would have to do is level the tripod, turn the camera on, find my shot and click on my time lapse controller. Once I started shooting I glanced at the time. 7:10. I knew I had a little time to kill so I did the math:

My time lapse controller was set up to release the shutter every 3 seconds. One image every three seconds = 20 images / minute. If I stayed for 20 minutes I would have 400 images. 400 divided by 30 (frames / second) means I would have 13.3333 seconds of video. Most stock footage sites require 5 - 30 second clips. 13 seconds is a pretty good target.

There really didn't appear to be a lot of movement in the frame as far as cars driving, planes flying overhead, etc. but sometimes subtle Mise en scène can make for a dramatic time lapse.

Camera Body: Canon t2i
Lens: Canon EF-S 17-85mm @ 28mm
F-Stop: 5.6
Shutter: 2sec
Interval: 3sec

Here is a still image from the final time lapse

In processing the time lapse I realized that I made one huge mistake. I want to make a point of this because it can be a common mistake, and can completely ruin your time lapse. The lens I was using has an image stabilize feature on it that MUST be turned off to shoot time lapse shots. The stabilizer is fantastic for shooting video. Without it shooting handheld is nearly imposible. However, during a time lapse it makes subtle movements in the framing and you end up with a jittery time lapse that looks like it was shot with a k-mart tripod during a stampede.

If you have this problem, Adobe After Effects' "stabilize footage" can do a fairly good job of stabilizing your shot after the fact so that it is sufficient for stock footage. However, it can be time consuming and it will NEVER be as good as it could have been with a truly locked frame originally. Don't make my mistake! When setting up your camera for the time lapse, make sure to turn off the image stabilizer.

With that said, after processing this clip a few different ways, I decided to poop-can it. The quality just wasn't what I had hoped for. You can't win them all.

From a business perspective, this clip was not marketable enough to spend a LOT of extra time on, and my time could be better spent on other more valuable activities like shooting new footage, or processing and uploading footage from my back-log of raw footage. From an artistic perspective... I just didn't like it as much as I thought I might.

On to the next one!
Happy Shooting,
HDCineman

Cultivate your eye for stock

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

After shooting stock footage for a few years you start to see the world a little bit differently when you go out on a shoot. Often times you go out to a specific location, or looking for a specific shot and the most valuable shots that you come back with have nothing to do with your original subject. Be opportunistic, and tune your eye to look for unique shots that you would never think to shoot. Go out to shoot your Sunset Timelapse shot, but while you are waiting for the right time to start, look for other opportunities to get good shots. Maybe you turn around and there's a grungy golf ball rolling down a gutter. Or a mouse peaking out of a sewer. Quality is very important, and you should plan subjects and shots. But if you go out to shoot 5 specific shots, you should be getting 10-15 opportunistic shots to really maximise your shoot. More often than not, one of the shots you didn't plan ends up making you more money than most of the shots you do plan.

Here's a tip to help cultivate your eye. With the smart phone revolution upon us, most of you have a high quality phone camera on you at all times. Use this camera everywhere you go! Practice shooting things that interest you, weird angles, things that don't make any sense at all, get creative. Just SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT! You won't be able to use it as stock, but the more you push that button and analyze the result, the deeper your bag of tricks will be when it comes time to shoot some quality stock footage. Practicing with your iPhone or droid will train your eye to shoot more unique, opportunistic, PROFITABLE shots on your next shoot.

To make it more fun, take advantage of some of the fantastic iPhone/Droid photo Apps. Hipstamatic, Instagram, iTimeLapse, and 8mm are some of my favorite Apps on my iPhone and they have really kept things fresh and fun.

Here are some of the things I shoot for fun.

www.flickr.com

Happy Shooting!
HDCineman