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How To: Use a finger skateboard as track & dolly for minicams

In this video, learn how to create camera accessories out of common objects for travel. Sometimes when you fly, you are not able to carry heavy camera equipment like tracks, dollies, tripods, etc. In this video, Jan will show you how to take common things like toys and use them instead. These are also great because they are lightweight enough to not weigh down your luggage. Have fun!

How To: Video tape a wedding ceremony professionally

For many people, their wedding is one of the most important days of their life. Filming a wedding, as a amateur or a professional, is a weighty responsibility for any filmmaker. And, if you're doing it as a professional, it can pay very well. This video offers some tips for how to film a wedding effectively, including how to utilize a multi-camera setup, what shots to take, what equipment to bring, and how working with the still photographer can help you. Video tape a wedding ceremony profess...

How To: Set up and light a blue/green screen for filming

You will see a great way to light and set up a blue/green screen for your next video. There are a lot of tips that will come in handy if you want to film on a blue/green screen and don't want to pay outrageous fees to do so. The key in setting up is to block out all outside sources of light so you have just the desired amount of lighting coming just from your own sources and also setting up the screen and stretching it out as tight as possible so you won't see any creases or snags in the mate...

How To: Use auto exposure on a video camera

Want to move quickly from indoor to outdoor shooting environments without having to futz with the manual controls on your video camera to adjust for the disparate light levels? If so, you should give your camera's automatic exposure feature a whirl. For more information on using your digital camera's auto exposure tool, watch this free cinematographer's guide.

How To: Use gain and neutral density on a video camera

A common problem when shooting in low-light situations is that even if you open your lens to its lowest f-stop number, you're left with an image that's far too dark. One obvious remedy is to add more light. But what if you don't have more lights available to you? That's where the gain increase switch comes in. This free video cinematographer's guide will show you how to use digital gain settings to amplify available light to get better shots in less-than-ideal environments.

How To: Create a lighting setup for an interview

When shooting a traditional-style interview, one of your jobs as cinematographer is to think about lighting so the viewing audience doesn't have to — that is, the lighting should serve and most not distract from the subject. This free cinematography lesson presents a number of tips for lighting a person whom you intend interview on camera.

How To: Use electronic image stabilization on a video camera

This is a video that is showing its audience how to use the electronic image stabilization or digital image stabilization on their digital cameras. Image stabilization is a good function to have on when movement is involved while taking a photo. The video goes over terms such as image stabilization, shutter speed, and contrast. It adequately defines image stabilization and digital stabilization and goes over the problems that consumers might have with the image stabilization mode on their cam...

How To: Light for video to get a filmic look

In this video, Tony Reale describes some cinematography tips for video lighting. He focuses mainly on different ways to capture the look of video. The lighting style he's using in this video is a 2-light setup. One light is reflecting off a foam core and is placed at the right side of the room. The second light is acting as background light and is smaller and placed in the back, right corner of the room. This is a very simple setup and, with a cost of $100-$200, it is an inexpensive, effectiv...

How To: Set proper white balance on a video camera

When a scene is filmed, problems can occur in the final outcome of a scene if the white balance is not set correctly. If the white balance is off, a scene may look too orange, blue, or the color is just off in general. This video tutorial shows how to set the correct white balance on your video camera. White balance is what the camera considers to be white. Most cameras have white balance presets for both indoor and outdoor. This is because the light we perceive will vary depending on whether...

How To: Soften the background by crushing the depth of field

In this Film and Theater video tutorial you will learn about depth of field and how to adjust it. Depth of field means how many objects are in focus in the frame at one focus setting. If the depth of field is large, more objects at various distances from the camera are in focus. The first factor is the amount of light. If the light is good, more objects will remain in focus. On the other hand if you zoomed in with a long focal length lens the depth of field will reduce and lesser objects will...

How To: Properly focus your video camera

This video shows you how to properly focus your video camera. Usually cameras have two focusing modes, manual and automatic. Despite the sophistication of modern cameras and their auto focusing modes, manual focusing still gives the person operating the camera the most control. To focus in manual focusing mode you must first focus your eyepiece. To focus your eyepiece fully zoom in on your subject, then rotate your lens' focus ring until the subject becomes sharp and clear. Finally rotate you...

How To: Improve your video quality by lighting each shot

The video producer in this instructional lighting video shows the contrast of how to produce a well lit scene. He first makes a cut out of a piece of foam board, then mounts it, placing it just so. He then position the lighting at an angle that appeals to the viewers and compliments the subject at hand. He also shows the difference between the angle of the camera and how the lighting is positioned. He takes us through the process of how to angle the camera and set up the lighting with minimal...

How To: Modify a Glidecam with a Steadicam arm and vest

The lady shows how to make the steadicam arm to work with glidecam stabilizer. The steadicam arm is made such as only a steadicam can be fitted on that. The video describes how to make the usable for glidecam with three simple tools ,a 10 ounce hammer ,a long nose player and a flathead screwdriver. First take out the circular clip with which the post is secured with the screwdriver unscrew and pull the post out .Using the hammer straighten the post .The post will have a scratch but the straig...

How To: Make a video camera stabilizer, or fig rig, from PVC

Ben from mechanical mashup shows you how to make a fig rig for a small video camera out of PVC pipe. It gives an ingredient list and tells you the measurements of each piece you must cut. He recommends dry fitting everything at least once, to be sure everything goes together as it should. He then shows how the camera mounts on the rig. In transition of how-to's is a short scene relating to tools, with a man and a boy arguing over ownership. Then Dave shows how to neatly engrave your tools. He...

How To: Rainproof your camcorder

To rainproof your camcorder start by purchasing a lens hood for it. This lens hood helps to rainproof the camera lens but it also prevents flaring from the sun. Take a zip lock bag and cut the corner off of the bottom so that it creates a hole that is big enough for the lens hood to fit through. Put the camera in the bag and push the lens hood through the hole in the bottom of the bag. Take a rubber band and wrap it around the outside of the plastic bag just behind the lens hood to keep water...

How To: Steady your shots with a homemade fig rig

This video tutorial is going to show you how to steady your shots with a homemade fig rig. The camera is mounted right in the middle of the top bar and it uses the iron as the balancing mechanism. The official fig rig is about $300. But, the one shown in the video will cost you around $10. Cut a PVC pipe about 2 feet in length and glue on two T joints on either end parallel to each other. Now fix the two feet into the T joints as shown in the video. The larger the camera, the longer will be t...

How To: Make your own camera dolly

If you’re into cinematography try creating your own dolly camera platform to get those seamless tracking shots. This is a fun project that will allow you to take your film to the next level, or at least get the shot you want.

How To: Understand basic video tricks

Understand basic video tricks. A great way to prop up your camcorder when you don't have a tripod and you want a low angle shot from the ground is to use a rubber doorstop. It stays put and you can move it up and back to set the shot higher or lower.

How To: Protect cameras & stay organized while shooting video

Kipkay's ingenuity is enough to amaze us all, especially all of you indie filmmakers. These five tips for aspiring filmmakers will help you keep your sanity and avoid frustrating times. Have you ever got stuck in the rain while shooting? Have your recorder tapes ever gotten disorganized? Is your camera's display getting scratched up more than you want? Kipkay answers all of these questions with his five ingenious video tips.

HowTo: Shoot Your Own 3D Movie for $250

Make your own 3D movie with this easy camera hack: record with two cameras simultaneously. Next, use video software to overlap the images, making it viewable through 3D glasses. Very clever (and cheap) concept by Ron and AmyJo Proctor. Check out their site for more details.

Hack Ikea: $15 Camera Dolly

Ikea Hacker features a nice Ikea mod: Romain turns the Ivar side unit into a camera dolly. "A few days ago, I found out that the Ivar 'wooden ladder' was perfect to use it as rails for my cinema dolly! I can now make some nice sequence shots with this 18€ accessory from Ikea."

How To: Make a cheap Dutch Roll camera effect

Maybe you've never heard of the Dutch Roll camera effect, but you've seen it in movies whenever a character is delirious and the camera starts spinning crazily end over need. In this tutorial you'll learn how to set up a cheap version of the effect with a plain old hand drill. Now you can give your audiences vertigo just like the pros do!

How To: Use shims with your M2 adapter

A Redrock Microsystems tutorial where you'll learn what to do if your M2 adapter and your video camera don't quite align vertically. Using a process called shimming, you can correct the problem pretty easily. Not all cameras require shims, but this problem happens enough that this is useful info to know.