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Introduction
By Ron Eggers
Most photographers have video cameras. The vast majority of the time, those video cameras aren't used very much. When they are pulled out, they aren't used very effectively. When they are used, they might be used for taking brief clips of special occasions such as weddings, birthdays and graduations.
Even photographers who are serious about their photography frequently don't do much more than point and shoot with their video gear. And, since video cameras aren't used all that often, the results are generally marginal. While there certainly are exceptions, the truth is, most photographers aren't particularly good at shooting video.
That's unfortunate, because, increasingly, video and still photography complement each other. Digital convergence is making it possible to shoot still photos with digital camcorders, to take video clips with digital cameras and to take both still images and brief video snippets with some digital voice recorders.
Digital convergence is also eroding the barriers between disciplines. At one point, most still photographers wouldn't dream of shooting video. From their perspective, a photo is the essence of capturing a moment in time, and video just blurs that moment. Conversely, video photographers considered still photography as static. Now, in certain specialties such as budget wedding photography, it's becoming increasingly common for the same photographer to shoot both stills and video.
For a long time, the barriers between still photography and videography were reinforced by the educational systems. That's changing, at least somewhat. While they may prefer one type of shooting over the other, younger photographers are much more apt to shoot both stills and video.
And, digital convergence is expanding distribution options. Local output options such as CDs and DVDs can contain video clips, still images and audio files. Increasingly, in multimedia and Internet projects, a variety of digital assets is required. Web sites can easily accommodate stills, video, audio and animation, among other types of assets.
Some video presentations owe their impact as much to the skill of the person who compiled the different elements as they do to the quality of the elements themselves. For electronic distribution, videos can be crunched down and compressed so that they can be sent as e-mail attachments almost as simply as still images.
Even if you haven't thought about shooting video, it might be time to take a closer look at the process.
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