John explores the Hows and Whys of shooting Macro Video.
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Hi. Today we’re gonna be talking a little bit about macro videography, or the art of the extreme close-up. It’s a chance for you to show your viewers things they normally wouldn’t be able to see for themselves.
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So, why and when should you shoot macro? Well, the advantage of the camcorder is it’s ability to more than the human eye normally does, and by getting a series of these unique angles, you can create some very compelling video. There are a lot of technical issues to be concerned with when you’re shooting macro videography.
The first constraint is how close can you get? The type of camcorder you have, the lens, and the focal length will determine just how close you can get. Generally, the rule in macro videography is to get as wide and close as you can. So, you want to take your zoom and pull it out to the full wide position and physically move as close to your subject as possible.
Another issue you’re going to run into with macro videography is depth of field. Now, macro videography has a very small depth of field, which means only a very small area of the frame is going to be in focus. The best way to get as large of depth of field as you can get is to stop your lens down to a very small aperture.
Another concern with macro videography is because your camcorder has to get so close to the subject, it can get into the light source and start to cast a shadow on the frame. Another thing to be aware of is dust. Make sure you clean your lens because at macro length, the small dust particles, sometimes, can actually be in sharp focus.
Another thing to watch out for is lens distortion. At severe wide angles, straight lines can become curved and you can get a strange, funhouse mirror look to your picture.
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For more details, take a look at these articles using this DVD on your computer.
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