Someone want to teach me video?

[Digger]

OK, I could do with the very basics of video explained to me by someone a bit patient.

Happy to catch up at an inland site somewhere, makes sense to me as I'm still playing with things and it will allow me to play with the thing between dives.

So, anyone? At all? Maybe?

I don't have a lot to trade, I guess I could help someone out with twinsets or something, or playing with stages. Not sure if that's any use. I do get a lot of equipment to sell so you could negotiate a bit of discount if you were very helpful.

Digs.

[big_si]

Originally Posted by Digger

OK, I could do with the very basics of video explained to me by someone a bit patient.

Press record, Point camera at interesting stuff

That's the very basics in a nutshell!

[Fiona]

Originally Posted by Digger

Happy to catch up at an inland site somewhere, makes sense to me as I'm still playing with things and it will allow me to play with the thing between dives.

Digs.

There are names for people like you

[johnkendall]

Ok, My top tips:

Lighting - Get lots, then get some more. You cannot have too much light. Give all your models lots of light too.

White Balance - Set your white balance regularly

Do everything slowly. Swim as slowly as you can, then go slower. This will still be too fast for video.

Brief your models. Especially about signals, speed of actions, and positioning.

Work out your shots in advance.

When editing it all together try to go from a wide angle to a close up. Never 2 of the same angle. Also try and have a mixture of shots with and without models.

Feel free to ask me any questions and I will try and answer.

HTH
John

[Phoenix]

Don't use the zoom, don't take more than 8 secs footage at any one time.

Ian

[Lou]

I recommend you find someone who will let you carry their camera, dive kit, lunchbox etc for them, but in exchange they can teach you all they know

[Okeanos]

Film something that is interesting, another piece of scrap metal means nothing. Pick your subject, approach slowly and steadily, do not get distracted by anything else. If you are using ambient light, reset the white balance regularily, if using lights, as many as you can afford/borrow will be best, HID preferably.

Editing can do wonders, don't use too many transitions, don't use crap music. Colour correction does work quite well on some software for anything that is a little off, but it can go a bit adrift.

[Johnny Boy]

Zoom with your fins. Film 10-12 seconds and edit down to no more than 8, unless it's particulalry interesting. Steady the camera when macro filming. An unsteady clip will make the viewer sick!

[Seabob]

G'Day fella

I think largely you may be limited to what set up you have. What have you got?

If your housing will accomodate white balance then you should get some get good footage, but use manual white balance for best results.
If you dive somewhere like the UK you will need some decent lights, but again you might be limited to what you can attach to the housing. Somewhere like the Red sea a filter would be good at depth.
Carry extra weight.
Try and avoid shooting downwoods, get level or below the subject. this is usefull for picking up the sunlight. If you can lay on the sand then do so. The key is to get good steady slow footage.
Think about composition of the footage
Have a plan of what sort of footage you want
Avoid zoom in and out while recording
Also film at different angles
Film for at least 10 secs, if you film too much it can be edited, if you film too little you're buggered.

Above all just practise and have fun!!!