Toronto Videographer- How to Become a Videographer (Part 5)

This blog is part five of a series that provides you useful tips on how to become a Toronto Videographer.  So far we’ve discussed the following subjects:

Part 1 – Video Cameras & Microphones

Part 2 – Tripods and Lighting

Part 3 – Sliders, Shoulder mounts and Follow-focus

Part 4 – Lenses

In part 5 we will go over lens filters. Filters will allow you to be more flexible and adapt to different lighting situations with the lenses
that you have. They can also be used for optical effects, softening, colour correction and colour effects. Filters can really help you get creative with your shots and achieve shallow depth of field allowing you to capture beautiful cinematic images.

Video is a powerful communication tool to promote and create awareness about your business, products and services. Since the average internet user spends 88% more time on a website with video there’s no question that every business needs video.  Forbes suggests 5 videos that a company needs right now.   If you are thinking about integrating video into your company marketing plan you’re probably debating if you should hire a professional video production company with dedicated and experienced Toronto videographer or use in-house resources. We have been offering corporate video production services for a few decades, so we understand that video can be a challenge for businesses. This is why we offer different video solutions to cater to our client’s needs and take the workload off of them from concept to creation. A lot of times a business may try to create a video in-house only to realize that it’s more work than they expected and that they should have hired a professional. Having said that, if you decide to produce video in-house then these tips about filters will be useful so you can capture stunning images.

Toronto Videographer – Filters

Essentially, there are 3 filters that every Toronto Videographer should have:

1. UV Protective filter
2. Polarizer
3. Neutral Density

Here are the types of filters that will come in handy when doing video production.

Protective & Polarizing filters: Protective filters are used to protect the glass on the lens from UV light, debris and other things that may harm the lens. This is crucial and every lens should have one!  Polarizing filers are great to reduce reflections from objects such as water and glass as well as help reduce haze. They can also be used to darken the sky and make clouds stick out.

Neutral Density (ND) filters: Neutral density filters reduce the amount of light coming through the lens.  When recording video we are restricted to a single shutter speed so the only way to control the light coming through the lens is through the aperture. If you want to keep your aperture wide (lower f-stop) to create a shallow depth of field you’ll struggle with overexposed scenes when in bright light, so this is where neutral density filters come in really handy. A ND filter makes it possible to maintain your chosen aperture setting while still reducing the amount of light passing through the lens.

Soft Effects & Contrast filters: Soft effects filters allow you to soften the image in-camera. Contrast filters come in handy to control contrast in bright sunlit exteriors. They help evenly lighten shadows throughout, capture details lost in shadows, lowers contrast evenly throughout image, and generally lets you see more.

Colour Correction and Black & White filters: Colour correction filters alter the overall colour of the light which is measured on a scale know as colour temperature. Black & white filters let you control how colours are converted to shades of grey. Use them to get the right contrast and mood in the image you are capturing.

Colour Effects filters: Colour effects filters are also used in black and white videography and photography. They can also be used when filming colour to stylize and effect your shot.

Optical Effects filters: These filters are great if you want to create star or streak effects.

As you can see there’s an assortment of filters that you can use when doing videography. Next time I will be writing about cases and backpacks for your camera equipment.  This information will come in handy in protecting your camera gear. This will be the sixth article in the series of tips for becoming a good videographer. If you’d like to learn more contact us at VCM Interactive and we’ll be happy to answer any of your questions.