I've finally got around to working on the Manfrotto Backpack50 product video that I shot back in November with Glen and Sam. I made the most of the beautiful 'golden hour' to capture unique images of the product in use. The shoot location was our usual hotspot for kit testing; Epsom Downs.
The Backpack50 is an insanely good bag, dedicated to protecting your prized possessions and increasing your productivity when out on a photo or video shoot. Aimed at both professional videographers and photographers; the bag features plenty of space for multiple camera bodies, lenses and telephoto lenses. For the on-the-go editor, you can also carry a laptop and a tablet with you, as well as strapping on a tripod. Your complete equipment in one bag. One solution.
I'm editing the footage in Premiere Pro, to achieve that awesome bokeh I used a Nikor 50mm F/1.4 manual lens and shot handheld, so I will be applying some stabilization to those shots. Because of the strong sunlight, I worked with that light to determine the exposure of my subject, Glen. Essentially putting him in a silhouette, defining his and the backpacks shape. For the ambient settings I was working with, I believe this worked well, and is a good technique to try when shooting in the golden hour!
However, when working with low contrast ratios (number of stops between black and white) it is easy to over or under expose parts of the image, which not only burns in detail but can cause problems when encoding and playing back the video, so remember to check your reference monitors and keep to legal limits!
More to come later!