Creating my own Landscape Photography vlog channel

smr

Messages
1,841
Name
Joel
Edit My Images
No
Hi guys,

I've been doing photography for about 5 years now and do landscape photography as well as astrophotography. I've been thinking about creating a youtube channel for a while now and got to the point of thinking why think about things forever and not actually do them. So with that said I decided to create one.

I've started a Landscape photography channel and created a couple of videos so far. I enjoyed making and editing them.. I'll be making more landscape photography videos like this, as well as improving the content and production of the videos with smoother footage, more b-roll and better content and better photography. But this is a starting point. I'll also be creating another channel which will be about my deep space astrophotography where I will be showcasing my astrophotography images and also producing videos which show the technical side and gear.

If you'd like to see my Landscape channel you can do so here. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLfSV9MOpsMBLwl04gqowEw


Thanks,

Joel
 
Last edited:
Hi, I just had a quick glance, and what hits me immediately is your audio. That is the first thing i would look at, its far to faint and muffled in places.

Thanks for having a look and I appreciate the feedback. I know exactly what you mean and I'm not quite sure why the audio is like that.

Maybe its the default Samsung Galaxy S9 app ? As the microphone I have is the same Thomas Heaton uses and is quite popular with a lot of vloggers.
 
I've just watched the one from 25th September - what I'd say is try to be a little less fidgety on camera, I work in the industry and even minor things are amplified. Another thing is it ended really abruptly, you need to round off the trip recapping the experience or try and tell some kind of story and end with a message to inspire your viewers. Good luck, some people make it look easy but any social media takes a lot of skill to crack!
 
I've just watched the one from 25th September - what I'd say is try to be a little less fidgety on camera, I work in the industry and even minor things are amplified. Another thing is it ended really abruptly, you need to round off the trip recapping the experience or try and tell some kind of story and end with a message to inspire your viewers. Good luck, some people make it look easy but any social media takes a lot of skill to crack!

Thanks for the feedback. That was very last minute and quite rushed as you can see, I went out on a whim last minute when the weather cleared, I was having problems with a new phone gimbal I'd bought, the sun was setting fast, I didn't have a composition planned and the tripod I've bought is so flimsy (for my phone) it's unreal - trying to balance it on a hill.... etc. so it all comes across as rushed.

If you watch my previous two I'm not rushed :)

I do have a recap at the end of video one, and two. But three my phone died actually shortly after the final bit.
 
Thanks for the feedback. That was very last minute and quite rushed as you can see, I went out on a whim last minute when the weather cleared, I was having problems with a new phone gimbal I'd bought, the sun was setting fast, I didn't have a composition planned and the tripod I've bought is so flimsy (for my phone) it's unreal - trying to balance it on a hill.... etc. so it all comes across as rushed.

If you watch my previous two I'm not rushed :)

I do have a recap at the end of video one, and two. But three my phone died actually shortly after the final bit.

Ah right...If it happens again you could try a caption at the end or do a voiceover of your final image. Good luck with it anyway (y)
 
Keep up the good work Joel. I too do the occasional video, really for my own enjoyment and challenge than anything else. Will be keen to see what you bring with your astrophotography.

Thanks Geoff. Yes it's just an enjoyable thing to do really. We share our photos so it's interesting to share why we make them the way we do etc. I actually really enjoy using Adobe Premiere and putting them together. I've started my Astrophotography channel already, just the one video so far though. I'll check your vlogs out a bit later today.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxMRSwww9-Y
 
Thanks, I'll give that some watch time this evening! - All my attempts to photograph M42 and M43 just end up with the stars being blown out, struggling to get the exposure correct. I should add however, im shooting DSLR + 60-250mm @ f4 and soon to be tried 135mm @ f 2.5 and a small star tracker. Need to swat up on dark frames / bias frames etc i suspect.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: smr
  • Like
Reactions: smr
Thanks, I'll give that some watch time this evening! - All my attempts to photograph M42 and M43 just end up with the stars being blown out, struggling to get the exposure correct. I should add however, im shooting DSLR + 60-250mm @ f4 and soon to be tried 135mm @ f 2.5 and a small star tracker. Need to swat up on dark frames / bias frames etc i suspect.

A star tracker is a good place to start, that's how I began, with the Skywatcher Star Adventurer. If you want any tips just ask.
 
Try not to cut chunks out when you’re in vision - I see Nigel Danson doing that too and it really irks, professionally you’d put relevant B-roll over the cut and nobody would know you’ve made mistakes in your speech (if you cut at the right places). In all honesty I refuse to do both stills and video at work - if you do video you’re not fully focussed on stills and vice versa. The well-known vloggers have admitted this too, so hats off to anyone who gets decent images while vlogging
 
  • Like
Reactions: smr
Try not to cut chunks out when you’re in vision - I see Nigel Danson doing that too and it really irks, professionally you’d put relevant B-roll over the cut and nobody would know you’ve made mistakes in your speech (if you cut at the right places). In all honesty I refuse to do both stills and video at work - if you do video you’re not fully focussed on stills and vice versa. The well-known vloggers have admitted this too, so hats off to anyone who gets decent images while vlogging


Thanks for the comment / feedback.

The editing to camera wasn't purposeful. I had an annoying problem with my vlogging gear. For some reason the microphone was making strange little pops and clicks whilst I was talking. Not sure what the problem was as I hadn't had it before on my other vlogs and it was a pain editing them out of this one so some of the footage had to be edited like that. I hadn't thought of putting b-roll over it, that's a good idea.

The gear I use for vlogging is quite a humble little setup of my phone on the DJI Osmo 3 and a Rode Video Microphone. I sometimes have problems with balancing the gimbal and getting the microphone cables out of the way when it's moving about and I think it must be something to do with the gimbal hitting the microphone or snagging on a cable or something.

When I went out after this I devised a way of setting the microphone up in a different way, basically mounting it sideways so that there's more distance between the microphone and the gimbal but still enough slack for the cables, set up like this I didn't get any annoying pops and clicks this time but I have got another new problem with the gimbal which is that it keeps losing connection saying Network Connection lost. I've got no idea why as it hasn't done that before.

I'm starting to think it'd be easier using a cheap second hand DSLR with a flip out screen and a gimbal for DSLRs so I can see the composition when walking along, and I just find using a phone as a camera more awkward than what I imagine it'd be with a DSLR where I can also just mount the microphone in the hot shoe so no problems with cables snagging etc.

As for your last comment I had thought about that and there was a video early on, probably first or second where I think I missed a shot that I would've got without vlogging, can't remember what the shot would have been but I remember wondering why I bothered vlogging as it basically made my landscape photography void at that moment.

Having said that, my latest video which I'll post below, I couldn't have got a better shot than what I did, but then I wasn't talking with the vlogging camera in one hand and controlling my DSLR / composition as a half thought. I just left the vlogging camera recording and forgot about it whilst I was composing and taking the shot, so it can be done and I think it's a skill which you can get quite easily. What I would have done now is take a second shot and explained how and why I took the original shot, so I've got the focused shot in the bag and just take another shot for the vlog, which I'm pretty sure is how a lot of other vloggers do it, unless it's one of their one take videos.

Still learning to think about everything though and still new to vlogging so there's a trajectory to improve and refine everything.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top