How to get a wide shot and a close up at the same time for a demonstration video

J

Jugglerguy

Messages
9
Name
Rob
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi. I'm a fairly new video maker. I'm making videos about rock hunting and lapidary arts. I am trying to improve videos that I make in my basement, showing how to tumble rocks, among other things. I would like to be able to shoot a video of myself standing behind a table showing rocks or other small items. I want a wide shot of my head and torso as well as close ups of my hands showing a rock that I'm talking about. I have a Sony DSC-HX200/HX200V point and shoot camera and a GoPro Hero 7 Black. I have the GoPro on a tripod and the Sony camera hanging from the ceiling above my table. It's the Sony camera that I need help with. I need to keep it far enough away from the table that it isn't in the shot from the tripod camera, but I want close up shots from it. I tried zooming in, but the video was blurry. I think I'm too close (about 4 feet) to use the zoom. If I just crop the unzoomed video in Final Cut Pro, the resolution isn't good enough to produce a good video (it's only HD, not 4K). Is there a way to make this setup work with my current equipment? If not, can you recommend a camera that would do the trick? I'd like to keep my costs as low as possible if I need to buy a new camera. I'm not opposed to buying something used either.

I have also tried shooting the videos separately from the wider shot. The problem is, that when I'm talking, I'm pointing to something on a rock. It's really hard to reproduce the same motions at a later time and get it to sync up with what I'm saying.

Thanks for the help,
Rob
 
Jugglerguy said:
I have also tried shooting the videos separately from the wider shot. The problem is, that when I'm talking, I'm pointing to something on a rock. It's really hard to reproduce the same motions at a later time and get it to sync up with what I'm saying.
Click to expand...
You’re on the right track with this but you need a slightly better understanding of how it’s done. Try watching some of the productions on the Freeview sales channels where they have this sort of technique down quite well.

Shoot the whole thing as a medium shot and avoid pointing to the detail. Ensure you allow plenty of talk over time for the close ups you’re going to add. Then shoot close up footage using a high diopter lens so you only show the detail. In edit, insert the closeup footage into appropriate parts of main shots, keeping the main shot soundtrack.

It takes a bit of practice and a simple script will make it less difficult.
 
Thanks Andrew. I know it sounds easy to do that with a script, but it's really pretty difficult. I'm pointing to different areas of a specific rock and then grabbing another rock to talk about. It's not like a general description of what's happening.

Is there a camera or maybe a setting that I'm missing on my camera that will let me zoom from about four feet away? I don't need a macro shot, just something that shows about the size of my hands holding something. So the shot should cover an area about a foot wide.
 
Sorry, I've been out of video literally for decades so don't know what hardware is around. Hope you find someone who can help more.
 
You can get quite long range zoom lens, I've seen 18-300mm around, which should let you get pretty close from a wide angle shot. Trouble is you'd need a camera with interchangable lens for this, theres also a wide angle macro lens
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmFmgFNrmac
The easiest and best way is what Andrew suggests, and that should be do-able with the kit you have.
 
It sounds like your kit is hindering the exact process you want to do, but as above I would work out a way of shooting in two takes, one for close ups and one for the wider shots. That way you can light the close ups better as well. Maybe shoot the wider shot first and play that sound back when doing the close ups so you are following it with your hand movements.

Failing that maybe make a feature of the other camera with a couple of lights and have it to the side on the table on a tripod with an arm so the camera points straight down. You could talk to the main camera and turn to the side and put the rock under the close up when needed, almost like you are putting the stones under a microscope for examination. When finished you can just look back at the main camera.

I don't think it would look odd if you caught a bit of the turn away and turn back in the cuts to the close ups, it would give it reference and a bit of movement. I think you can connect up that sony to a monitor via hdmi so you can see what it is recording.

T
 
Thanks, there are some good ideas here. I hadn't thought of putting the other camera in full view and not hiding the fact that I'm getting close ups. I also hadn't thought of playing the sound back from the original video as a guide to help me know how to move my hands to match.

Can someone explain to me more about why the zoom won't work at close distances? If I was to buy another camera, is there something to look for that would tell me that the camera would be able to zoom from just a few feet away?
 
Lenses will have a minimum focus distance, the more you are zooming in the greater this distance becomes.

If you were going to change your camera I would recommend you get one with an interchangeable lens. Different lenses do different jobs, and it opens up the possibilities of the camera doing more variety and different jobs.

But along with a more complex piece of equipment comes a need for more technical and in-depth knowledge, and deeper pockets as the equipment does not come cheap!

Any kit will have limitations, just need a bit of lateral thinking to make it all possible. I would make sure I had the lighting right, as with photos and videos this is the make and break of a good production!
 
What's your lighting like?
It's possible that the long end of the zoom on the compact is not letting a lot of light in and the camera is doing it's best to compensate by increasing the ISO to the point it's a mess and looks fuzzy.
As above check the minimum focus distance of the camera fully zoomed - in good light moving the camera towards/away from a subject it can easily autofocus on.
 
AMcUK said:
What's your lighting like?
It's possible that the long end of the zoom on the compact is not letting a lot of light in and the camera is doing it's best to compensate by increasing the ISO to the point it's a mess and looks fuzzy.
As above check the minimum focus distance of the camera fully zoomed - in good light moving the camera towards/away from a subject it can easily autofocus on.
Click to expand...
I just bought some good lights and the room is well lit with LED shop lights. Come to think of it, I didn't have my new lights set up yet, I was just working on getting my cameras set up. I did have the overhead LEDs on though. The footage just seemed blurry. Doesn't a high ISO result in a more grainy picture? I'm going to go experiment some more. I'll crank the lights up.
 
Tdes said:
Lenses will have a minimum focus distance, the more you are zooming in the greater this distance becomes.

If you were going to change your camera I would recommend you get one with an interchangeable lens. Different lenses do different jobs, and it opens up the possibilities of the camera doing more variety and different jobs.

But along with a more complex piece of equipment comes a need for more technical and in-depth knowledge, and deeper pockets as the equipment does not come cheap!

Any kit will have limitations, just need a bit of lateral thinking to make it all possible. I would make sure I had the lighting right, as with photos and videos this is the make and break of a good production!
Click to expand...
I agree. I don't mind spending some money, but my hobby is rocks, not photography. I'm making weekly videos for YouTube, so making this as easy as possible is important too.
 
Youtube is competivie. Some of the users I subscribe you have very professional channels, indeed some put TV programs to shame. Clever intos, drone footage, music, multi camera sets up's. They do it to get viewers and numbers up.
Not saying you should do all that, but it may be a case of spending money and making better videos may get more subscribers?
I don't do that myself, my videos are for me and a bit of fun. It depends on how seriously you take your YT channel, and if your doing weekly videos your taking it a lot more seriously than me.... ;)
 
Jugglerguy said:
I just bought some good lights and the room is well lit with LED shop lights. Come to think of it, I didn't have my new lights set up yet, I was just working on getting my cameras set up. I did have the overhead LEDs on though. The footage just seemed blurry. Doesn't a high ISO result in a more grainy picture? I'm going to go experiment some more. I'll crank the lights up.
Click to expand...
Higher ISO certainly does introduce grain in stills, using older compacts and I've seen very smudgy, blurred footage that looked out of focus but was actually just beyond the capability of the sensor in the light available. I guess it might be a drop in shutter speed for the video that would introduce blur if the subject is moving too?

Both these links seem to suggest a minimum focus distance of just 1cm - sounds like it shouldn't be a problem? Perhaps I'm missing something :)
https://www.ephotozine.com/article/sony-cybershot-dsc-hx200v-digital-compact-camera-review-19254
https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/compact-cameras-dsc-hx-series/dsc-hx200v/specifications
 
Last edited:
swanseamale47 said:
Youtube is competivie. Some of the users I subscribe you have very professional channels, indeed some put TV programs to shame. Clever intos, drone footage, music, multi camera sets up's. They do it to get viewers and numbers up.
Not saying you should do all that, but it may be a case of spending money and making better videos may get more subscribers?
I don't do that myself, my videos are for me and a bit of fun. It depends on how seriously you take your YT channel, and if your doing weekly videos your taking it a lot more seriously than me.... ;)
Click to expand...
I'm not anywhere near that level. Definitely rookie videos here. This is just a hobby and I'm doing it more for fun than for money, but I'd like to keep improving. I figured I had to start somewhere. I have 9,000 subscribers and just got serious about it about eight months ago, so I guess someone likes what I'm doing.
 
AMcUK said:
Higher ISO certainly does introduce grain in stills, using older compacts and I've seen very smudgy, blurred footage that looked out of focus but was actually just beyond the capability of the sensor in the light available. I guess it might be a drop in shutter speed for the video that would introduce blur if the subject is moving too?

Both these links seem to suggest a minimum focus distance of just 1cm - sounds like it shouldn't be a problem? Perhaps I'm missing something :)
https://www.ephotozine.com/article/sony-cybershot-dsc-hx200v-digital-compact-camera-review-19254
https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/compact-cameras-dsc-hx-series/dsc-hx200v/specifications
Click to expand...
I can get very close for regular photos (and I assume video, although I can't remember doing that). It's zooming that seems to be the problem.
 
I posted this same question on two other photography forums. This forum got by far the most replies, which I really appreciate. I got one reply on Photo.net, but it was just what I was looking for. I'm not sure what the reason is, but if I set up my camera two meters (or more) away, I can zoom in on a small area and get a really nice video. It's not blurry at all and it's just what I was looking for.

Thanks again for the help,
Rob
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top