GH2 at night, recording my friend sing "Isn't she lovely". Nokton F .95 was used

[Shield]

Shot this Saturday night with the Nokton, around 9:30 at night. In HD on Vimeo; my buddy singing "Isn't she lovely" by Stevie Wonder.

Was either at 1.4, 1.1 or even wide open.

Comments welcome!

[ame=http://www.vimeo.com/27138976]Isn't she Lovely? - Theo Jackson / Snack Bar on Vimeo[/ame]

 

[fezza56]

Video v.good,

rather enjoyed that soulful rendition of a great song

 

[John M Flores]

Very nice. How far away from your friend were you? Also, do you recall any camera settings?

Just my $.02, but I think you should have kept the camera in the same position from the beginning. Putting your friend on the left of the screen and looking to the right looks more balanced to my eye. Centering him when he started singing doesn't look as nice as a composition.

And you probably could not have moved the bongo in the foreground, but it's a minor distraction.

Nice performance though! And nice capture. Thanks for sharing, and for the GF2 tip as well!

 

[Shield]

Very nice. How far away from your friend were you? Also, do you recall any camera settings?

Just my $.02, but I think you should have kept the camera in the same position from the beginning. Putting your friend on the left of the screen and looking to the right looks more balanced to my eye. Centering him when he started singing doesn't look as nice as a composition.

And you probably could not have moved the bongo in the foreground, but it's a minor distraction.

Nice performance though! And nice capture. Thanks for sharing, and for the GF2 tip as well!

Thanks - this is the type of feedback I'm looking for. I was about 12-15 feet away maybe? Camera was set to 1080p24 creative mode, nostalgic all -0, AWB +4 blue, 1/50 shutter, ISO 160, F .95 - 1.4 (can't remember if I had it wide open or not).
This was at a Champp's restaurant and there was a big table right where I'd like to have filmed from, and I also didn't want to block the people watching in the background. Thanks for the feedback - I think you're right about keeping him on the left and the guitar neck on the right - just used to the camera world where you try to center the frame.
Shawn

 

[John M Flores]

FWIW, did you consider setting white balance against his shirt so as to remove the strong violet cast of the lighting? This is a style thing as much as anything though, so if you like the violet, then go with it.

 

[KVG]

Enjoyed the song:clap2: I like the bongo there......John, But I agree with every thing else. You and that lens did great in that video.

 

[penfan2010]

Thanks for sharing the video, very good quality and great rendition of the song. I do agree with the comments above re: the composition.

 

[Luke]

Thanks for the feedback - I think you're right about keeping him on the left and the guitar neck on the right - just used to the camera world where you try to center the frame.
Shawn

actually, you rarely want to center things in the frame..... even more so for stills. But that video sure is lovely. I think i have that song stuck in my head now.

 

[Shield]

actually, you rarely want to center things in the frame..... even more so for stills. But that video sure is lovely. I think i have that song stuck in my head now.

I thought you do want to center things for framing purposes? I have no idea; I'm 100% amateur all the way. I will read up on this today.

 

[kevinparis]

google "rule of thirds"

its a good starting point for exploring more interesting composition/framing

K

 

[kevinparis]

another thing to try in the future is to record the entire song in a single take
Then during the next song take different angles and close ups of the hands strumming, fingers on fret board, people in the audience and anything else around that conveys the atmosphere... if there was a pretty girl in the audience maybe some shots of her.

then in your editing application, lay down the complete song and lock the audio, and then insert the other shots to break up the one long shot...do that and you will have made the big step from shooting video to making a movie.

K