Every now and then, when time is not an issue I pull out my Sony a6500 and get creative with dinner. This one was one of those when I really wanted to experiment with in-camera transitions, after being inspired watching Daniel Schieffer’s YouTube video about filming B-roll.
Tonight’s dinner turned into a delicious fajita feast so I thought of filming the preparation of the veggie side.
FOCUSING
I quickly realized that filming in this style where you follow the movement, keeping things in focus can become is challenging. I had to take a couple of takes for each movement to find one where I actually worked. Of course, checking for focus accuracy on the tiny SONY a6500 display can be a pain, so it helps to have an external monitor for more detailed viewing.
Against all odds for the fact that the SONY a6500 has an amazing auto-focusing, I chose to go manual since, with this crazy kind of movement, I didn’t want to rely on the camera’s decision to choose what should be in focus.
TRICKS OF THE TRADE
- The first trick is to actually follow the exact movement of the object you try to keep in focus, but probably the most critical aspect is to know exactly the point where your subject will end the movement. So, pull a practice focus at the end of that movement, this way you can remember the position and distance of the camera from the subject.
- It helps to work with a higher f-stop to have a more forgiving depth of field. But if you are filming at 120 fps and the light is getting scarce as it did for me filming at sunset, things can get dark quite fast.
- Communicate with your model, and have a few cold runs before you start shooting so you know what to expect.
- As with everything, it takes a lot of practice to become skilled at what you are doing.
Hope you guys enjoyed the post, please subscribe if you didn’t already for more posts like these. And of course, I am curious about your tricks on keeping things in focus when you are filming. Do you find manual or autofocus more reliable? leave a comment and let me know!
