This past weekend, I did something I haven’t really done in four years: I made a photography vlog. A proper, talking-to-camera, while out and about, taking photos, and showing you around type of old-school vlog. And I actually think that it’s pretty good. I’ve had this idea floating around my head for a few years, and it’s been on my to-do list for about as long. The idea was to do an “Autumn in the city” video. When you think of Autumn, you think of landscapes, forests, rivers and mountains and so on, but I wanted to show just how many Autumn photography opportunities there are in the city too.
I had been putting this off for so long, for no real reason, really. I really struggled with talking to the camera outside over the past few years. Much of this is my own issues, but some of it stems from having issues with my knee and ankle problems. (I had a torn meniscus, and then a ruptured tendon in my ankle, all within months of each other - not fun) I actually found that I got quite nervous on the streets when I had reduced mobility. It was all in my head, but it took me a long time to get over it. was also concerned that I was getting too old for this, as I’m in my 50s now (noooooo), but I’ve been watching a lot of older YouTubers lately too, and so I shouldn’t really let that stop me. I missed making these types of YouTube videos, so I’ve been slowly trying to get myself used to it again.
So at the weekend, I just made myself do it. It turns out, all you need to do is get started. Once you get going, it just sort of flows. I had originally said to myself, “Just try it; if it doesn’t work, you don’t have to use it”. I was going to take baby steps and figure out what I was doing again.
I had already shot some stills around the place over the previous few days, so I already had a good few stills. But the light was quite different when I was shooting video, so I shot quite a few more while I was at it.
The way I actually shot the video has changed quite a bit since I used to shoot my “street photo diary” series. I used to use a GoPro attached to my camera to shoot video while I was shooting stills, but this time I mostly just used my Canon R6II for both stills and video. If I saw something I wanted as a still, I just shot a few seconds of video too. I think this works better than the GoPro way, but there were some downsides to this too.
I also had my Osmo Pocket 3, which I got to do these kinds of videos, but I had yet to use it as I had intended, so there was some of this in there too. I was using a Rode shotgun mic on the Camera, which I thought would be an issue, as Dublin is surprisingly loud, but Final Cut Pro’s “Voice Isolation” works really well. This is something that didn’t exist when I used to shoot before. When using the Osmo Pocket, I was using the lav mic (actually clipped onto my camera bag strap as opposed to holding it!) and the sound is much better. I actually do have a Rode wireless lav mic too for my main camera, but it’s a bit of a pain, and switching was going to be an issue, although I might look at an alternative in the future, as the wireless mic was much better.
I don’t normally hold the camera like that, but I had the other camera in my other hand!
The Osmo Pocket is a bit of a pain, actually. The auto exposure isn’t great on it. I could use manual, but as I’m constantly moving in and out of shade, it’s not ideal. I shot in Log, but still had trouble grading it to match the rest. I probably just need to get better at using it and figure out the settings. The Canon video is great - most of the time. It does suffer from the Canon IBIS wobble, though, especially at 24mm, which is a real pain in the you-know-what. I actually nearly prefer the video I get from the Canon to the stills, but that’s another story.
Of course, the immutable rule of shooting a video is that no matter how much footage you think you have, you probably don’t have enough. When I got back and did a rough cut, I liked how it was working overall, but realised I was lacking something. I was at two minds whether or not to go back into the city to get more footage the following day, but when I woke up, it was dull and wouldn’t match the light. However, when I was out getting coffee, the sky cleared up, and so I figured I might as well take the opportunity. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me, but I did have my phone, and I also had my little pocket Canon G7X in my bag. So I grabbed the tram into the city and set about grabbing some B-Roll.
I was just planning on getting a few extra shots, but I ended up shooting 20 minutes of footage and a whole bunch of stills too. I shot in log using the Blackmagic app. It’s good, but it’s a pain to grade, and it kind of falls apart. I think the bitrate is quite low in the Blackmagic app, or I’m doing something stupid. My on-device storage is too low to shoot ProRes, and I didn’t have an external card or drive with me. It was fine, but I wish I had a proper camera with me. It’s funny, because I got into a discussion with someone on social media about how no one needs a vlogging camera now that iPhones are just as good, but that’s not my experience. Again, maybe if I were shooting in ProRes. If you watch the video, can you tell which shots were from the iPhone?
The one thing that really surprised me was how much the leaves had changed in the space of a few days. It had only been a week since I had shot the first set of stills, and the leaves had turned significantly browner and far more had fallen off in the short space of time. It made continuity a little difficult, but in the end I just went with it.
Anyway, the whole thing came together pretty well, I think. I remembered how much I liked making these kinds of videos, and I’m glad I gave it another go. I started the process as a practice attempt, but I ended up with what I think is a good result, so you tell me. Of course, the biggest issue is the YouTube algorithm and whether it even shows it to anyone. I’ve done my best with the thumbnail and the title, and will promote it as much as possible, but I guess time will tell. I really want to do these kinds of videos more, as my channel has gotten a bit stale with all the Lightroom tutorials that no one watches. It will take some time to build up momentum, though. I really don’t understand the YouTube algorithm. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.
I will have a corresponding Photo Journal post out shortly too, with some of the stills I took, so stay tuned for that. I’m also bringing back the newsletter so that you can get notified of new posts (well, a weekly digest) in case you miss anything, so you can sign up for that here.