Going Wild: 10 Rules to Capturing the Best Stock Videos in Nature
If you enjoy being outdoors and consider yourself to be a videography enthusiast, then capturing stock videos in nature may be your calling. The demand for stock footage is rising as more companies turn to video production for marketing, and short HD clips as you can find on depositphotos.com are helpful to use when creating video promotions.
Getting the right shot for a montage and capturing footage of a captivating scene in nature can be challenging without understanding nature photography composition, and knowing the trade tricks when it comes to stock video filmmaking. Here are the ten steps to help you capture the best stock videos in nature.
1. Plan and protect your gear
Being out in nature can derail plans to capture content if you don’t plan what gear you need for a given shot, and protect and put away what you aren’t using. Pack your zoom lenses, and keep any lenses you aren’t actively using in their protected case. Any lenses not being used should be covered to keep out dust particles and protect the gear against any scratches or friction.
Use durable straps to hold your camera body. When worn correctly, these straps help prevent you from accidentally dropping the camera body on the ground, should you accidentally lose your grip. Lastly, use a tripod that is suitable for the size and weight of your camera and lens; there’s nothing quite as unsettling as trying to use a top-heavy tripod when you’re in the middle of filming.
2. Be persistent with location and timing
It may take you several trips to the same area or location to time your footage with the appropriate lighting and activity. It’s not uncommon for some nature photographers and videographers to specialize in capturing footage from one specific location. It helps you become familiar with the lighting, setting, and composition for that location and region. The intimate knowledge from these repeated sessions will help you hone your filmmaking skills and lead you to time your content for the best lighting and composition possible.
3. Introduce a different element
In the beginning, unless you’re recording an incredibly unique location or getting some impeccable stock video of a fiery sunset view, it can be challenging to get stock footage of nature that is truly unique and successful in catching the audience’s eye. Since most stock footage of nature is captured of just the outdoors specifically, try using people or animals as a unique twist to your montage, and inject a sense of life into your scene.
You can do this by featuring a couple hiking together down a dirt path or recording a family of deer (or other animals) doing their usual thing out in the wild. Breaking up the nature scene with some signs of life can help bring in your viewer’s interest, as it can create a personal feel to the stock video.
4. Use the correct tools
Catching the best sunset you’ve seen in months may not matter much if you don’t have an appropriate lens and filter set up, ready to capture it. So make sure you’re using suitable lighting filters, zoom lenses, and camera bodies (with the appropriate filmmaking settings) for each shot you are trying to capture.
Are you uncertain how to use a particular piece of gear or don’t know its main features? Spend some time practicing and experimenting with it in advance to build your confidence and familiarity of using it. Having this confidence in place before you head out to film will help you tremendously in the field.
5. Go exploring
To get the best video, you need to go to places you haven’t been to yet. Recording unique stock videos may require you to veer off of the usual public trails and busy paths to find a quiet, scenic setting that can be used for stock videos and photography. It’s also the best way to find nature scenes that aren’t already over-utilized (and, by extension, probably over-filmed as well).
If you do this, be mindful not to trespass or violate any ordinances; some parks and preserves may be stricter than others when it comes to how far off the beaten path you’re allowed to go. Above all else, watch out for your safety in all situations, as well as that of people around you.
6. Time it right
Try using the golden hour of each day, which is the brief period that happens just before sunrise and sunset, for stunning natural diffused lighting that will enhance your nature videos with rich colors and shadows. The golden hour is an excellent window of time to capture nature video that isn’t overexposed, and the angle of the sun can create a radiant scene filled with colors and shadows.
If you’re unsure of how to set your camera to the appropriate settings for video production during the golden hour, the landscape basics guide will navigate you on adjusting them. Since there is far less overhead light and potentially more angled sunlight, having the proper settings in place will be critical towards capturing the best scene possible.
7. Stop relying on autofocus to catch your subjects
When making short HD clips for stock footage, it’s best to use your camera’s manual settings and then adjust your focus and aperture in response to any settings changes, instead of leaving the focus set to Auto and hoping for the best. This is because leaving the focus settings on auto means your camera will use its own sensors to figure out what you need to focus on, instead of you using your camera to pin down the focal points on your own.
Using manual camera settings also allows for more creativity for lighting, depth of field, and motion blur. In addition, it lets you capture scenes while the automatic camera settings are prevented by set overrides. More importantly, working with manual settings on your camera helps you become more familiar with how each setting and feature works, which in turn will help you with capturing the best quality video possible.
8. Use the element of movement
When filming nature videos, including a bit of action in the shot can add a layer of realism and a captivating element to your stock video scene. This inclusion can be done in various ways; you can try capturing water flowing quickly down a river, people skiing through a fresh snowpack, or someone riding a mountain bike down a bumpy path.
Including action and movement can add a sense of time, immediacy, and relatability to your video. To do this, you would benefit from practicing before you film, and experimenting with different shutter speeds, ISO, and aperture settings. Each combination will create a slightly different effect, and knowing this ahead of filming is beneficial.
9. Go slow-mo
Not only does it make it visually easier for viewers to follow along with your video when you use slow motion or time-lapse features, but you can also create more footage using less raw material. If you add a bit of action or movement into the scene, this can result in a professional-looking stock video.
Slow motion footage is also an excellent tool if you wish to convey a particular emotion or message in your stock video; for example, capturing a video of a puppy running across a yard towards its toy. Slow-mo helps capture the excitement, anticipation, and joy experienced by the puppy at that moment, and it gives the audience time to experience those things as well.
10. Practice to make it perfect
It may take some time to develop the knack for finding the right settings and staging stock video locations that work for you. In addition, making an appropriate montage of different scenes takes skill and experience with knowing what video elements will work together and which ones may not sit well with others. Not only that, but you will probably have a learning curve with any new cameras, lenses, filters, or other supplies that you use and include in your video recording sessions. Keep at it, though. Keep returning to your favorite spot to film, keep practicing, and keep creating.
Bottom line
Capturing clear, visually appealing stock footage in nature can be challenging without knowing how to stage the shot or having adequate familiarity with your filming tools. Ensuring you are using the correct filmmaking gear and developing your video production skills in the rapidly changing environment of nature will help you catch unique stock video footage and get the best shot and videos possible.
You can even explore the modest use of motion graphics to act as a transition between scenes or introduce other contrasting action elements, such as people or animals. The creative opportunities are vast, and with a little practice and excellent timing, you can capture short HD clips of stock footage that will be profitable and useful!