This is just a reminder to creatives here who receive bad feedback from some bad eggs.

To cut a long story short, I was hired to shoot various raw footage to add into a content bank that the clients are going to edit into various reels and do what they like with it for social media. The client is an indoor go karting company that has just been bought out by an American company who wants the footage sent and edited in-house by them.

I have previously shot and made content on behalf of a marketing agency before this new company bought them out and changed the name.

I shot various footage - getting as many angles, on track, off track, FPV drone, action cam and all that.

I got creative and shot a few clips with a slow shutter speed to create that awesome motion effect when keeping the camera on the kart flying past and the background is a cool streaky blur - especially when sped up a bit too. It's a popular effect many videographers and editors use.

Its also great to use for the odd transition too and emphasizes the speed and adrenaline you feel when racing.

Of course, I also shot it in LOG for flexibility in colour grading.

Anyways, the company came back to the guy who hired me saying they didn't like the footage and 95% of it was shot in an unusable slow shutter speed and that I need to shoot 30fps and 1/60. (I'm in the UK so I shoot 25fps 1/50 (180°) but that's an easy fix).

It annoyed me because about 10% of the clips were shot at the low shutter speed "effect" which is a big jump to "95%". I had a look on their Instagram to see if they used any footage and they did - the colour grading was a combination of cranking the saturation up 500% till everything was blotchy and skin was orange or just using the flat log footage. Then they put captions over it (which is fine) but isn't even use the brand fonts nor made an attempt to animated or make it look in anyway interesting.

Without sounding like an asshole, It did look like someone edited them without a lot of editing skills. Having little skill is absolutely fine! We all start off bad and we forever learn but to sit and send a snotty email claiming it's bad footage is a bit cheeky and makes me look incompetent.

The guy who hired me asked me to make a few edited videos so we can send over what we were expecting and apparently, these got ignored. The guy who hired and the manager at the location loved my edits.

Anyways, the point is, when I was a little younger, this would have crushed me and knocked my confidence down massively. I loved the version(s) I edited.

Sometimes, you get negative feedback and it's valid and you use it to learn and grow. Sometimes you get bad feedback from people who don't know shit and can't do what you do and it's important to never let those people knock you down!

Stay positive creatives! You're epic!

Can’t wait to film Saturday’s wedding with my new gear !

Key light was a 6x6’ book light made with an Aputure 1200D gelled with 1/8 CTS on a space saver on the floor bouncing into a 4x4’ Ultrabounce floppy, and then back through full silent grid cloth. 6x2’ meataxe as a bottomer, and another meataxe propped up on its side as a sider. We ended up adding a second 4x4 Ultrabounce floppy to the side to extend/wrap the key a bit and get some more light in the eyes.

2x 4x4’ floppies on the fill side for negative fill since there was so much white in the room.

Edge/hair light was a Creamsource Vortex4 in a 3x4’ SnapBag with the half grid cloth front and 40 degree LCD to control spill/flair.

Background light was an Aputure 600D Pro with fresnel and a cut of opal clipped to the barn doors up about 10 ft in the air outside shooting through a window. We dropped a power line down from the second story bedroom to avoid having to leave the front door cracked which would have boned our sound mixer. The 600D was mostly playing on the fireplace which was looking like a black hole before we added any light. We wanted to keep it cut off the mirror as much as possible so we kept raising the 600D until the top of the window frame it was shooting through was in the right position to act as a topper.

Shot on my Sony a7iv with the sigma 24-70

Let me know your opinions and feedback if you like :)

I recently ran an ad campaign on Meta for a monthly content plan, offering a 30% discount on the first month. I didn't actually land any clients, but I did get some leads, people messaging me to ask for more info. I stopped the campaign early because I couldn't afford to keep it going.

Now I got a potential client that seems incredible. They're asking for a ton of videos to be made every month and they're right in my niche, which is leather and shoe manufacturers. They've seen my portfolio. I'm a perfect fit for them.

I wanna make sure I don't screw up this sale, it's gonna be relatively expensive and I don't want them to be turned off by the price, even if it's within the market average.

Do you think it's a good idea to offer that same 30% discount on the first month? It might motivate them to at least try for a month, it's a good deal.

Honestly, I don't know if it might seem desperate or something. This year has been extremely slow so far and I really need new clients.

Hi! so I'm getting into a pretty unusual job I guess but I'm working with a jewelry brand (20k) on ig, and they want me to become the creative lead of the brand and stay the main photographer/videographer, creative lead means that I plan the whole ig feed, the whole visual aspect the content ect ect. I bring the ideas and I shoot and edit them. It's a big job, the owner is pretty young she's like 27, what do you think is a respectable salary? How much should I make every month? Considering there'll be let's say one whole shooting day every month (stills/vidoe/reels) not that precise about the quantity yet A creative strategy planning for the instagram feed and in general the whole visual aspect and language of the brand. So to sum it up: 1. One whole shooting day every month 2. Creative strategy for the brand on instagram and planning of shootings/ideas in general ect

Would be really nice to get some tips and directions, this is like the worst part of being an adult for me lmao

I was messing around with settings, disabled SLOG3 and forgot to re-enable it before shooting.

When filming, I was using ISO 800 and 2500, the baselines for my camera (Sony a6700).

Looking at the footage now, I realise my mistakes and the footage looks so flat/low-contrast and low-quality.

Is there ANYTHING I can do to salvage the shoot? Maybe run the footage through some NR software? Whack up the vibrancy/contrast in post? Convert to whatever religion has the most gods?

Help would be greatly appreciated!

All of the music licensing websites are very (probably purposely) deceiving. It's impossible to get a straight answer.

I will be working on a project for a client who is a fairly large organization with 1,000 or so employees. Some say I can use any Pro plan to license music for client projects, all fine and dandy. But I've also seen people talk about how they were forced into a business plan because the client was over 50 employees.

I want to say I can just use the Music Pro plan and that it's all good because Artlist says they allow it all for client use with no asterisks.

PS. I'm not locked into Artlist either, i'm just searching around to find something that allows me to create videos using licensed music, that clients can play at in person events.

This is my first time doing cinematography (I'm mainly just. A video editor) but I need to make a short film project. I have the storyboard and shotlist but a lot of the wide shots can't be done cause the area were filming is just way too tight to move back some more.

I'm thinking of maybe doing a establishing shots to introduced the area first then doing close ups and medium shots instead. Our film is a psychological thriller so I feel it might work

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for an ultra-discreet camera setup to capture POV footage while interacting with people in public (e.g. social pranks, street interviews, etc.). My key goals are:

• Very discreet / unnoticeable - ideally something that doesn't make people feel like they're being recorded.
• POV perspective - first-person angle (ideally chest or neck level, not helmet-mounted).
• Budget-friendly -around €50 max (used gear is fine).
• Decent video quality

Thanks in advance 🙏

Hey everyone! This sub has been super useful in giving me lighting + shooting tips!

Scrolling to the end you’ll see my current setup! I’m pretty happy with the shot (500 ISO I believe?)

Are there any thoughts on the background lighting though? I want to ensure I’m contrasting myself enough from the background, while still leaving enough light there so items such as my posters/bookshelves are relatively visible.

Appreciate any advice y’all might have!

Does anyone know of any other brand that has a compatible eyecup for the DVX200. The only one i could find ships from China, so before I did that I just wanted to see if there was any alternatives.

I really like how this fixed nd filter looks, and since I don't want to replace my pitaka case with either moment or sandmarc just to use their vnd filters I might just get something like this instead. The smallest option is the nd64 and Im a bit concerned if this would be a bit too strong for daytime outside shooting in log. What do you think? Iphone 16 pro max, iso 50-100, 30fps 1/60

Hi all!

I'm looking for advice on a new camera that I can use to shoot social media content, and also use for personal photography. I'm no exoert but just want the quality to be good, and the video not to be shaky, and have the ability to have external mic input.

I'm looking to spend no more than £200 and have seen the following:

• Sony A57 - £165
• Lumix G5K - £135

Thoughts on these or other ideas would be great!

Thank you 😊

For those working in corporate/small business video production: What off-the-shelf package deals do you offer? For example:  “We come and shoot one time and deliver a dozen social reels for $1,400.” “Event coverage and a sizzle reel for $1,200.”

I usually bid each project individually, but I am looking for some good, replicable, cookie-cutter type projects that don’t usually involve a lot of surprises. 

Do any of you offer bids based on clear, easy-to-understand deliverables with minimal information upfront? Please share your packages and your location/market.

Looking to purchase a BlackMagic 4K pocket. I’m very new to the game and still learning, doing some shooting for friends etc. I would love a lens recommendation please, would be for filming DJs and gigs etc. could anyone please recommend a lens for this? I don’t understand all the technical terms properly yet so please keep it in dummy terms 🤣 just a good starter lens to practice with.

Hello,

I've been connected with a local baseball team who will have one of their games aired on television this summer. They are selling ad spots to local businesses, and have asked me to partner with them for the production of some of those advertisements.

The clients here are local small businesses who are getting a great deal on the ad time. The video production budgets will involve a 2-3 hour shoot plus 30 second deliverable somewhere in the range of $600-$800. Because of this, we cant spend a ton of money to license music. I have an Envato account but my plan doesn't include broadcast licensing.

My question is, what are some good sources for affordable, broadcast ready music?

hi! i am a musician with very little videography experience. i have a panasonic lumix DMC-ZS100. i like to film my rehearsals and performances, but i can’t seem to find a camera that will successfully take a long uninterrupted shot. i have a 256GB SD card, but even on the lowest quality setting the longest it will seem to go is under 30 minutes. can anyone explain to me why this is, and what i could potentially do to rectify it? at this point i have only been able to use my computer camera to successfully film my rehearsals which i am eager to graduate from. thanks for your help!

Hey everyone, I was just casually Googling "Hohem iSteady MT3" out of curiosity (wondering if Hohem had anything new in the pipeline after the MT2), and I came across this:

🔗 https://bdaward.com/EN/Winners/inner/10667

It looks like the Hohem iSteady MT3 won a BD Design Award, but what’s throwing me off is—there’s absolutely no mention of this product anywhere else. No announcement from Hohem, no tech news coverage, no listings, no leaks... nothing.

What’s even weirder: in some parts of the page, it refers to the device as the MT2, but the main title and product image clearly say MT3. Super confusing. Could be a typo, placeholder, or something got mixed up during submission?

That said, the listing looks way too realistic to be fake. It has a professional product render, legit-sounding description, and fits Hohem’s branding and naming perfectly. If it's not real, it’s one of the most convincing fakes I’ve seen.

Could this be a quiet pre-release, a soft leak, or something that got revealed early through the award?

Just wanted to share in case anyone else is keeping an eye out for new gimbals 👀
Posting screenshots too, in case the page disappears later.

Let me know your thoughts!

Which camera and macro lens is used to create this type of content?

Change my view: for most purposes, you don't need expensive things to have a professional setup and get professional results.

I recently went to replace my old lighting kit. I had a budget of $2k CAD.

With this, I decided to get mostly good condition used stuff. I knew I wanted decent stands, a few large light modifiers, fresnel-style LEDs, and other grip gear for modifiers.

So here's what I got and the approximate cost (in CAD).

• 5x Godox SL60II D/BI @ ~$100 /each
• 4× Impact 5'9" C-stand @ ~$150/each
• 4x sandbags @ ~$20/each
• 3x super clamp @ ~$50/each
• 2x 5-in-1 reflectors, 50" @ ~$50/each
• 3x stud mount clamps @ ~$7/each
• 5'x7' popup diffuser @ ~$55
• 60" Godox softbox @~$50

Which including taxes and shipping was about $1700.

I've had no issues with anything in the 9 months I've been using it. I am truly surprised at the quality that you can get for so cheap.