Of recent, I've been watching lots of photography and cinematography videos on YouTube, and learning some trick and tips on how to deliver a quality and crisp video despite having a low budget. Well, as for me I presently do not a budget on get a camera and others related gears for photography and cinematography. But still, I wanted to be able to create something good or even better out of the little I have. Since I began my journey as a vlogger, I've made use of my smartphone to shot all my videos even until now. With the vast knowledge I acquired in operating a digital camera, I've never held on to one before. Hopefully, I'll still be able to retain a few of them. I've watched so many beginners photography tutorials on YouTube, and I also took a photography course online last year hoping I'll be able to gather some money to get my first digital camera. But I turned out I had to throw the money into investing in my education. I don't want to write about what I do (Educational wise) again because it's part of what I discussed already in the video. My aim of writing is to shared what led the amazing video I created, and things I've gradually been learning as regards to photography and videography/cinematography.

Initially, I wasn't even too sure if I had given this blog post the right title. But to be sincere, it was the best title I could come up with after twenty four (24) hours plus of pondering on what to title it. One of my aspirations in life is to become a videographer/cinematographer. And it's definite that it isn't something that will happen instantly with or without effort. It will take time and it requires processes, in which I've yielded into beginning something with the little I'm provided with. I began vlogging in 2018 with my smartphone and I have created some awesome videos in the process. But I began to crave for something even more better from what I've created in the past. In the past, I've learnt some rules in the past which I now find false which states that "the massage you want to convey is the most important when creating a video while the rest doesn't really matter". Well, that's somewhat true. But taking for instance, if I was to pass across an important message in video with several activities going on in the background, or noises, or even I not looking straight into the camera. Its very possible you might get distracted and end up not getting the information I'm trying to pass across, or you might even exit the video without bothering to get to the part where I stated the information.

That's basically what I found false in that rule. Information is key, but the composition, the feel, the look, and even the quality are what will actually determine if one will get to stay watching a video till it ends. This are things I'm beginning to learn. I watched several videos on YouTube on how to go about these things and I was able to gather a lot on them. I've got to understand that shooting a video with a digital camera isn't just what qualifies one to deliver a quality video. There's more to it, which are in general two things. They are the visual quality and sound quality. Visual quality entails having a good device to shoot the video which doesn't necessarily have to be a camera, a proper lighting condition, and colour correction/grading. While sound quality basically have to do with a having a mic that can take in good sound. There could perhaps be more, but these are the knowledge I've been able acquire so far during my quest.

I decided I was going to achieve what creating a quality video looks like by making do of what I had around me, which was what resulted in the creation of this video I have above. I wanted to see what it looks like to apply some light and color correction/grading in my video. I have a fairly good device which I use for shooting me video. Its video and mic quality are fair. So I was set to try out and create something different from what I have created in time past. I began to set up the little gears I had in which I was going to achieve my result. I mounted the small lightning source I had on my lightweight tripod I got some months back. And mounted my smart phone on a mini tripod I got too. After I did the whole set up, I initially didn't know what I was going to say in the video because I wasn't prepare to pass any information across. All I was after was to achieve that crisp and quality look I see in videos online.

I later got struck with the idea to share what I do as a person and what my aspirations are. Which is what I have in the content of the video above. I was able to achieve the look below with the lighting application techniques I learnt from a YouTube video. Link below. I used the paramount/butterfly lighting technique as is was called in the video to achieve the look below. And I shot the video in a dark room with no natural light.

I decide to to make some slight color correction in its look. Although, I really couldn't achieve the look I wanted because my PC monitor lacks colour details, and I won't want the look of my video to come out having much colours after I transfer it to another PC which will just end up ruining the video. After several adjustment I was still able to come out with something nice. I believe there is an obvious difference.