My name is Richard Walch. I'm a Canon ambassador and in this video I would
like to explain to you how to make a Vlog.
That's a video about yourself or
something you're passionate about.
Before we talk about the technical aspects,
I would like to talk with you about the most important, and that's the content.
What are you going to talk about in your video, what are you gonna show, what is it
that you think other people are interested about? You have to find
something that you're really passionate about. In my case, since I'm an extreme
sports photographer for over 25 years, that's what it is. I've made so many
amazing trips that I could talk about this for hours.
So that's perfect to start, a topic you really would like to explain.
Now you have to fight for yourself what that is that you want to
turn into a series because if you want to make your Vlog successful, it's not
just about one. It's about starting with one and then in a rhythm continue making
one after the other, so you can build your audience. What you want to publish
your Vlog with the several platforms. There's Instagram stories or Facebook
stories or of course YouTube. All these platforms are kind of for free, so it's
very easy to start and what's perfect is you get reactions. That's comments or
likes, and that makes you understand if what you're producing is relevant for
your audience. And take it serious, what people write you back, you have to find
your own style and follow that style but if you're producing something that nobody
is interested in, it's also not really good, so find something that you like and
other people would like to follow so you can grow an audience. And you know what?
If you start tomorrow, this could be also a career for you because there's a lot
of people who make their income now with what I'm trying to explain today.
Now, let's talk about the technical side. Of course, first of all, you need a camera.
You could do it with your phone but it's actually a little more interesting if
you use a camera. Now, what's the camera you should use? This video I'm recording
with the Canon 1-DX mark III. Okay that's luxury, that's premium camera.
You don't have to use such a high-end camera, you could use
other cameras in the lineup, for example the M5 is a perfect camera for vlogging.
Why? Because it has a flip-out screen, so you can flip out the screen,
hold the camera away, and you will see on the screen what the camera is recording.
That's yourself, so it's perfect for you to adjust find a nice angle and get a
good connection with your audience. Another camera that works really good is
the EOS R. It also has a flip-out screen, so you can again record yourself or you
could also show the audience what are you looking at, the reverse angle, and
when you mix those it becomes really interesting. To start off, I would
do it quite static, the same setup as I'm doing right here. You put the camera
on a tripod. Distance, I would recommend about a meter or two depending on what
kind of lens you're using, and then what's nice about all the Canon cameras,
they have face detection out of focus so once you tap on the back of the screen,
the camera will focus on your face and we'll follow your face even if you walk
around in the frame and change a little bit your position. That's very nice when
you shoot these kinds of videos.
Now, what are the settings? I would recommend you
to put the camera on manual. The frame rate on 24 frames per second, then your
shutter speed needs to be double, which is a 50th of a second. I would recommend
a quite open f-stop, 2.8 or 3.5 or 4.0 depending on how fast your lens is, and then
the only thing left to really adjust the lighting is the ISO. Then you balance, the
ISO until you have the right exposure. What you will recognize once you're
outside and there's a lot of light, you need an ND filter. An ND filter is
something that blocks the light, there's ND filters that can change or it picks
ND filters. It's a little bit of an investment but when you shoot videos,
it's something that you really need you have. Last, but not least, audio - that's
really critical. The built-in microphones in the Canon cameras are quite good to
get atmosphere sound but when it comes to voice and there's some background
noise, it can get tricky. What I'm using today is a microphone that's tapped here
to my shirt and it transmits the sound to a receiver and that's plugged into
the camera. Those things are not so expensive anymore, and I would recommend
that if you want to do a Vlog which is all about voice and your story to be explained.
Now, let's talk about lighting. What's important is that you are standing
out in front of the background. You can do that with light. Because it's late in
the day, I used some photo lights and they use them in the model
light setting, so it's a permanent light, of course, you can also use video lights
that are more comfortable to use if you're outside. Just make sure you're hit
by the sun either from the left side or the right side, so you get a bit
of an interesting lighting and the background shouldn't be too
nervous. That's why I choose the curtains here in the background, so it's a little
bit quiet behind my face but then on the side you see my bookshelf just to get a
little more interesting image.
Well, that's it. That's all you need to start.
When you're outside, then, of course, it's all about moving, so a camera like this
is perfect. You start to introduce yourself to the audience,
explain what this video of today is about, then you flip the camera around
and you let it fly through the zeen. You know you can just use it handheld.
It might be a little shaky, that could be your style. If you want more smooth,
then you need a gimbal. It's something that you attach to the camera and then
you can have these wonderful smooth movements like you see in the cinema.
What's really important to me is for you to understand it's about your story.
It's about you finding something that you would like to talk about to
other people, to build your audience, to get really creative, to grow, to learn,
to become experimental and become better and better from block to block.
Good luck with that. Send me a link, I will follow you, and
hope to see some good content, thank you.