Video A-Z

Video A-Z

Video intended for professional use will almost always need some post-production editing work, so you need to shoot it in such a way that you've got some 'headroom' to work with.

Most cameras have picture styles, or equivalents, which offer 'vivid', 'natural', 'flat' color renditions, and you should choose the 'flattest' you can. This will reduce the risk of blown highlights or oversaturated or distorted colours. You can increase contrast and saturation later, but reducing it is not so easy.

If you can, turn off the in-camera sharpening. You'll want to choose your own sharpening method, not leave it to the camera. At best, in-camera sharpening is a relatively crude 'one size fits all approach'; at worst, it adds edge effects and artefacts you can't get rid of.

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Rod Lawton is Head of Testing for Future Publishing’s photography magazines, including Digital Camera, N-Photo, PhotoPlus, Professional Photography, Photography Week and Practical Photoshop.