Embedded Files
When making a presentation for video to be viewed on mobile devices through the mobile app Fotspor. In this case we try to make the video with the 3:4 ratio. Specifically for the ipad: 768 by 1024 pixels, which also plays well on most other devices.
Note that this first presentation below is made for reading, more like a summary rather than lecture slides:
Keep you camera low! This is where you will have to get down on the ground. The idea is that the camera should be placed at the height of the eyes of a person with the same scale as the object. So if your fantasy animal is 10 cm, and the house would have been 2 meters (200 centimeters) in reality, you will have the scale 1:20. If the eyes of a child are approximately 100 cm over the ground, then your camera has to be 5 cm above the ground to keep the scale right.
When photographing a small object you will probably experience challenges with depth of field. In some cases a blurred background, as seen below, is a wanted effect. However, we would like to keep the objects (like fantasy animals) in focus and at the same time see the landscape as clear as possible. Using the camera on your smartphones will probably be the best option, because a small sensor and a wide angled lens will create a larger depth of field.
About macro photograpy
About macro photograpy
Objects can be photographed in ways that make them appear to be part of the landscape . We will try to do it all "in camera", but it may also be possible to do some digital manipulation afterwards.
If you need to merge a video file with a sound file, you can use softeware like Movavi. This can be used to add a sound file that you have recorded separately, music, etc
For screen-recording we can use Screencast-o-matic. This records the screen and allows you to add you own vooice when recording.
When your animation is ready you click through the presentation at the same time as you record video of the screen.
Basicly you make all the pictures, changes between scenes and animation in a presentation program, like Google Presenter og Microsoft Powerpoint. This is explained with examples in a another turtorial.
Making video using presentation software
Making video using presentation software
As we have learned before: presentation software can be used to makes videos, together with screen recording software, like Screencast-o-matic. the video to the right just for demonstration, without sound.
Learn how to edit images with a transparent background.
Learn how to draw collaboratively with Google Draw. Similar to what you do when you make abstracted maps.
http://little-people.blogspot.com/
If you use a camera that gives you more control, you should keep the aperture as small (larger number) as possible and use a wide angle lens.
Do experiment! There are for example a number of apps that let you create cinemagraphs – small images sequences, like movies.
Lighting
Lighting
How the light falls on you model can really change the image significantly. The first seconds of this video illustrates it perfectly. There is also some insight on depth of field in the same film.
What happens when a shadow falls on a part of the obkect?
What can you do with strong light, like from a torch, from one direction?
Have you something that can reflect the sunlight?
etc
Setting the scene
Setting the scene
It will not be like you can put your fantasy animal up anywhere. There has to be a suitable foreground, which you can create, and the desired background, given by the landscape. There are lots of things you can bring into the foreground. Look for things in nature, small stones, moss, small leaves, maybe flowers and berries, small sticks that create a fence etc. You can of course also bring with you small objects that do not belong in nature.
Remember to think about and play with the scale – the relation between sizes of different objects: What you put in the picture influence the perceived size of the house. This picture, and the video below gives you and idea of how perspective can be manipulated through scale.
For inspiration, even though this is pretty complicated setups: Michael Paul Smith is a photographer who master how to create incredibly accurate outdoor scenes. He is using model cars and forced perspective. In an interview with Fstoppers, he describes his tools, the process and the attention to detail that creating such scenes requires. We are, of course, not going to achieve realism like this
Smith's advice for those trying to do something similar:
The most important rule is to be further away from the background instead of closer. Also, keep the camera lens at the proper height that is appropriate to the scale of the models you are photographing. For 1/24th scale, I have the camera no higher than 2 inches from the model base. This would be the point of view of a 1/24th scale person looking at the scene in front of them.
Another piece of advice that I think is helpful is: you don't need expensive equipment or lighting to create a realistic photo. Too much information in the photo is not a good thing when creating a forced perspective image. You need the subtle blur and the effect of an average lens.
Also, don't try too hard during a shoot. For myself, if I'm shooting for more than an hour then I'm overloading my brain. The best sessions I've had were about 20 minutes long. And don't second guess yourself. If you're thinking too much behind the camera, then you've lost the creative magic that happens between the model and the lens.
Miniatures
Miniatures
Another approach that perhaps can be used if you place your house somewhere where you look down towards the fjord.
The image to the right is manipulated using a service – Tilshiftmaker –that makes a photograph appear as it is taken with a special, macro lens. This makes the images look like a tiny model, an effect that is achieved by creating something that looks like a very narrow depth of field.
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