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Brandon Li

How to make just a single light look like many for photos and video

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For some of us, especially when we’re just starting out, we’re limited on gear. Maybe we can only afford a single light or perhaps we can afford more, but we want to experiment with just one before laying down a huge amount of cash. Either way, having just a single light for our work is not uncommon. It is possible to make one light look like many though.

In this video, filmmaker Brandon Li shows us a technique for multiplying a single light using multiple takes and compositing. It’s a technique that we’ve seen used a lot in photography, particularly product photography, but not that often with video – especially when you’ve got a moving camera.

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Sony’s new image stabilisation might actually replace your gimbal – but there’s a catch

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Filmmaker, gimbal ninja and YouTuber Brandon Li has been playing around with Sony’s new software for the A7S III mirrorless camera and the ZV-1 vlogging camera to see if can actually let us do away with gimbals for shooting video.

The cameras have an accelerometer inside them that allows the camera to record the orientation data of the camera while shooting video. The software on the desktop then reverses these movements in post.

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Watch these techniques to shoot smooth handheld footage on your iPhone without a gimbal

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Smartphone gimbals are pretty commonplace today. There are countless models from companies like Zhiyun, Moza, Feiyu, and a million other brands. It feels like we’ve had them forever, although they’ve only really been around for about four years. And sometimes, even today, we need to figure out a way to live without them.

You’re not always going to have it with you when you see something cool and want to whip out your phone to grab a sequence. Or perhaps, as filmmaker Brandon Li mentions in this video, carrying a gimbal defeats the whole purpose of using your phone. Putting his money where his mouth is, this 10-minute video shows us how we can get gimbal-like shots without a gimbal.

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These four manual vintage lenses are great for shooting video

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Vintage manual lenses can give you splendid results in both photography and filmmaking. There are some real gems among them, with exquisite sharpness or crazy bokeh. Filmmaker Brandon Li likes to use a couple of vintage lenses for his videos, and he shares four of his favorite ones and the reasons why he loves using them.

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Most common travel video problems and ways to fix them

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When you want to shoot a decent travel video on vacation, you may face plenty of challenges. They won’t only make the vacation less enjoyable, but also the footage won’t turn out as you wanted. Filmmaker Brandon Li lists four most common problems of making travel videos and gives practical solutions to overcome them.

Brandon’s tips will help you on several aspects. First, you’ll plan your shooting better. Second, you’ll return from a vacation with great footage you’ll turn into an interesting and engaging travel movie. And last but not least – you’ll enjoy the vacation more.

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How to erase tourists from your travel videos without VFX

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As a location photographer, tourists are the bane of my existence on some days. You turn up to a gorgeous location with your subject, ready to shoot, and the place is packed. Or, you face the other problem, one I had recently on a photo shoot in Scotland. A constant trickle of tourists throughout the day. And you can’t stop them. They have just as much right to be there as you do.

Filmmaker Brandon Li regularly runs across these sorts of issues, too, when making travel videos. But there are things you can do to still be able to get the shots you want. In this video, Brandon shares some tips he uses to help get the shot despite the tourists.

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Learn how to choose the best frame rate for your videos in just 10 minutes

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When you start shooting video, there are plenty of things to learn, and one of the first things to master is definitely the frame rate. If you’re just starting out, filmmaker Brandon Li has made one of the best video tutorials for all the newbies in video shooting.

He explains how and why to choose a certain frame rate, but also – how to determine frame rates for different subjects. So, if you’re new to filming, this video contains a lot of useful knowledge and practical examples that will boost your knowledge in only a couple of minutes.

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