Beautiful and funny: camera hacks you can actually use

Wednesday 30 May 2018, 18:36 by Michelle Peeters | 5,229 views | 3 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

There is no shortage of bite-sized, almost identical videos about photography and video hacks online. This video is different.

Matt Dennison and Jason Lucas, together with their film production company, IFHT, share their favourite equipment tips in a very entertaining, no-nonsense way.

IFHT also has a comedy channel on YouTube, so it is refreshing to see a genuinely funny video about this subject. The tips are simple and generally useful for anyone moving from beginner to professional level.

They start by parodying the usual hacks that have been used over and over again, such as smearing Vaseline on your lens and the standard tricks for creating flares, and so on.

Here is a brief summary of their hacks:

• Make sure you have reliable storage. They use portable hard drives to take with them on location and back up the data to a larger disc system in the evening;


• Get a basic cleaning kit so you can always work with clean lenses. This gives you cleaner and brighter photos, and also makes it easier to trade in your equipment because it retains its value;


• Get a basic LED light kit. They have learned a great deal about light and how to shape it with these. You can use the LEDs to regulate the light intensity and often adjust the colour temperature as well;


• They also often use gels, which you can buy quite cheaply. You can do fun things with them and they have become indispensable to them;


• With a polarising filter, you can make blue bluer and green greener if you keep the sun at the right angle. With a variable ND filter, you can still shoot with a wide aperture, and therefore a nice shallow depth of field, in very bright light in the middle of the day;


• They recommend investing in a good camera bag where you can easily find everything. Make sure you know your equipment and do not have to fumble around when the shoot is about to start. Put the heavy equipment at the bottom so the lighter items are not crushed under its weight;


• Invest in plenty of good batteries and rechargeable batteries, as well as SD cards, and take them with you. Keep them in your camera bag as standard;


• A toolkit, a knife with various tools, can also work wonders, as can Duktape. You can fix anything with it and even improvise a lens hood;


• A good tripod with a ball head goes without saying;


• The final tip is also the best one: get a label maker and label all your equipment.
  
  That way, you can easily identify your own equipment, and if you lose it, it will be easy to find again. Especially if you also put your address details on it.

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