Posting A Video On American DetectoristAdding a video to your post here on American Detectorist can be a great way to share your hunts, show finds, and help illustrate hunting and recovery techniques. The ability to embed a video along with your other content can literally bring your post to life. This, however, can be a daunting task if you're not familiar with editing video footage, uploading video to host sites, or even the actual shooting of the video itself during the hunt. Hopefully we can help point you in the right direction and provide some tips and tricks that will have you posting videos in no time time at all.
This is not intended to be a complete A-to-Z instructional manual, but rather an abbreviated step-by-step guide to getting your video online.
Equipment For Shooting The Video
This is the simple part. Fortunately most digital cameras these days come with the ability to shoot video that is more than adequate for creating a streaming video to include in your post. Be sure to check out the capabilities of the camera that you currently use. You may already have everything you need to get started. There are even dedicated compact video cameras available at your local electronics store for as little as $50 that will slip easily into your pocket for use during your hunt. You certainly do not need a high-end camera for creating videos for use on the Internet. Remember that these videos will for the most part be watched on a computer screen within a window. This requires much lower resolution than a video created for a television set.
Shooting The Video
You don't have to be Steven Spielberg to shoot great video of your hunt. With a few simple rules you can get some great results. Let's look at a few basic techniques.
1. Move the camera slowly as you shoot your video. As you pan around, pause and hold just a little longer on individual scenes than you normally would if you were just looking around with your eyes. It may seem like you are spending way too much time, but it will give very nice results when viewed. Practice this one technique, and you will see the difference in the quality of video you shoot.
2. Let the viewer know what they are looking at. Narrating as you shoot is easier than it looks. Just speak in a normal voice as if you were talking to someone standing right beside you. It does not have to be perfect. Just be yourself. Don't worry about making mistakes; just keep shooting and talking. This actually adds reality and believability to the video. Relax and have fun with it.
3. Hold the camera as steadily as possible. We don't want to give our intended viewers motion sickness. Digging up a potential find with one hand is not easy; neither is shooting a video at the same time. While it is fun to share the excitement of a dig, it is best to use a small tripod to assist you, or have your hunting buddy help. You can star in your own video this way as well. You can also just shoot the dig in stages. Shoot a short sequence showing the detector responding to the target. Then show the plug cut with the pinpointer identifying the target. When you find the target, film the scene of taking it out of the hole. You get the idea.
4. If you want to show a close-up of a coin in your video, don't just hold the coin or object really close to the lens of the camera. More times than not this will just result in a blurry mess. Turn the camera off. Look for what is called a macro setting on your camera. This is often symbolized with a small picture of a flower. Turn this feature on and position your camera close to the find and then start shooting your video again.
Editing The Video
You may want to add a title or background music or additional narration to your video. This step is certainly not required or needed. If you are satisfied with your video the way it looks just skip this step and move on. If you wish to edit and create the effects mentioned, there are many software packages available that will serve this purpose. Most of the time you will find that digital cameras come with video editing software. If not, then you can obtain free software for the Windows operating system at the following link:
http://explore.live.com/windows-live-movie-maker
If you are an apple Mac user you already know this software is included in your operating system.
Have fun with your video and the sky is the limit with what you can do.
Hosting The Video
After you are satisfied with how your video looks, the next step is to upload it to a video hosting site. There are many free hosting sites that will work just fine for this purpose. We recommend YouTube if you do not already have a hosting site. Youtube is probably the most well-known site. They have the ability to support even high-definition videos at this time. You can find their site at the following URL link:
http://www.youtube.com
You will need to sign up for a free account. This is a simple process and the only valid information you will have to give out is a working email address.
Posting The Video
Now comes the time to reveal your masterpiece. To include the video in your post you will need to know the URL link to your video which is now located at the video hosting site. If you are using Youtube, simply copy and paste the URL from the browser when viewing your video. Use the URL link gadget from the AD forum 'advanced editor' to insert this link. If you need additional help with this, just ask an AD team member.
When composing your message to the forum, remember that the video is just a part of your post. It is always a good idea to include photographs and descriptions of your hunt and finds along with the video. Narrate your hunt in your own words just as it happened, and try to share the excitement that you felt at the time that you were digging up your find. Giving details of your hunt will certainly bring more pleasure to those who are seeking motivation and inspiration for their own hunts. However, only posting the video will leave some folks out of the hunt because of bandwidth limitations of their connection to the Internet. Often photos can bring out detail in your finds to which the video does not do justice. They should, if possible, always be included in addition to the video, so that they may complement each other, and to allow members with slower Internet connections to view the finds.
If you have a tip for shooting video, please share it with us here. We can all learn from your experience. A big THANKS! To all those members who have shared videos, photos, and stories of your finds with us already, and to those who log on faithfully and read those post, your participation here on the forum is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
The American Detectorist Team
