Pictures or Video grabs?

[jammed06]

i had a conversation tonight with a friend and was deciding which is better for sessions proper pictures by another person or video grabs which are easy to do but no skill of timing required..... let me know what you think

[Hayley]

Stills are better quality but they spoil the video with flashes going off and the model not concentrating on the action from what I've seen. I know Bill doesn't like shooting both stills and video simultaneously for that reason. Or people leaping in taking stills during gaps in filming either.

[andy250]

Stills everytime, grabs are just not the same quality.

regards

Andy

[Pacman]

If you can have another person there to take the pictures, then that's always the best option imo since it's much better quality. But obviously, not everyone has the luxury of a non-participant to take the photos, so just setting up a camera to video it and getting on with the session is obviously an easier option for most people

If you want usable videos AND still pictures from a session, then I'd be inclined to agree with Hayley, the camera flashes in videos are a bit distracting so use video and just get grabs for the stills.

[Richard]

Pictures are very nice to have and are, of course, much better quality but if I had to choose one or the other I would have to say video. A moving film captures the action of a session and portrays the sploshing in the correct chronological order so that one can imagine really 'being there'.

You wouldn't go to a cinema to see a slide show instead of a film, would you? A television is much better than a series of 35mm transparencies, however good the quality of the latter!

I regard the occasional intrusion of the stills photographer and the flashes as a necessary evil if you want both moving and still images and is preferable to extracting vidcaps (I hate that word!) from the finished film.

[Splosh me up]

If you want shoot in video and still pics AND avoid flashes in video, there is a simple and pretty cheap solution: continuous lighting.
Have a look at a local DIY store, and check for that lights used in little construction sites. Usually these lighting are two 500 watts projectors mounted on a telescoping boom that can get up to two metres high.
Some months ago I bought a similar lighting for less of 30 € in a Lidl shop, found that, once I did a little experimenting in pointing the projectors, it works fine to shoot simultanely in video and photos.
Should you chose this lighting, some tricks and tips:
- point one projector on subject and the other one to the ceiling, bouncing on subject: lighting will be nicer and with lesser shadows.
- set the white balance on your cameras: the light of these projectors has not a definite colour temepearture
- 1000 watts of lightings will heat up the set. If you' re shooting in warm season, consider have air circulation with outside or a nearby room.