Previously I showed you how to use a light meter to set a proper exposure for your subject. In this installment of Izzy Video, I demonstrate how to use a light meter to deliberately create contrast ratios on your lighting. This is one of the most fundamental ways of creating specific ‘looks’ in your video, and this episode will make it easy for you.

Also, I added a section that delves into F-Stops, how they work, what they do, and how one relates to another one. If F-Stops have ever been confusing to you, I believe you’ll find this section helpful.

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Photography and videography have a lot in common. Many of the tools that photographers use can be useful for video shooters as well. In this installment of Izzy Video, I review the difference between reflected light meters and incident light meters, and I also demonstrate how to use them.

Become an Izzy Video Member

Do you like this tutorial and want more? Izzy Video Members get access to the complete collection of Izzy Video Tutorials. Please follow this link for more details on becoming an Izzy Video Member.

Want to automatically receive all the free shows as they’re released?

Subscribe to the free version of Izzy Video in iTunes, and have this episode plus future free episodes delivered to your computer by clicking on the following link:

Free Izzy Video Tutorials in iTunes

You can download the Quicktime version of the episode here.

We’re returning to some video fundamentals with this episode. This tutorial is all about getting a good exposure. Also, I demonstrate how to to use an 18% gray card.

The specific gray card I’m using is from Lastolite. Here is an Amazon link (where I purchased mine): Lastolite 12-Inch Ezybalance Card Gray Card

You can watch the high quality version of the video here.

Want to see more videos like this one? Check out the membership information page to see how you can get access to all the other videos.

In past episodes of Izzy Video, I’ve spent a lot of time going over the concepts of lighting. What are the best ways to light a face? How do you position the lights? What kinds of lights do you use? That’s great information to know, but there’s something else that shows up in nearly every frame of video, and it certainly deserves some attention.

In this week’s tutorial I show you how to light a background for video. This is just the first part. There will be more to come, but this does a good job of showing you the fundamental information you need to know to light a background — especially if you’re just dealing with a wall, paper, or fabric — in other words, a flat surface that you need to make more visually interesting.

If you have questions or comments about this subject, please feel free to leave them in the Comments of this post.

This week’s video is for Izzy Video Members only. If you’d like to learn more about an Izzy Video Membership, please follow this link.

I have received many, many emails asking me to please describe my process of archiving and backing up video files. I think people are starting to feel the pains associated with shooting tapeless. You end up with a lot of data and very few places to put it.

And how do you take precautions to prevent data loss?

This installment of Izzy Video will show you my personal process. While there are many different ways you could do this, my system works for me. In the video you’ll see the tools I use, and how I use them.

Here are links to some of the items I discuss in the video:

• Drobo
• Dual Drive Adapter
• Wiebetech DriveBox 10 pack
• SuperDuper

This installment of Izzy Video is available to members only. Members get more. A lot more.

In this video tutorial, I demonstrate the final tool I recommend as part of your outdoor lighting gear. It’s a black net. You can use a black net for a lot of things, but it’s an excellent tool to cut the light in a background. In this video, you’ll see how I use an 8×8 Scrim Jim with a double black net to darken the background behind the subject. This is the last lighting control tutorial I have planned for the “Shooting Outdoors” series. More on shooting outdoors is still to come, but not on lighting.

This video is archived in the members-only area.

Also, if you’re interested in the live workshop I’m doing on April 17th, 2009, you can get the details here.

If you’re not an Izzy Video member, you might want to check out how it works so you can see the rest of the videos in the “Shooting Outdoors” series, along with more than 100 other videos. Members get more. A lot more.

This episode is a direct response to several questions I received from viewers. They were worded differently, but the basic question was this: “How do I shoot outdoors when I’m the only one there? What if I don’t have a crew? How do I work with diffusion panels and reflectors by myself?”

Well you can do it, and in this week’s video I show you exactly how!

This episode is for members. Members get more. A lot more.

As promised, this is the second video in a series I’m producing on how to shoot video outdoors. In this installment I introduce you to another critical tool for outdoor lighting. It’s the old reliable reflector. Additionally I show different types of reflectors and review the advantages and disadvantages of them. Also, I show how the reflector changes the image.

This installment of Izzy Video is only available to members. If you’d like to learn about becoming an Izzy Video member, please follow this link.

Also, did you notice that I added a Products and Services link to the navigation menu? If you’ve been wondering if I’d be willing to help with a project you’re working on, please check out that page to see my services and rates.

In this installment of Izzy Video (which I posted in the members-only area two weeks ago) I demonstrate the best way to get professional audio into a consumer video camera.

This video is for members only. If you would like to learn more about Izzy Video Memberships, please visit this page.