getting a good look

[Guest bigal]

I shot this still photo as an example of a starting scene. in the scene i would start with this shot and then pan down and over to the door way as a man steps out. my question is that is this shot good(or good enough) to use with natural light? and if its bad, would using a light kit fix the shot or do i need a camera better than a handleheld Panasonic miniDV comsumer camcorder?

[Gordon Highland]

Well, I can't say without actually seeing the photo :P but. . . it's usually not a question of whether natural light is "good enough" or not, it's how you control that light and work with it if that's all you have. Don't forget that mirrors, household lamps, light or dark surfaces (including walls, clothing, etc.) can go a long way towards harnessing that light and illuminting your scene effectively. If the doorway is an outdoor one, the amount of light blazing through behind him will likely be way too much and you'll need to either use massive amounts of light inside to help balance it out, do an iris pull and severely overexpose it, or be content with a silhouette. Sure, a one-chip camera is a limitation, but these things will always be challenges with any video camera. I'm gonna go ahead and suggest a tripod, too, unless it's a POV shot.

[Guest bigal]

well i thought the picture attachted but i guess not. how do i input a pic from my computer into a post? i know i'll have to use a tripod and its a 3CCD/30x optical zoom camera. i forget the exact fstop and shutter peed but i think it was around 1/250-1/350 and a 5.6-6.8 f/stop.

[David Silverstein]

Scroll down on the repley and it says FILE ATTACHMENTS. Its pretty self explainitory from there.