SF Photo School » Video on a dslr

How to Drive Free Traffic using Video Marketing

Uzair Kharawala — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:23:26 +0000

Following on from yesterday’s post about video marketing, I would like to ask you a simple question. Why is it that every DSLR camera has a video on it ? Do you think that someone at Nikon or Canon woke up one morning and thought I’ll put a video on a camera just for the sake of it!! Not at all, it is because of You Tube. Have a look at these stats:

– Over half the traffic on the net is video traffic and growing at an astonishing rate
– You Tube is the 2nd biggest search engine in the world
– You Tube is the 3rd biggest website
– Video is changing the internet (Facebook as well)
– You Tube has its own ‘search engine’ just like Google
– Google paid almost a $1 billion to buy You Tube

I’m sure you’ve got the point. Can you see how powerful video is. Every photographer I speak to hates video ! So did I until I learned how powerful this tool is for my business. I can compare this to the time when most photographers refused to go digital and hated it. Now we don’t see many film photographers.

I started putting up videos on You Tube about 2 years ago and started to see gradual & consistent traffic flowing to my website/s. You Tube is now the 3rd biggest referrer of traffic to my website/s after Google & Facebook. The beauty of video marketing is that you do the work only once and then let the traffic flow to your site. The other great thing about video marketing is that since our work is very visual, there is no other better way to put your work in front of an audience.

Let me share with you what we’ve done for our business:

Wedding Photography

This is a video for couples who visit our website searching for wedding photography. This has only been put up for a week and has already been watched almost 100 times. I know this is not a figure to get excited about, but, this will continue to grow and we’ve not even marketed this video yet. After Christmas, an email will be sent out to our database and the views will increase. It is not about getting millions of views, the important factor is you concentrate on ‘targeted traffic’ in your niche.

Less but targeted traffic is ten times better than high un-targeted traffic

Lifestyle Portrait Photography – over 13,000 views

A simple slide show showcasing my work.

Creative Wedding Photography – over 5,000 views

Indian Wedding Photography – over 4,200 views

These are just a few examples. What I’m saying here is that I’m putting my work in front of an audience FOR FREE . What I like most about video marketing is that the videos whether they are just a slideshow or a movie, keeps the visitor to a website locked and engaged for more time on your website.

My You Tube Channel has to date attracted over 75,000 views to date. There aren’t many platforms where you can get this kind of exposure so easily and all for free. Please do subscribe to the channel and get regular updates.

I hope you can see the potential of video marketing. Just get started, you don’t need mega budgets, high production, army of crew members to create a simple video. Get started and then keep on improving. Perfect as you go along.

If you have any videos you’ve created, please do share your links / videos in the comment box. Would love to see them.

How to use Green Screen to produce a stunning video

Uzair Kharawala — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:33:20 +0000

Weetabix UK produced this incredible video for their Weetabix Chocolate Spoonsize Cereal using a hiphop cool kid dancer and some very very talented teddy bears!! It really is a great video production using green screen. Enjoy!

Weetabix Chocolate Spoonsize Advert

The Making Of Weetabix Chocolate Spoonsize ‘Dancer’

Video Marketing Seminar

Uzair Kharawala — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:32:57 +0000

Ever wondered why video is the ‘buzz’ word when it comes to marketing your business online. I’m proud to present this very exciting and brand new seminar with Calumet and co-hosted with Martyn Greswolde .

The beauty of video marketing is you do the work once and keep getting free traffic / visitors to your website or blog…forever! Video marketing is fun and is one of the easiest ways to build relationships with your prospects and getting your message across at very low and quite often at zero cost to you.

CLICK HERE TO BOOK

In this seminar, you’ll learn:

– simple ways to get started in video marketing without shooting a video!!
– what equipment & software you need
– how to story board your video
– write scripts and planning your slides
– creating slideshows
– using software
– shooting & editing workflow
– how to use video on a DSLR
– lighting & audio tips & tricks
– using Green Screen
– how to promote your video to go viral
– using You Tube correctly to drive traffic to your site
– and much, much more…

Here are some examples of viral videos and putting your message across for free!!

This video has been viewed over 12,700 times

This video has been viewed over 4,800 times

This video has been viewed over 2,700 times…

Can you feel the power of video marketing. This is powerful stuff and now you have the opportunity to get your video marketing campaign off to a flying start. Join me & Martyn and we’ll show you all the tips, techniques & tricks you need to know. CLICK HERE TO BOOK

Look forward to seeing you at Calumet soon.

Photo Fest | Ireland’s Biggest Photography Show

Uzair Kharawala — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:44:34 +0000

Due to the volcano eruption, the travel plans to Dublin for Photo Fest was somewhat interesting to say the least. Instead of a normal flight from Heathrow to Dublin, our journey involved a long drive to the port of Holyhead and then a fast 2-hour ferry to Dublin. However, on arrival at Holyhead, we found out that our ferry had broken down and was delayed by 6 hours!! The next ferry was the slow one as well! To kill time, we went to town and found a really nice restaurant by the seaside called Seacroft. After a lovely late lunch we went for a walk on the beach and were very lucky to have a warm sunny evening whilst there. Our ferry departed at 9.00pm and we reached our hotel at 1.00am. I can’t complain much about journey. I was mostly sleeping on the back seat while Rob & Alex from Nikon drove & navigated throughout. Thanks guys

Due to the flight disruptions, Nikon’s other speaker couldn’t make it, so I had 4 back to back seminars to present. It was fun and I’m always given a warm welcome in Ireland by my Irish friends. It was good to see you all and thank you for attending my presentations.

Whilst on our long travels, we did put the shutter of the D3s to the test along with a windscreen clamp of a Tom Tom Sat Nav!! Even at roundabouts, the D3s was pretty much glued its spot. In all we shot over 4,000 images during the day. Thanks to Rob & Alex for their very high tech set up! Just shows what you can do with a ladies purse and a Tom Tom clamp. The clamp is superb and we gave it two thumbs up!!

I must add that the D3s does look nice on the dashboard instead of a Tom Tom!

Warning: Do not try this at home. You will be responsible for your own actions if your camera going flying out of the window!

Thanks to Helen Burke and her team for their warm hospitality. I thoroughly enjoyed Photo Fest and look forward to 2011.

Arctic Adventures at The Apple Store

Uzair Kharawala — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:05:07 +0000

Multi-award winning photographer Uzair Kharawala returns at the flagship Apple Store, Regent Street on 12 April 2010 at 7.00pm to share his incredible experience and images from his recent trip 250km above the Arctic Circle.

The free event will feature how Uzair photographed the Northern Lights in extreme temperatures of as low as -29ºC with the Nikon D3s, shooting as high as 12,800 ISO to capture the Lights, how he photographed a wedding at the world famous Ice Hotel without using on-camera flash. He’ll also discuss the use of video on a dslr and how the fusion between video and stills is creating a new market for photographers.

The Apple Store is located at 235 Regent Street, London, W1B 2EL, 020 7153 9000. The nearest tube station is Oxford Circus.

Please arrive early as this Event has been ‘standing only’ in the past.

Aperture 3

Uzair Kharawala — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:14:11 +0000

As per my post of Video on a DSLR a few days ago, I’m pleasantly surprised to see the first imaging software to incorporate multi-media shows with still images & HD video clips. I’ve been a big big fan of Aperture since it arrived and have been using it for my entire workflow. I can’t remember the last time I used Photoshop! I do everything in Aperture from downloading the CF cards to sorting, renaming, culling, editing and exporting to JPEGs. It is a great program to do everything a photographer needs.

I’m sure many other companies will follow suit and start incorporating video & stills together. So what excites me most about Aperture 3:

Brushes

Allows you to selectively apply powerful adjustments to the image

Adjustment Presets

Loads of new presets, one-click quick fixes, being able to see the adjustments in a preview screen will save loads of time.

Advanced Slideshows

Easy to create superb quality slideshows and exporting them for whatever media you need to work with.

These are just a few things which are going to make our workflow even more smoother and quicker. I’m looking to get my hands on Aperture 3 very soon.

Video on a DSLR

Uzair Kharawala — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:31:28 +0000

This is something which we are seeing more and more on dslr. Every camera manufacturer now has models which has stills & video on them. So is it here to stay. Absolutely. The merging and convergence of both stills & video is getting better by the day and it is quite handy to have such functionality in one piece of equipment, although the sound on the video needs improving and is improving as time passes by. This ‘fusion’ of technology is creating a new market for digital imaging products.

Apple’s iPad may be a perfect example and photographers / videographers need to start learning new skills for this new niche market. Digital slideshows with stills & movies are perfect for computers, laptops, digital frames, iPhone and so on. The exciting thing about video on a dslr is their large sensors, not for increased resolution, but rather for narrower depth of field and the various lenses which can be used.

So, will photographers embrace this technology ? If not, they will be left behind. Initially I wasn’t too keen on this, but after playing around with it, I’m starting to love it. I can create new and innovative products for my social clients, a new way of creative expression. I can see times where it is fun to switch from stills to video instantly. I’m learning new workflow techniques for mixing stills & video. A good starting point is iMovie 09 (if you are on a Mac). Very easy to use, just drag & drop, put effects or transitions, edit and export the movie in whatever format you’d like. I’ll be putting up a little video later on in the week to show how easy it is to create a movie.

So do you think video belongs on a dslr ? Are you using it or tempted to use it ? Feel free to put your comments and see what the majority are saying and thinking about!