I was washing dishes the other day, thinking up ideas for a blog post and since I've been shooting at  a lot of the local Cyclocross bike race events here in the Vancouver area, I thought I'd touch on, and do a post about shooting video while you're out shooting photos at sporting events. 

 Now, yes, shooting video is different than shooting photos, as the settings are different, the aspect ratio is different, the frame rates can all be varied, etc, so it's a bit of a thing to get your head around, but adding video footage to your repertoire can do a couple of things. It can add value to your offerings, especially when it comes to promoting your products and services on social media platforms, video streaming platforms and the like. It seems like people like seeing moving pictures (video) over stills on Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook these days, so it only make sense to shoot video, if only for using it to promote your stuff. Another benefit to shooting video at sporting events is for commercial purposes as well, like selling it on stock video websites like Shutterstock, Dreamstime, and Pond5. I upload SOME of my video to Shutterstock, and not all of it, because they don't pay as much as they used to for video footage. Pond5 is my go to and most lucrative stock video outlet when it comes to generating revenue from my video footage. 

 Now, here's the kicker, if you're going to upload your stuff to the stock footage sites, you HAVE to upload it as Editorial footage. If you don't upload it as editorial, it will get rejected because you don't have releases for the people you are capturing on your video. Editorial still sells, but you just have to keep a few things in mind when shooting the video, like what you're capturing, who you're capturing, the mood, angles, commercial value, etc. I've touched on this in a previous blog post, but it bears repeating here: shoot things that have editorial commercial value. Example: if there are older people competing in the sporting event, capture them. News outlets, blogs, lifestyle sites, LOVE seeing older people still partaking in sport, and there is great  commercial value in that. 

 Take this clip for example. This is a clip from a cyclocross bike race here in the Vancouver area, that features a group of older men running and riding over the set of barriers at the race. I shot this with my GoPro camera at 120fps and slowed it down to 24fps using my editing program of choice: Davinci Resolve. Not only is a great looking clip, shot from down low, with a wide angle lens, but it also has editorial commercial value in the fact that it features the older men's category of the race. 

  You could also use a shorter version, or snippet, from a clip like this to use to promote your work you've uploaded to the stock footage websites, or Youtube, and post that snippet to Twitter, Instagram, etc. Hell, even if you don't shoot video to use as commercial product, you could alwys shoot little clips like this to use as promo clips for your still photography work. The benefits to shooting video footage at sporting events far outways the reasons not to. Hell, even if you don't want to use your still camera (all of which shoot FANTASTIC video these days), you could just use your phone to shoot little clips to upload to the Socials. I do that WHILE I'M AT the event, just keeping my followers in the loop as to where I'm at and what I'm shooting. It always gives them a little taste of what to look forward to in the coming days with regards to what I'm shooting. 

So there you have it. If you're out a sporting event, snapping photos, make sure to take the time to shoot some video while you're at it. People love video, it's taking over the social media formats, and can really add value to your portfolios.

Now get out there and shoot! 

Be sure to check out my YouTube channel for more cool stuff.