Documenting Special Occasions in a Pandemic
“When that shutter clicks, anything else that can be done afterward is not worth consideration.”
I was hoping that the pandemic would be over by now and I can’t be the only one. Special occasions during this time are being canceled but it’s hard to cancel something like a birthday. It comes if a pandemic is happening or not. I would love to give some suggestions or documenting occasions that are happening during this time.
Self-timer
Cameras on are phones now have self-timers on them so you can get a group shots but it can also help you get a shot of what’s happening. If you put the self timer on for ten seconds and then set it down and walk away you will get a shot that people are enjoying what’s happening and not paying attention to the camera. You can also do this on none special occasions. You could do this to capture family dinners, you doing puzzles/crafts, cooking, and of dance parties.
Timelapse
I’m not sure if this is on all cameras but I know it’s on the iPhone. It can be used when singing happy birthday or while while cutting the cake. Once you open your camera swipe until you get to the time-lapse. I suggest setting the phone down a propping it against something and then starting it. Time-lapse speed things up so you need to film for longer then you think you do to get a time-lapse that has time to it. The longer you let it go the longer your time-lapse will be.
If doing video……
Make sure not to shake the camera and make sure the video isn’t too long. This helps the viewer not lose interest. I would suggest taking the video on the can edit a video shorter by clicking the edit button and changing the length. I would suggest under a minute for sure but I find that shorter is usually better. Peoples attention spans are short. Capture the video and then find the video in the photos. Once you have the video you will find(on a iPhone) an edit button on the top right hand corner. You will see a film strip on the bottom of your screen and when you click on it a yellow box will show up on the border, you can make shorter clips by touching the edge and dragging it. Once you have the clip you want just hit done in the bottom left corner. Once you click done it will ask if you want to save the clip and the whole video or just save the clip you edited. Choose which is best for you and the amount of memory you have on your phone.
Use Boomerangs
You can use boomerangs for blowing out candles, open presents, or capturing the parade coming down the street. You can do this one of two ways. You can do it in the Instagram app by opening up the stories and swipe left and hit the button to create it. You can also download the boomerang app so you can text, facebook, instagram feed, or just to have. I mostly do it in the boomerang app so I can get it the way I want it. The trick with boomerangs is that there needs to be movement. What you are wanting to capture needs to be moving or the phone needs too.
