Video versus still

[Dzinerbear]

Hey all,

We've been playing around with shooting some content. The last shoot we shot both video and stills. This time they want to try just shooting video and then pulling stills from the video is we want to create pic galleries.

Any thoughts? Is the quality going to suck?

dzinerbear

[curiousbunny]

This is a grab from a video:

<p align="center">
<img border="0" src="http://www.bobbyrezmedia.com/video/tiny.jpg" width="500" height="333"></p>

[kcwebwerks]

from my experience, the quality of the captured pic isn't as good as a pic taken with a seperate camera, but they aren't bad. I would rather see captured pics for one reason. If you have a series of pics that were taken before/after/during the video, the photographer might capture something that isn't in the video and then I spend time looking for that "something". Maybe it was an expression or an angle that looked really good and I want to see it in the video, but its not there.

I'm just weird. (been told that enough!)

[CJ-KJCash]

Curious Bunny,

That is much better than any other grab I have seen. Maybe you can hit me up and tell me about your video editing services?? My ICQ is in profile or you can PM me. Thanks,

[basschick]

i've done better grabs than that - just depends on what you have to work with. if you have a really poor quality camcorder, you're fucked. if you have a reasonable camera, prosumer or better, you should be able to make good vidcaps with a couple extra steps.

Dzinerbear - if your video camera is good quality, and you take the vidcaps from the raw footage, which is generally pretty big, it leaves you a lot of room to sharpen the vidcaps, then shrink them just enough. the quality can be pretty acceptable.

[basschick]

oops! i left out a step - if your vidcaps have little lines in them, deinterlace them first...

[Soonnow]

You'd have to be a pretty damn good photographer to be able to catch
a better frame tham the cam that snaps 30 each second.
Sure the quality isn't as good, but if it's "only" for web use, it's good enough!

The right timing (expression) is much more important "food commercial quality".

Another thing you get in vid-caps is "action trails":
There's a whip but you don't see it, only a dark blur, but you can see the buttock,
and the white mark where the whip was 1 millisecond before.
- it's an artform !

[curiousbunny]

yes the quality of the video/camcorder has alot 2 do with it. the software that grabs the frame plays a big role as well. i have seen different results from different software. you also want to make sure u grab a good frame. if there is alot of movement in one frame press the next frame buton and if the target stays still in that frame you will grab a better picture.

[basschick]

we were pulling a snap every 2 seconds, then going through and hand deleting the ones that didn't look good enough.

[GPallan]

we were pulling a snap every 2 seconds, then going through and hand deleting the ones that didn't look good enough.

what program were you using? whats the best program to use for frame-grabs?

Thanks

[GPallan]

Sean Cody dot com only uses frame-grabs for their stills and they're amazing in quality. So i'm sure it's possible. I guess it's only a matter of using the right program, technique, etc.

Any suggestions/ideas as to how sean cody takes such perfect frame-grabs?

[basschick]

snatchit is what to use.

the better quality your vidcam, the better your stills. also the bigger the original, the better you can make your stills look by a little manipulation.

sean cody probably has the best equipment around, and enough staff to fix up each vidcap by hand.

[Slade]

Things that are crucial in pics:
1)Lines of resolution..typically your average vidcap is not going to give you the lines of resolution than a digital camera can give you.
2)SIZE of frame..640x480 is always going to look more washed out than say a 320x240 or 352x240 vidcap. Sometimes smaller IS better.
3)Manipulating..make sure you use good editing software that allows for adjustment of color balance, sharpening and brightness/contrast. It's amazing how you can take a pretty crappy pic and really make it look almost brand new!

IF you have Vegas Video, you can do so many things with regular pics or vidcaps that I just can't recommend this software more than I have already.
If you're going to be serious about videos & pics, it's definitely worth the cost of investment.

Snagit does a good job, and another piece of software I've used for 4 years now is Ulead's PhotoImpact..again, a great tool for manipulation.