It’s tempting for trainers to do their own photography and video today, given that the technology is so much more accessible than it used to be. Using digital photography and video can enhance retention of knowledge and engage your employees. There are times when you can and should do it yourself (DIY). There are also the situations when it really pays to hire professionals.
Professional photographer and videographer Todd Horchner, who also knows all about training, shares his tips for DIY photography and videography. He also talks about when it’s right to hire the pros to do the job.
“I will go through the do’s and don’ts of how and when to shoot your own photos and videos, and talk about when you should hire someone. I’ll also talk about when and how to ask for help. I like to tell everyone who is making the decision of whether to do DIY or hire by saying, “Know where to stop before you begin!”
PHOTOGRAPHY AND PRINT
Lighting: It’s important first of all to learn how to use a flash properly. Sometimes it’s better not to use it at all. For example, trying to take a picture of a food plate too close with the flash on will cause a flash spot. To avoid the flash spot, move back 5 feet or so and reshoot the food. In a well-lit kitchen it may not be necessary to use a flash at all. I suggest you purchase an inexpensive lighting kit. One I recommend is made by Lowel. They usually consist of lights, stands, gel kits and clips. Check out the website at www.lowel.com.
Quality: This refers to quality of the camera, yes (you don’t need to have a $6,000 digital camera, but a $69 model won’t do an effective job), but more I’m referring to the quality of the final shot and what format you are shooting. Make sure that you’re capturing in the highest quality jpeg that you can. Also, choose the highest resolution on the camera. The picture you shoot will be 5-6 mb in size. Storage is cheap. If you want to have the best picture, then you have to have something to work with. If you have a small picture with low resolution, there’s nothing you can do to make it better. If you have a larger picture, you can resize it, and that reduces the file size to enable the image to be sent via e-mail in a high quality format.
Composition: To give your pictures interesting perspectives and angles for the viewer, pay attention to composition or “framing the shot”. In other words, what people see and how they see it. For example, let’s say you’re shooting a photo of your new sandwich for table tents. You wouldn’t want to shoot a plate straight on from overhead. It would be better to shoot it at a more attractive angle. While framing the shot, take time to ask yourself if this is something that would make you order this great product. However, if this were a shot for back of house print material you might want to shoot one from overhead. This could give one an idea of plate layout.
For people, give them “head room” and “look space”. Head room refers to not having the top of the frame sitting right on their head. Leave some room so you don’t give the impression that your subject is being pressed down on. Look space is referring to the negative space left in the direction that you subject is looking. We do this to communicate that there is something that he/she is looking at, as well as to not give the awkward impression that the subject is looking into a wall. When you put people on the right or left side of your shot so that it looks like they are looking at something, it gives the feeling of action. This also refers to the photography composition “rule of thirds” where you have the person in the right or left third of the photo.
These are only a few examples and rules for a craft that does take time to master. However, starting with these in mind, will give you a huge head start in the game of shooting your own photos.
Application for print materials: For print materials, you need to think through how the picture will be used. While you may not want to use a 5 mg picture for an index card training tool because the photo will be reduced so small, if you start with a large, high resolution image, you’ll also be able to use the photo for other applications such as to blow up a photo for a poster, an ad or a point of purchase piece.
For example, when shooting an action shot of cooking, pull back and get as many details as you can and use high resolution. You can always crop in later and eliminate unnecessary details. You can’t, on the other hand, add what isn’t there.
It is important to use pictures in your materials. Unlike the Wall Street Journal which uses no photography, we live in a USA Today society. Today’s generation is very visually oriented. You’ll catch more of their attention with a lot of pictures. It also will make your presentations more enjoyable and memorable.
USING VIDEO IN TRAINING
There are various levels of training videos. Level one is the DIY level. The second level are off-the-shelf videos. And the videos with the highest quality that give the most professional branding are the customized professional videos.
Off-the-shelf training videos can work for many applications. If you are teaching ServSafe, for example, you probably want to purchase the ServSafe video since the information is not likely to change a lot in a short time and you will use it many times over a period of years.
If your need is for simple training, for example, teaching someone how to use Outlook email, you can use a do it yourself system. One of the newest tools is Camtasia, software that allows you on your computer screen to create a simple video. With Camtasia, as you go through the steps of using the Outlook email, the system creates a video of your steps. You can also record your voice as you go through the steps. Another application of Camtasia is to create a video of your Powerpoint slides, using your voice to teach as you go.
For example, let’s say a new ciabatta bread is being rolled out. The Camtasia video you create with Powerpoint can tell employees how to make it and how to sell it. Since the file size is small, it can be emailed to all stores, so that it’s good for store-level training.
Two other tools are Youtube and self-produced videos. But as you get more complicated, it becomes more and more feasible to hire a professional. I always tell people, “act your wage.” Why would you want to spend time learning how to do something at your salary, when a professional can do it for you better for less.
That being said, it’s important to know who to hire. Look for video producers who know about training and how to do training videos, possibly even script writing. You don’t need to look for a Hollywood producer for this kind of project. You just want to do a training video. Look for a company that has an expertise in this area. I also believe that less is more when it comes to training videos—an eight minute video is better than a twelve-minute video when it comes to retention.
Make sure when you hire a professional video producer that there are no hidden charges. You don’t need a huge crew and a lighting truck for a simple training video. Instead of spending thousands a day, you can spend hundreds a day. Don’t go over the top, and make sure that you have a good focus to the video you are making.
Here’s what to look for when hiring professional production. Ask the following questions:
1. Are they a production or training company?
2. Do they handle scripting?
3. Is the quality professional?
4. What is the pricing?
5. What are the deployment options?
Deployment refers to the final format of the video. VHS tapes are completely passé. Now you need to look for DVD, but also for iPod and other forms of deployment solutions. Our company films, edits and sends videos via internet to iPods, computers, etc and provides many other solutions. We also have instituted clock-in training. When employees clock in at computer terminals, there is an automatic video that they are prompted to watch that gives them last minute updates and information before a shift starts. When you engage a film company, ask what the deployment options are. New technologies to reach our new generation is important.
