The night vision video camera of today is plugged full of ‘automatic’ settings. This makes it easy for people to use the cameras for shooting home movies. But if you really want to advance your video skills you need to learn how to shoot with the automatic settings turned off. By gaining experience manually setting the controls of your camera, you really learn the basics of how the camera works. And by being able to know when you want to set a manual mode rather than shooting on automatic you’ll be able to produce a much more creative and interesting video.

Learn to use the basic aperture and shutter speed settings of your camera. By experimenting with the shutter speed you’ll find that you can get some very interesting effects, especially on moving objects. And by changing the aperture, you’ll see the difference that the depth of field makes in how the camera focuses. Interview type videos can be especially unique by using a large aperture opening and a shallow depth of field.

Shoot some video at the different white balance settings if your camera allows it. Many films and videos gain a professional look by intentionally using white balance set to a specific value to give a unique look to the scene. And you’ll want to set the white balance manually if you are shooting video where exact color replication is important.

Learn how to use artificial lighting and supportive infrared lights or infrared floodlights to improve the quality of your video. As we all know, additional lighting can be used to illuminate your main scene, but experiment using it for back lighting or fill light to obtain special effects that you would normally not see. Remember that your infrared video camera will pick up light from outside sources in addition to the light you supply.

Shooting in the dark is challenging to say the least. The more that you use your infrared camcorder, the better you will be able to make sure that you get the shots that you want. Work with changing and setting the controls in the dark. Having a red filter covered flashlight can also help you see what you are doing without making you loose your night vision.

And if you are using natural sound for your video, learn to make the best use of your camera’s microphone and be aware of it’s limitations. If the sound quality is not up to par, consider using external microphones. Testing your microphones and making sure that they work is very important. You don’t want to shoot a great video clip only later to find out that the audio is not acceptable.

Practice makes perfect for any skill set that you need when shooting with a night vision digital video camera. The best way to master the techniques and skills needed is to constantly shoot and critique your own work. Do practice shoots using all the settings of your camcorder at one time or another and try to see how the effects you achieve can be combined or used when making your final film.

In order for you to make the transition from point and shoot haphazard videos to professional looking finished quality films you need a plan. And here in broad outline are the initial steps you need to take in order to create a well organized and polished finished product.

If you want to create a video that tells a story or professionally captures an experience or adventure, especially one where you will want to totally or partially use the low light or night vision modes of your digital camcorder, the first thing you should do is become completely familiar with your camera itself.

Learn Everything You Can About Your Camcorder and It’s Settings and Controls:

The old saying ‘practice makes perfect’ may be trite, but it is true. Learning to use all the controls on your camcorder in both automatic and manual mode is one of the first things for you to master. There are so many features built into current cameras that you must take the time to make yourself familiar with all of them.

Read your manual carefully and keep it with you when you shoot. Make a list of the different features and spend some time shooting practice video in every one of the different modes and options that you can set. Many times settings on the camera can be hard to find or remember due to the need to go through all the various menus on your lcd screen. When you learn the settings and become comfortable with the ones that you think you will use the most, make yourself a cheat sheet and keep it with your gear so that you can quickly refresh your memory when you want to use one of the more difficult to set features of your camcorder.

Pay special attention to learning how to change settings and what extra tools you might need such as a helmet light or flashlight so that you can change settings and setup in the dark. Doing video and filming in the dark with a night vision digital camcorder is much more challenging than it is working in the daylight. And if you are using additional infrared floodlights or other ir illuminators, practice with them as much as possible.

Learn How To Create a Story:

The second part of creating professional video is building up the ideas and thoughts that you have into a coherent plan that you lay out in advance. You may want to make a documentary, a story telling film or even an attempt at a movie. Whatever your initial idea, set down a written plan in advance to create a path you can follow in order to create a finished product.

This can be as complex as laying out a complete story board which includes all the scenes you intend to shoot along with the style and effects that you plan on using. Or if your project does not require this much advance work and planning, you should still lay out a rough outline of the scenes you will need to accomplish a total end result.

By laying out your storyline and considering what you will need to do in advance of your filming, you are more likely to make sure you have thought through your story completely. By doing this you’ll find that when working on the individual scenes or interviews that you’ll do a better job of making sure it will be a good part of your finished project.

Pay special attention to any work that you do in night vision mode. Practice as much as you can with your low light camcorder modes so that the quality of your night video can hold up to standards of regular daylight work. Especially practice on situations where you move from lighted to night vision mode without a cut. This is one of the most difficult types of transitions to make.

The Basics Are the Building Blocks to Professionalism:

The information above is just a starting point on the road to changing from shooting home video to pro video. There are many resources on the Web where you can go and as your skills increase search out more detailed information.

But the fact remains that if you spend the time in practice and master the basics plus learn your camera settings completely and be able to make changes quickly, you will be well on the road to creating quality professional video with your camcorder that you will be proud to show off to the world.

We have designed this section to get you up to speed on the steps and processes that you’ll want to consider when creating your own videos:

The Basics of Shooting Professional Video With Your Night Vision Camcorder

1. Planning and What To Do Before You Begin Shooting
2. Planning and What To Do Before You Begin Shooting
3. Production – Shooting Your Video
4. Editing and Post Production

For further reading and more information that will help you build your skills, you may want to consider some of these excellent books that are available at Amazon:

• National Geographic The Ultimate Field Guide to Digital Video (National Geographic Photography Field Guides)
• Video Shooter, Second Edition: Storytelling with HD Cameras
• The Shut Up and Shoot Documentary Guide: A Down & Dirty DV Production