How To Film Fingerboarding: Introduction (1/4)

Today will be the inaugural episode of the “How To Film #Fingerboarding” series. Over the course of this series, I will share some tips on how to improve your own #fingerboard edits.

Not only that, but you can leverage these tips to get into filming and video editing in general! There are quite a few #fingerboarders who became professionals in filming, including FFI founder Nate Thompson, who is an award-winning cinematographer and owner of multiple film related enterprises!

This episode will cover my own filming setup, and also how to light a scene.

You see, lighting is the most important component of filming. Remember, the camera is a device that captures light. By filming in poorly lit scenarios, we are depriving the camera of it’s most important element!
When we light poorly, we make it so much more difficult for ourselves to make something that looks visually pleasing.

This video is NOT sponsored, some product links are affiliate links which means if you buy I receive a small commission from.

Setup:
Manfrotto 290 Tripod: https://amzn.to/3eFheTV - I use this to stabilize the camera when filming.

Phottix Nuada P: https://amzn.to/3Dbk5NE
I use this as an on-camera light for on-the go fingerboarding and also as a primary light. It’s dimmable and allows ability to change the color temperature of the light.

Aputure MT-Pro: https://amzn.to/3TzG8D3
This is a fantastic light, fully dimmable, and allows the ability to completely control color. Is also has some wild RGB fx. Of which I have not fully explored it’s capabilities, but I’m excited to share this with you all. It even comes with a baby tripod!

Edelkrone Slider Pro with Flex Head: https://amzn.to/3Tvklwk
This baby allows me to have smooth, controlled camera movement automatically! I can focus on the fingerboards while the device provides that extra dimension.

BMPCC 4k: https://amzn.to/3gflHwR
This is the camera I use. It’s overkill for fingerboarding. But I use it for purposes outside of fingerboarding as well.

I have an entire rig built, including the Rode Shotgun Mic, a Samsung T7 SSD to save footage to, and a massive VMount Battery. I’m filming with a 25mm Panasonic lens as I really like the DOF it provides at 1.7 f/stop

Ok, So let’s take a look at some lighting setups and the resulting footy!
But before we jump in, please be sure to hit that like button and leave a little comment about what you are currently using to film your fingerboarding with.

I know some of you may think you need an expensive camera to have crazy content. I think it’s far more important to focus on the lighting and camera placement rather than the camera itself!

Back in 2009 I released a handful of videos where I really took time to explore lighting. The camera I used at the time? A Panasonic GS-120, the cheapest 3CCD camera I could get which I bought for under 300$
Here’s the resulting footage:

This was lit with a single floor lamp!

I wore a black hoodie turned inside so the focus was on the hand, color corrected the footage by crunching the blacks, adding teal to the shadows and applying a slight diffusion to cause a subtle halo effect.

Most of all I made sure the lighting was dramatic.

Lighting basics:

If you watch a tutorial on how to light for film, you’ll DEFINITELY hear about three-point lighting. Three-point lighting has three primary light sources. The Key light is the primary light source that lights the subject. This is typically positioned off center. The next source is called the Fill Light, which is a light (usually more dim than the key) that allows the control of shading/shadow produced by the key light.

The Backlight shines the subject from behind or above and separates the subject from the background.

Additionally, there may be “practicals” which are additional light sources that contribute to the feel / vibe of the shot. This could be a desk lamp or a led strip light behind a computer monitor.

Three-point lighting can be used in fingerboarding as well, however, it is not always practical. Instead you’ll often see what’s called low-key lighting, which is when a single light source is used. This provides a high contrast and dramatic effect on the image. That is the style of lighting I used back in the footage from 2009!

When properly done it looks great for fingerboarding!

The Most important thing is to use your eyes. Take a little bit of time to look at that viewfinder adjust the camera placement or light placement. Make some adjustments. Think a little about the tricks you want to film. Where does the camera placement work best? That little bit of time goes a long way!

Hope you all enjoyed this video. If you did, let me know in the comments below! If you want to watch more content, be sure to check out my History of Fingerboarding Playlist which has well over two hours of fingerboard content!