15 years ago I had a two hundred dollar video camera and shot some wam videos which were in HD and very clear.

Today, I still see videos for sale by some producers which are blurry and poorly lit. The blurriness could probably be eliminated by using more appropriate camera settings. Lighting is easy. Turn on some lights. Block light from behind. Boom, you're done!

Yet, there are clips I was interested in, but the sample screen caps were of horrible quality, so I didn't purchase them. I'm whining about it, but also suggesting that anyone selling videos could up their game with a little knowledge, or a small investment in a better camera. I, for one, only purchase downloads that are in HD and with attention paid to focus, lighting, etc. I'm sure I can't be the only one. And no, you don't need to spend thousands, probably just a couple hundred. You could probably keep what you are using, but learn about the settings and set up some lights. End of rant!

OK, you make a fair point.
I suppose that the mass use of mobile phones and other tech means that millions of us can do things (like making vids) that were unbelievable, just a few years ago.
I'm pretty low on the tech awareness scale.
So I know that most of what I've posted here is poor stuff.
But what you can't measure is the fun that you have.
If anyone else likes it, that fun is magnified.
And no one has to watch anything.
So, if you appreciate the finer points of production, you can pick and choose!
I'm hoping to post some better stuff too!
Peter

I hope you didn't feel attacked or criticized by this. I'm only hoping to keep the quality levels up. Smartphone cameras are much better then just a couple of years ago too, so the tech continues to improve. But simple things like lighting, or those who hold a phone and are shaking like crazy while shooting, these can be fixed with no money. Keep doing what you're doing! We do this for the love!

I totally agree, however for me the biggest marker is the lighting, about 1-2 year ago I bought some older allwam mud wrestling that was in 720p, but lighting was great so I could see all the nuances of the models getting covered and I was really happy with the scenes. However, There are scenes that are recorded in 4K but with a more artistic lighting that are coming out much darker where my imagination has to work to clear the shadows, those scenes sadly I won't be buying..

These days pretty much any videos that I buy are 1080p or 720p.

In addition to the resolution, I think the bitrate and frame rate are also important.

Although you don't see much if any new 480 resolution material these days, I still have quite a few older 480 videos in my collection. Some are relatively sharp & clear (480p) while others are pretty blurry (480i). Those which have a relatively high bitrate (for 480) tend to be better.

I've struggled with light indoors. I purchased a Neewer CB60 lamp kicking out 9000 lux at 1m, which feels like I'm looking onto the sun, to still feel the content is very shadowy! This still only the affords an aperture of 4.5, shutter of 1/100, 25fps, iso 200. It's like it's not enough - not bright like I was expecting.

Image quality is very important to me in my own work and it's usually a deal breaker when buying content. The only exception is with some vintage examples. Even with those, however, there is a critical point where they become unwatchable.

It's actually not so much about the equipment itself - although having the best equipment you can afford helps!

Most important is light. 95 percent. If you haven't got a set of 2-3 photo/video lights - which are very affordable now - shoot in daylight and, if indoors, make sure it's behind the camera rather than the subject!

Then ensure focus and framing are right before the action starts.

If you have only one camera/phone, that's fine, PLEASE, for the love of fuckery, keep it as still and 'wide' as you can. It seems like a good idea at the time to have a moving POV camera but a lot will get missed or end up unwatchably shaky. There have been heavily resourced pros who've fallen into this trap.

Even if I'm only shooting and don't have to worry about throwing and pouring things I never shoot with a hand held camera without a main camera on a fixed fitting or tripod capturing a medium/wide shot of the whole scene as a back up.

The three most important things in shooting WAM videos are lighting, lighting, and lighting. Photography (and videography) is the science of capturing light. Knowing how to light a scene, or how to work properly with natural light, is absolutely everything.

The next after that is to frame the shot correctly. Fair enough, if someone is shooting a pies-in-the-face scene, then a chest-up close shot is probably ideal, but for any other type of WAM, in the names of all the gods, learn to understand what the actual money shots are, and include them in the shot.

Example: recently I looked at the trailer for a new wetlook scene, where a model wearing shoes, leggings, and a top, is going to go down the ladder into a swimming pool, from dry. So, the absolute essential things to show are the moments when her feet enter the water and soak her shoes, and then the water starting to wet its way up her leggings as she steps down into it, right? Except the videographer is so obsessed with keeping her head in the shot, they completely fail to capture any of the actual important bits, all of which happen off camera out of sight below the bottom of the frame. WTaF? Especially inexcusable given the producer in question is a large and long-established wetlook production house, not someone shooting their first ever wam vid. Never mind your model's head, pan the bloody camera down so we can see the bits we're actually paying for!

Sadly mistakes like that are horrendously common, I assume from people who were told as kids how important it is to include everyone's faces when taking family photos, and never actually stopped to think that the requirements for fetish photography are rather different to when you shoot great aunt Mabel and the grandkids on the beach at Great Insmouth.

And to back up what Trouso said, keep the camera still, and in the names of even more gods, DO NOT ZOOM IN!!! The purpose of the zoom control is to help with setting up the scene before shooting, and should be avoided when actually rolling.

Another example, the other year I saw a trailer for scenes by another well established producer. A girl in trousers and a top is about to get gunged in a gunge tank. The video view is perfect, we can see her head-to-knees. The tank is triggered, the gunge starts to fall, and just as it's beginning to really flow down between her legs - which to me is THE money shot in a tanking scene - the camera operator zooms in, entirely cutting off the view of her lower half. Arrrggghhhhh!!!!! WHY????

After all that, video resolution is probably next, on the assumption that HD 720p is the bare minimum anyone would shoot in nowadays, and Full-HD 1080p is pretty much standard? But to be honest, get all the big things above correct, and you can probably get away with shooting on a decent smartphone. Get them wrong, and it doesn't matter if you're using twenty grand worth of kit. No amount of expensive gear will make up for having the light coming from behind the model, or the operator cutting off important parts of the scene through poor framing decisions.

Using an iPhone max pro at a festival for a class a friend is teaching and it's amazing how much the camera cares about lighting

Lighting kits are available on amazon relatively cheap. To remove shadows you need to have 3 points of lighting. Theres lots of tutorial on youtube on the 3 point lighting technique.

I am keen for candid - thus better lower quality than nothing!

It's a losing, frustrating battle to expect anyone whose interest in photography extends ONLY as far as making niche fetish videos for their online friends to actually invest more energy than that in honing the craft of their hobby. And it's not about the investment in money, but rather time. It's like expecting someone who plays pickup basketball with their buddies in the gym once a week to train like an NBA player.

Fact is that despite the lower barrier of entry afforded by smartphones, the art and science of photography/videography hasn't changed much. Light still matters (even moreso perhaps considering the smaller sensors), composition still matters, the psychology of seeing a visually pleasing image matters. That's what Apple and Samsung don't tell you about when they dazzle you with images of perfectly made up perfectly lit models having fun goffing on on their phones, implying you'll be able to do exactly that out of the box.

And that's not a judgement on the people making this content by the way! Pursue what you want as much as you want to pursue it. This is more a cruel reminder for the consumer that at the end of the day this is a community of kinksters whose day jobs have nothing at all to do with cameras. These are the results you get.

A single light may cause more shadows than anything. 2 lights minimum, 3 is optimal.

1 light is your key light which illuminates your subject.

1 light is your fill. This can sometimes involve several lights depending on the size of the scene but the point is to remove unwanted shadows

3rd light adds dimension. It can be a small soft led panel aimed at a candle or lamp in the background or a large 600w COB aimed through a window outside for a daylight effect.

Also, 200 ISO at 4.5 iris is pretty low, ain't it? What's the native ISO on the camera you are using? Have you tried opening up the iris a bit or are you concerned with losing your focus range?

^This. All this.

Don't forget the imporance of softening the light. Even if Muddddy can only use one light, he'll enjoy better results if he uses a softbox or an umbrella or even a sheer white curtain. Something he can put in front of it to make it less harsh and shadowy. There's other variables like distance from the subject and background in play, but softening the light is the key. And if he doesn't have any light modifiers then he needs to put on a deflector and hope there's a white wall or ceiling to bounce off.

Also, if he's shooting video at 25 fps he can lower the shutter speed down to 1/50 and give himself an extra stop. That plus upping the iso like you said will do a better job brightening it, but he still needs to work on the lights to reduce shadows.

Thanks for the additional input. Yeah, There has almost never been a situation where I have not needed to implement some sort of diffusion, scrim or bounce to my lights. Even sunlight needs taming for outdoor shots. With a single 200-300w COB, it's feasible to get a great effect with a parabolic softbox or scrim and a couple of bounces if the distance and area permits it. It's how I "cheated" a few video interviews when all I had was a single light and Borrowlenses was typically sold out on their Aputures. Second camera was a pain to find a good home for, but it worked LMAO

I think it's very important.
Especially when sponsoring customs, it's good to stick with producers who are guarenteed to output high quality stuff (like messygirl).
I honestly think it would be cool is messygirl did like a masterclass on how to do whatever it is he does to get such high quality stuff.

Its not whining. I've even passed up some FREE videos that were bad!

I agree completely about lighting. One of our major producers here at UMD needs to take note; so much good material that I passed up because it was dimly lit or lit from behind. I mean, if I can't see the mess or soaking, whats the point?

Oh no, Bobographer, I didn't feel attacked at all! I hope that my post was appropriate in tone too.
This forum is at its best we can exchange thoughts free of abuse or
criticism of a person.
And you've started a great post, from which I have learned much.
Thanks, Peter