When I started out in wedding videography, I had to learn the hard way that, as in Life, it is often the little, basic, simple things that trip us up.

Usually, my shot compositions were fine, camera movements were, well...OK, but my biggest problems were usually over the littlest things. It seemed the quality of my videos were often being dragged down by just "a few" things.

That's when I got a bright idea, and using a small Avery label, I pastered this reminder on all my cameras - "Remember: A FEW things."

Yeah, I know it doesn't make sense just yet, but bear with me because there's a lot of info in that tiny label -

• A - Audio (watch your VUE levels and wear those headphones!)
• F- Focus (don't trust auto-focus)
• E - Exposure (combination of aperature / gain / shutter speed)
• W - White Balance (changing locations; light from windows; flourescents can all create wb issues)

Never, for one single moment can we afford to let our attention drift from "A FEW" things. Sure, as a wedding videographer, you've got to follow and anticipate the action - which is challenging in itself and requires your concentration, but you must all the while stay focused on "A FEW" things.

Not an easy task, but then that's why we get the big bucks! (When you've stopped rolling on the floor, laughing, please continue..)

Now, for a little more detail..

A - Audio: It's all too easy to overlook the audio part of your work. After all, this is called videography, we make videos, and our clients are viewers, right? But it's been proven time and again that problems with audio will turn viewers off more than equivalent issues with the image portion of our videos. Other than getting those mics close to their sources, the most important thing you can do is monitor your audio feed constantly by watching your VUE meters and listening through a good set of noise-cancelling headphones.

F - Focus: Those tiny LCD screens don't always indicate whether detail is being properly defined or blurred. I find it is often better to zoom in and manually focus, losing a few precious seconds, than to shoot scenes with a soft focus. What about Auto-Focus, you ask? My term for auto-focus is "Random Focus". Occasionally, while in manual mode, I'll press the auto-focus button to re-focus, but only if I'm confident that there is sufficient light, sufficient contrast and that the logic circuits will expect my subject to be where it is in the frame.

E - Exposure: Exposure is a combination of aperature, gain and shutter speed. You should be familar with the side-effects of each (aperature affects depth of field; gain can increase grain, cause color-shift and diminish saturation; shutter speed can blur motion or make it appear jerky). In days gone by, we might have used a light meter and set our aperature by f-stop. Those methods were accurate, if a bit time-consuming. Today, most of us just glance at our LCDs and adjust accordingly. But did you know your LCD can lie to you? LCDs themselves are subject to settings which can drastically affect the image they give. (Read VX-2100 Exposure Issues)

W - White Balance: You probably pay attention to wb when you come into a room from outdoors or vice-versa, but what about the light coming through those windows? How about flourescent lights? Or when you're in a room with mixed lighting and your subject sits next to an incandescent lamp? Though this is arguably one of the easier things to fix in post, it has been my experience that the best "color correction" is done by shooting each scene properly to begin with.

If you have "A FEW" things done correctly throughout your productions, you've taken a giant step toward producing professional wedding videos. I hope my little memory trick works as well for you as it (usually) does for me.