This tip sheet has some information for members of the CNS community who want to learn about photography and video on campus. You might also want to review UT’s photography resources and filming guidelines.
Photos of You for the CNS Directory
CNS faculty and staff members can add a high-quality digital photo of themselves to their CNS web profile directory entries. (Instructions for new website directory updates are here are here and for older directory entries are here.)
Here are some tips for selecting a good photo of you:
- Large portraits that appear clear and crisp are best. This will help ensure you have a professional, polished look on the website.
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Try to use a photo that is at least 600 pixels wide. Larger is fine! The profile photos are saved at a 1x1 aspect (a square).
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Do not use an action shot for your profile image. This should be a forward-facing head shot similar to what you have on your UT ID.
- Most modern cell phones have excellent cameras, so a professional headshot from an outside entity is not needed! See this excellent guide from the College of Liberal Arts for tips about how best to ensure proper logistics, lighting, facial expression, framing and dimensions for photos taken with your cell phone.
Campus Resources
Some departments on campus provide video and photo production services. These are especially useful to support event coverage:
Videography:
- ITS Media Services
- Texas Student TV (TSTV)
- TSTV offers services for all facets of production, such as livestreaming, recording, audio mixing, video editing, etc. Contact: manager@texasstudenttv.com for a quote.
- Liberal Arts ITS Development Studio
Photography :
- Texas Student Media provides student photography services. Contact senior program coordinator Peter Chen peterschen@utexas.edu for details.
Equipment:
- PCL/FAL Media Lab offers free multimedia equipment, including DSLR cameras and audio recorders, for checkout to all students, faculty and staff. Alternatively, most modern smartphones can record HD quality video and photos.
Existing Photo & Video Assets:
University Communications has downloadable video clips of campus (“B-roll”) as well as campus photos available for use by UT faculty and staff.
VIDEO TIPS
Self-producing a video project is easier than ever. It is possible to make effective videos with little to no investment using the tutorials and resources below. Additionally, free access for campus community members to in-depth video instruction is available on Lynda.com.
Tutorials:
- Complete guide to smartphone videography (concepts apply to android as well). (17 min.)
- Composition video tutorial (2 min.)
- Broll video tutorial (2 min.)
Equipment:
Most modern smartphones record HD quality video. Alternatively, multimedia equipment is available for check-out from this campus resource:
- PCL/FAL Media Lab offers multimedia equipment for checkout.
Editing:
For novice to intermediate users, we recommend editing video in iMovie on a Mac desktop or a comparable PC software. You may also edit video from a phone or tablet using the iMovie app.
Music:
Music for videos is not provided by the university, but there are many affordable, royalty-free resources available online:
