Alivia Latimer: How to Vlog, Inspiration to Post-Production

This guest blog comes from Alivia Latimer, the popular YouTube vlogger, photographer and creative based in Portland, Oregon known for her travel, lifestyle, portraiture, and documentary photography.

When it comes to vlogging, filmmaking, and photography alike, creating a unique and compelling piece of content all boils down to essentially one thing: your personal style and creative workflow.

For me, this consists of many different facets, tactics, and tools that I use to create and hone in on my own style. That said, I thought it would be fun to share a list of things to consider when crafting your personal workflow.

Pre-Production: A project, photo, or video doesn’t happen overnight. It requires a lot of thinking; and not just any thinking. It requires creative thinking. So for me personally, let’s say I’m wanting to create a short travel vlog documenting a new place. I like to think about the visual tone of the video. Do I want warm or cool tones? Bright colors or more moody visuals? More natural and earthy or architectural and urban? Asking myself these questions is all an important part of my creative process, which brings me to my next area…

How To Vlog Inspiration

Inspiration: What are you surrounding yourself with? The music you listen to, the places you go, even the people you see. What you consume on a daily basis will shape and inspire you without realization. So let’s say I want this video to have a warm and outdoorsy vibe. During my creative thinking stage, I’ll spend some time outdoors, listen to some fun and upbeat music. Doing things like this will always get my creative wheels turning and before I know it, I have a vision all planned out.

The Shoot: Bouncing off of what I mentioned above, having a shot list planned out is something that almost always helps me in the long run. It helps me keep a clear vision in mind of what I want and how I want it to look. There will of course be times when I stray a bit, but that’s the fun part where improvised creativity comes into play! All in all, if you go with your instincts and have fun whilst shooting, I believe you will always end up with a creation you are proud of!

How To Vlog The Shoot

Post Production: Ok, I’ll let you guys in on a little secret…post production is actually my favorite part of the entire creative process. But shhhhh, don’t tell my camera that! I feel that this is the stage where everything comes to life. For example, I’ll walk you through my process. After shooting, I’ll import my files straight onto my LaCie Rugged hard drive, then once backed up there, I’ll import into Lightroom or FinalCut Pro, depending on the type of content, and begin my editing process. What I love about this process is that in order to make your work uniquely and authentically you, you have to to add your personality into them. There are so many things about you as a human being that will help shape and create your editing style. Experimenting with different tactics, tools, and lighting can all help set the mood for your photo and video content. Do you like harsh contrast? Or a cool fade? A grainy vibe? Or a clean commercial look? Asking yourself these questions can really help you hone in on your editing process. Another quick tip, backing up your files before and after post will not only give you a peace of mind, but ultimately makes sorting through all of your content much easier and more efficient. Yay for digital organization!

How To Vlog Post Production

The Message: Above all, the most important thing is making sure that through your art and creativity, you are able to share a message. When you look at your creations, what do they say? Or, what do you want them to say? Thoughts and visuals are very in line with one another and how you present yourself and your work visually can definitely say a bit about your personality; and when my creative work is aligned with my personality, I feel 100% authentic in all that I’m doing.

I hope these little tips can be of help to you guys! Discovering your creative style, workflow, and aesthetic, and integrating it with your personality to create something that is 100% “you” is one of the coolest things we as creators get to experience. So whether you’ve honed in on your stye or you’re still searching for it, remember that as long as you’re being true to yourself, your personality will shine through in your work no matter what. Keep on creating!

Watch the process in action in my short vid here:

xoxo Alivia

2018-09-04T16:05:52+00:00