First Smithing Video

[joshua.M]

[SoCal Dave]

Good video, but at the end, when you were showing the finished product, you kept moving the punch around all over the screen instead of holding it still.  

[Chinobi]

Great video Josh! clear descriptions and well forged.  to my eye the brightness level is just fine, the only time i thought it might be a bit dark was the first time you brought the punch up to the camera, at that point it seemed to leave the light and made it a little less clear to see the hex profile of the struck end.  you can supplement that by putting a desk lamp somewhere that shines on that area without showing up on the anvil.  as dave says you were enunciating what you were saying with your tong hand which was making it a little difficult to track the close up at the end.  put up a long stock support just out of frame and use that to set the tongs against, always in the same place.  that will let you control how you frame your closeup, keep it consistent, and keep it stable, plus allow you to focus a secondary light or a reflector panel on that exact place.

 

otherwise, keep up the good work, eh :)

[Frosty]

Well done Josh. A localized light to show detail for the camera, point, struck end, etc. is a good idea. The way you were moving the punch in front of the camera is pretty common, lots of people do it. It made me think of putting a rest just out of sight of the camera that you could lean the piece on so it wouldn't be moving all the time.

 

All in all good job. You, Alec and the other young men who actually know what they're doing are producing some darned high quality instructional videos. A little polish and you guys will be stars.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[windancer]

Enjoyed the video. Thanks for making and sharing it. You might want to place the camera so we can see straight end-on to the work so we can see the results of the hammer strikes.

Dave