What do you guys look for out of a photography YouTube channel?

I started a YouTube channel and I like making videos every so often. Do people really just like gear reviews? I like to do challenges and diy projects. I would love to hear what you guys like to watch!

The link to my channel : https://www.youtube.co​m …/UCgAZ5-OKdg1YXONAjGu91zQ

looks like you found your answer.



https://photography-on-the.net …showthread.php?​p=18581558

you're a decent looking guy, but um,

yeah,

nothing wrong with,

you know,

girls.

Just comes down to T & A hu

DThriller wrote in post #18609074
I started a YouTube channel and I like making videos every so often. Do people really just like gear reviews?

I don't really care for gear reviews. . In fact, I don't really care for any kind of talk about gear.

From time to time, I need a gear-related video, if I am trying to figure out my camera, or if I am deciding which camera to buy, but this stuff is just a "necessary evil", and not really enjoyable. . After all, photography is about photos, not cameras and lenses.

I like videos that discuss artistic vision, composition, the story behind the photo, things like that.

And I especially like videos that focus on my preferred subject matter, which is wildlife. . If you post up a well-produced video that goes in depth talking about a certain species of wild animal, then I will be watching that for sure. . I am far more interested in the things that I photograph than I am in the gear that I use to photograph them with.

I suspect this would be the same for many other photographers - that a fashion photographer would want to watch videos about the latest trends in clothes and accessories, that a glamour photographer would want to watch videos about beautiful people, that an aviation photographer would want to watch videos about airplanes, that a sports photographer would want to watch videos about football and soccer and snowboarding, etc, etc, etc.

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Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18609079
you're a decent looking guy, but um,

yeah,

nothing wrong with,

you know,

girls.

Yeah, I can relate to that.

I subscribe to Jessica Kobeissi. . Why? . Because I find her likable and attractive. . If she wasn't kinda pretty, no way I would spend any time watching her videos.

I also subscribe to Tony & Chelsea Northrup.

Why?

Well, two reasons:

1: . . Tony's really good at explaining technical things in a way that even I can understand.

2: . . Chelsea's beautiful face and happy, fun personality. . She's even drunk sometimes, and then her spirited personality comes out even bigger than usual!


.

DThriller wrote in post #18609084
Just comes down to T & A hu

i'm a single hetero guy, so that never hurts and it leads me to my real point ...

Pick a market segment and stick to it.

From your current offering, i don't think i'm in your target market, so you probably shouldn't listen to what I want. IMO, it's important to cultivate a consistent market and to do that you need to know who you are targeting. Momtographers might be your target market, not that there's anything wrong with that.

I am, and have been, interested in fashion/glamor photography and have watched a ton of videos on light modifiers and lighting set ups. These videos work best when there is a person with certain physical features being photographed. To me it is also vitally important to see the example of the photo being taken immediately following when it happens in the video.

i also like this guy, for an entirely different reason, but he has cultivated a certain market, so it's a good example: https://www.youtube.co​m/user/Knoptop/videos

Yeah I'm opening a studio soon so itll be much more convenient to shoot behind the scenes video abd show the results live. I'm not really thinking I want to be a huge youtube person I just think it will help stand out and maybe seem more relatable. Im thinking I want to open up my new space to local photographers to rent for shoots and use my backdrops and lighting and being a cool fun relatable guy I think will help get people to want to use the space. As appose to a super serious photographer persona people seem to like to paint themselves as.

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DThriller wrote in post #18609074
I would love to hear what you guys like to watch!

Ok.

Here is a link to my "Photography Stuff" playlist, where over the years I have collected the photography-related videos that I find most useful and interesting:

https://www.youtube.co​m …pCIzKLm00GzpvbG​7Ok9W0U--I

It is a public playlist, so anyone should be able to see it by clicking the link.

A brief rundown of some of the titles, for those who don't feel like clicking the link:

Depends wht im in the mood for of course
I tend to get bored with overly scientific explanations..
Sample after samples of corner sharpness of the same lens at different focal lengths .. and then at all the stops.

Yes sex sells, a pretty face is always nice to look at , but most of what im watching doenst contain one

Entertaining is nice. A story worked in is awesome
If I can learn something is a bonus.
I dont really watch television, youtube is my main source .

In no particular order
Heath
James posys
Tctv
Kai Wong
The northrups
Three blind men and an elephant
Chris eyre walker
Matt day

Just a fraction of the people i watch(off my head some names might be spelled wrong or only partial)

I have my own channel that I've been working on and off .
Some reviews , some portrait session (behind the scenes type), looking to improve myself.
Just keeping eye contact with a camera has been a struggle for me

Good luck on yours

I'm generally looking for specific information or to learn something in an area that interests me.

I will confess that I watched too many of digital rev tv's videos when Kai was doing it, although I limited it to gear I found interesting. Sometimes the fun of a presenter's personality will draw me in, but they have to be pretty expert in their topic to start with.

To be fair, I'm probably not a good representative sample.

Like any branding exercise in a creative field, it's good to be clear with yourself about what you are passionate about--what are you willing to put ridiculous levels of effort behind, because that is what it takes. People often think there is a lot of luck involved. There may be luck in hitting one out of the ballpark (although usually not) but to sustain it after a lucky break propels you to public notice requires something else, a level of deep reserve.

The formula is simple but requires a level of dogged work almost no one will complete. Pick the thing you are willing to be ridiculously obsessed with. Look at what is successful and what could have been done better. Chase down the details. Build a library of material so that when someone happens upon one of your videos and thinks you look interesting, there is a trove of cool material for them to discover. It should look tossed off and effortless, but only because you put in the extra work to make it so.

And find people who will give you specific criticism that you can improve from. It's hard to find critical people whose advice is consistently useful. But if you see every criticism as a gift (especially the ones which are really annoying) because it helps you get better. Which brings us to they key--obsession about getting that 0.1% better.

I watched the "choosing a focal length" video. You are much more of a good face and personality for video than most of your competition, which is a huge plus. The tiny jump cuts at the beginning, especially because they are from one camera, are insane. Either live with the imperfections or whatever caused you to do it, or just reshoot it as a single take, even if you have to do it 15 times. I would suggest setting up a second camera if you can so you can at least make it seem like you are just changing perspective. I think you had a number of good points to make, but the cutting between images on the eye-beam was rough to follow. How can you clarify the message and deliver what matters to the viewer? How can you smooth out the delivery? Watch the video, clarify the message and shoot it again from the top to make it work better. At first, you may need to do this 15 times, which seems insane, but the next one goes a bit faster and turns you into the guy who has a rocking channel.

If you haven't run into it, look at the 10,000 hours stuff Malcolm Gladwell popularized about it taking 10,000 hours to become an expert (a slight mis-quote of the research). The message is worth understanding.

rantercsr wrote in post #18609112
Depends wht im in the mood for of course
I tend to get bored with overly scientific explanations..
Sample after samples of corner sharpness of the same lens at different focal lengths .. and then at all the stops.

Yes sex sells, a pretty face is always nice to look at , but most of what im watching doenst contain one

Entertaining is nice. A story worked in is awesome
If I can learn something is a bonus.
I dont really watch television, youtube is my main source .

In no particular order
Heath
James posys
Tctv
Kai Wong
The northrups
Three blind men and an elephant
Chris eyre walker
Matt day

Just a fraction of the people i watch(off my head some names might be spelled wrong or only partial)

I have my own channel that I've been working on and off .
Some reviews , some portrait session (behind the scenes type), looking to improve myself.
Just keeping eye contact with a camera has been a struggle for me

Good luck on yours

Haha yeah it's pretty weird staring at the camera and talking hu

Thanks for the critique

I don't want to copy and paste what I said before but I'm opening a studio and I want to make it seem like a fun cool place. Im hoping to just come off as relatable to local photographer so they want to rent my space for shoots when Im not shooting. I thinking when I have a shoot Ill recorde durning it and maybe record a little intro outtro with some info. I donno just trying to start a busness haha throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks

If renting your studio is part of the key to success, (you've brought it up twice) you need to produce some videos with local landmarks.

A Day at _______ Park with my 135mm

How to shoot senior portraits at ________ _____ High School

Then put more descriptive local terms in the description.

YouTube search is the second biggest search engine, use it to your advantage.

Well Im not necessarily thinking Im going to get random people stumbling upon my videos then thinking they will come to my studio. I guess Im more thinking that people that find me on IG will see I have videos and then get the impression I am an fun talented guy that has a studio they can rent or will want to shoot with me. If random people watch and get my view count up that just makes me look better.

Why would they find you on instagram and not YouTube?

DThriller wrote in post #18609194
Well Im not necessarily thinking Im going to get random people stumbling upon my videos then thinking they will come to my studio.

Perhaps this is what you should be thinking. . Almost everybody I know uses YouTube on a daily basis. . A few people I know use Instagram once in a while.

Also, you may want to think about marketing your studio space by focusing on the space itself, rather than trying to sell yourself. . The personality of someone wouldn't matter to me in the least if I was looking to rent studio space.

DThriller wrote in post #18609194
I guess Im more thinking that people that find me on IG will ...... get the impression I am an fun talented guy that has a studio they can rent .....

DThriller wrote in post #18609123
I'm opening a studio and I want to make it seem like a fun cool place. Im hoping to just come off as relatable to local photographer so they want to rent my space for shoots when Im not shooting.

DThriller wrote in post #18609098
I'm thinking I want to open up my new space to local photographers to rent for shoots and use my backdrops and lighting and being a cool fun relatable guy I think will help get people to want to use the space. As appose to a super serious photographer persona people seem to like to paint themselves as.

The opportunity to rent something form a really nice, friendly, interesting guy ..... meh, whatever.

The opportunity to rent a space with favorable ambient light qualities, ample power outlets in every convenient location, a location that is easy to get to and a setting that will put my models at ease, handily available props, etc, etc, etc ....... this is the only stuff that would matter to me.

People with fun, positive personalities that are "relatable" ........ I like those people, and I want to watch their YouTube videos. . But none of those wonderful qualities make me want to buy products from them or their affiliates or rent space from them or do business with them.


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