Andy Lesauvage — blurring the line between photos and video
Across his 30-year career, photographer and videographer Andy Lesauvage has done a bit of everything, from fashion shoots to celebrity weddings. Now he’s pushing the boundaries between video and still images, and Kyno is an essential ally for that.
As a longstanding London-based photographer, Lesauvage knows exactly what he wants when he’s on set. “I shoot quickly and decisively and get rid of unnecessary people on a photoshoot, as I find it distracting,” he writes on his website. “My shoot lights are plotted out in my head, and so I always know where to position the subject and how the lights are going to affect the shot in the final image.”
Lesauvage’s no-nonsense, to-the-point attitude extends to his choice in video management software, relying on Kyno to help him quickly sort through footage from shoots. And as he explains, video and photo are becoming more and more intertwined in his work.
Systematic storage
In the past, clients would come to Lesauvage strictly for still photos. Now, the digital age has taken over and more brands rely on Instagram or Facebook to sell products, their needs have shifted.
“Now clients come to me and say, ‘Andy, it’s all video.’ So we’re filming video,” remarks Lesauvage. “That’s what is great about Kyno: I can go through shooting 4K footage, and then go back and pull out the individual clips that I want.”
Better yet, Kyno makes it easier for Lesauvage to pull still images out of his video footage, so he doesn’t have to go through the manual process of extracting stills via Final Cut Pro. He can simply have a client tick off frames in Kyno and extract those as stills into a folder, saving an immense amount of time in the process. “That has been one of the biggest advantages of Kyno for me,” he affirms.
Lesauvage also praises Kyno for its cataloging skills, especially it’s ability to drill-down with ease to find exactly what the material he is looking for. This, alongside the tool’s strong compatibility with Final Cut Pro, has revolutionised the way Lesauvage works. Furthermore, Kyno’s wide codec compatibility allows him to have a team of cameramen without worrying about how their particular hardware preferences could affect compiled footage.
“It’s important that Kyno is so reliable, and that you can shove any camera in there,” says Lesauvage. “Each person has a different camera they’re filming with, and they’re hardcore film guys,” he adds, recalling a recent shoot. It’s no problem with Kyno.
A happy medium
Lesauvage’s photographer team, and the associated PoutStudios, have noticed a lot more of a convergence between photo and video needs from clients. He’s helping to lead this new charge in London by using the emerging art of cinemagraphs. These are mostly still images, albeit with a very slight amount of animation put into specific elements of the scene.
Cinemagraphs are like subtle animated GIFs: a few flowing locks of hair on a model or bubbling water in a creek can add a lot of personality and pop to an image. Admittedly, cinemagraphs are a bit tough to describe — but they leave a big impression — and advertisers are champing at the bit to put these inventive images into their social media feeds.
Lesauvage says that some photographers and filmmakers have resisted the urge to explore this increasingly popular form, whether due to stubbornness or a lack of skill shooting in both formats. For him, however, being able to do both — and now putting them together — has been a big advantage. As this exciting new format expands in scope and demand, he believes Kyno will be even more essential for creators.
“As more and more clients get used to the moving image, Kyno is going to become more and more useful,” Lesauvage affirms.
