Sal Cincotta is an award winning photographer, speaker, author, and publisher of Shutter Magazine. Sal, along with his wife Taylor, own and operate Salvatore Cincotta Photography. Since starting in 2008, they have built a million dollar business focused on weddings and high school seniors. 

Flixel had the pleasure of collaborating with the illustrious and talented wedding photographer on this week’s episode of Shutter Network discussing all things Flixel.  In his latest episode, Sal heads into the studio with Flixel’s co-founder Mark Homza to show his viewers just how easy it is to create your very own flixel.  Watch “A New Way to Stand out from the Crowd by Incorporating Living Photos into your Business” and win a free copy of Cinemagraph Pro for Mac! 

After the shoot, Sal was gracious enough to sit down with us to answer some questions.

1. Thank you for this collaboration and featuring Flixel on your show. Sal, how did you discover living photos for the first time?

My pleasure. I was at PhotoPlus in New York City this past year, and saw this video/picture and was immediately excited. It completely blew me away- I had no idea what it was at the time, but I knew I had to learn more. 

2. How do you see flixels changing or evolving the state of wedding photography ? 

I don’t know that I see flixels changing the wedding industry so much as I see it enhancing what we do. So, from a marketing perspective it’s one of those things that’s going to force people to stop and have a conversation. As a wedding photographer, when I’m at a bridal show, the one thing I want is to have brides stop inside of my booth and talk. This allows that to happen- this is going to trigger that conversation, simply from the point of view of them trying to figure out what it is exactly they’re looking at.

3. What gear do you use when shooting flixels?

To create our flixels, we used the Panasonic GH3s, filming at 60 frames per second, allowing us to slow the motion down without losing any detail.

4.  Can you share some tips for shooting flixels? 

Shooting flixels isn’t as difficult as you may think, especially not the editing part with Cinemagraph Pro. The first living photo will be the most difficult because you simply just don’t know what you’re doing at that point. The best thing to do is just get out there and film something. 

Having a clear concept is probably the most important thing- where is the motion coming from? Less is more. The last thing you want to do is have too many pieces in motion, so before you ever start rolling the cameras, the one thing you want to think about is what will be in motion and why? That’s the part of the story that becomes most inciting to the viewer.

5.  Do you think implementing flixels into your creative arsenal is a must, or is the medium just a trend?

I’m always looking for new tools to help me evolve my business. I see flixels as a powerful way of allowing my business to stand out from the crowd. Do I see a world where my couples will have flixels showcased in their home? Perhaps. The jury is still out on that- the future is unknown. However, as an additional offering within my business, I see flixels as an essential tool to the future of what we’re doing.

Thank you Sal Cincotta and Team for this collaboration! 

Watch “A New Way to Stand out from the Crowd by Incorporating Living Photos into your Business” on Shutter Network here.