Blackmagic Design Case Study: YouTube Channel “PhotoJoseph”

YouTuber PhotoJoseph uses DaVinci Resolve Studio, an editing, grading, VFX and audio production software, to create content for his YouTube channel, @PhotoJoseph, with support from Blackmagic Design. PhotoJoseph uses Blackmagic Cloud and Blackmagic Cloud Store Mini networked storage solutions to collaborate remotely with editors around the world, delivering filmmaking and photography videos to 80,000 subscribers.

He opened his YouTube channel in 2016 as a resource for aspiring photographers and filmmakers. At first, he held a live stream five times a week to introduce industry technologies and tools, but gradually changed to a style of editing content before posting. For 2021, all post-production work was done in DaVinci Resolve Studio. In addition to the video content he posts on the channel, he also regularly broadcasts live, where he talks about new tools in the studio and gives tutorials to his audience.

He recently installed a Blackmagic Cloud Store Mini, in order to have standardized our Blackmagic Cloud workflow, to accommodate a growing team and outsource editing. He has a team of two assistant editors based in Ukraine, and a newly formed Spanish-language team in Colombia, and were looking for ways to collaborate by sharing a large project libraries with their remote teams.

PhotoJoseph: I love the clean and seamless workflow of Cloud Store Mini. With the SmartView Duo at the rack and a separate monitor at the desk, I have a live view of Cloud Store Mini status including storage maps, speed graphs and active users via the HDMI monitoring output. Being able to see these in real time is a really cool feature.

He uses an ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K live production switcher in his multicam setup for shooting video content, and six HyperDeck Mini broadcast decks for recording. Furthermore, he uses a HyperDeck Mini to store footage over a 10G network to Cloud Store Mini and create proxies from your original footage with the Blackmagic Proxy Generator App. Proxies are automatically synced to Dropbox and editors can access them remotely.

PhotoJoseph: Depending on the project, assistant editors will start editing rough cuts in Blackmagic Cloud. I can check rough cuts and make changes from anywhere in the world. Blackmagic Cloud and DaVinci Resolve 18’s collaboration features allow you to work outside the office and expand your creative horizons.

PhotoJoseph: Blackmagic Cloud also allows us to recruit talented people to our team regardless of where they live. Recruit from anywhere in the world for the best collaboration.

Although he was initially drawn to DaVinci Resolve Studio’s color grading capabilities, he quickly moved to other tools as well.

PhotoJoseph: I use the Fusion page to create simple effects such as title animations, iOS screen touch effects, and sometimes compositing beyond my capabilities. The Fairlight page is great for sweetening conversations and balancing sounds. Overall, DaVinci Resolve Studio is a great piece of software that lets you create better looking and sounding content.

Looking to the future, he also used the Blackmagic Cloud workflow to set up his new Spanish-language YouTube channel, PhotoJoseph Español. He’s already started working with the remote team on DaVinci Resolve to dub the video, add Spanish subtitles, and update the tiles and text.

PhotoJoseph: Using Blackmagic products has allowed me to do many things on projects that I could never have done before. I can’t wait to see what kind of work I can do next!