Friday 20 September 2013

Bringing nature into your living room with nature videos

Nature Videos on TV

These days we are all guilty of spending too much time glued to the TV, computer or smartphone. One company who is offering a way to disconnect from these electronic devices is Uscenes. The 2013 start up of the year has set its mission to stop people watching so much TV… but putting a video background on the TV instead.

The idea is simple. To record high quality still camera footage of nature and certain other scenes. Then give people the change to use their TV as a window to the scene. The idea came to head videographer Michael years ago whilst watching Back To The Future 2. The movie featured a Scenery Channel and Michael never forgot what a great idea it would be.

Download Nature TV screensaver videos


update 2021: Uscenes now has 100 4K videos and 55 Full HD videos, which can also be bouht as Windows screensavers.


Fast forward many years into the future and Michael has helped to set up Uscenes. They have around 50 scenery videos so far with plenty more on the way. Michael says “We have an infinite number of amazing scenes to film around the world. Since we started the sales have gone really well, so we are already funnelling the money back into the project to fund new shoots.”

One example was last weekend when Michael flew to Portugal for a few days to film some new video backgrounds. One example from the trip is the beach scenes in the clip below. He also filmed atop cliffs and captured some sunsets.

Nature TV Screensavers


Click here for a sample video beach scene

Uscenes has decided not to offer DVDs or Blu Ray discs as they see these mediums as a dying breed. Instead all products are downloaded from the website. Not all of us have a media streaming device or media player yet but this seems like a great reason to get one. 

For those not quite up to date with the latest tech you can record the videos onto DVD or enjoy them on your computer. The videos all come with screensaver apps too.

DIY Nature Videos


If you want to film your own nature videos Fujifilm cameras are the best. The best lest for taking videos is Fujifilm 50mm f2 or Viltrox 56mm f1.4. But there are cheaper options too like their very good 16-50mm kit lens, which can typically be found for around $100. 

It lacks the bokeh (blurry background) of the other two, but gives you a wider range. If you have the money their 16-55mm lens is stunning. If you have even more money then Fujifilm medium format cameras and lens would be spectacular for nature videos and photos.