Phone video shooting is available since almost every people has a smartphone. With the help of portable video light, you are able to present nice video content. Besides that, here are some tips for you to get quality phone video.
Set the settings
Smartphones are thought to be less functional than video cameras, but it doesn’t mean that they are only able to produce one kind of video. These days, most smartphones provide varied resolutions and frame rates for you to choose from.
For video resolution, it refers to how large your video will be. 1080 HD and 4K are common video resolution of video. As for the frame rate, it sets how many individual frames per second (fps) your video records. Common settings are 30 fps, 60 fps, and less commonly, 24 fps.
If you are Android user, you can set it inside the main camera app, simply finding it behind the gear wheel or a toggle button. However, iPhone users should go into the main settings menu to choose one resolution and frame rate which is suitable for your video content.
Certainly, if you get some accessories like portable LED light, external microphone, you can also set the settings, making them ready for shooting.
Decide the video orientation
It is possible to record vertical or horizontal footage with a smartphone. So before starting shooting, just think of on what devices you video will be shown.
If you intend to upload your video to apps that mainly show vertical videos like Tik Tok, making vertical videos makes sense. If not, horizontal video is the common choice since vertical video does not display well on all kinds of devices except smartphone. Vertical video syndrome indeed exists. As you can see, computer monitors, televisions, even websites, all have landscape-oriented displays. As a result, to make your videos suitable for most devices, recording horizontal footage is a wise choice.
Besides video orientation, the orientation of handheld photography light should be also taken into consideration since lighting angle is key to shooting.
Ensure good lighting
If you’re going to film a video, you need it to look good, which is related closely to lighting. In fact, good lighting is one of the most significant elements to film a great video. Or we can say, it is even more important than the camera setup. After all, you can film a video with a cheap phone. However, if you’re trying to shoot a video in the dark, it will be hard to make it.
Besides that, the suitable lighting helps to set the mood and tone, and helps you better express your emotions to your viewers.
However, the in-built camera flash of the smartphone isn’t capable of satisfying the shooting requirements. One of the problems is that smartphone camera flash is fixed on the smartphone thus cannot being adjusted. And because light from the flash hits the subject straight on, it often causes red eyes.
Another disadvantage to using the flash on smartphone cameras is that you can’t control it. When you are taking videos, you will be in need of specific color temperature to help you convey the feelings. Unlike video light, the flash owns only one color temperature and in most cases, it fires off automatically.
So how can you film your video in a nice lighting condition? The portable video light PL5 is an ideal choice. Its lighting modes build excellent lighting conditions for you to get quality video while its magnetic back and extension wings make it easy to attach your phone.
One of the most important advantages is that it enables you to make footage in the dark. Even at night or under terrible weather conditions, you can rely on it to shoot bright and clear video content. And nowadays, most of portable photography lights are capable of providing various color temperature meanwhile show subjects faithfully via high CRI, which offers more chances to create different atmosphere. With it functioning as your lighting source, you can adjust the dimness and move it more freely to illuminate talent and other subjects.
What’s more, it is light enough for you to carry. You can bring it with you whenever and wherever without any burden. Even long-time shooting is possible. And since it is compact, you can hide it easily. Not only that, small portable light is usually much less expensive than traditional studio light, so you’ll be saving quite a bit of money on your production.
If you have no budget on a portable video light, then try as much as possible to shoot your video in brightly lit areas. This will help avoid unnecessary shadows and grainy areas in your video. Meanwhile, you should be aware that pointing the camera directly at bright lighting source will cause overexposure and lens flare. So pay attention to the direction to the light. And also, to make your video lighting comfortable to view, lighting should be stable and steady.
Stay Steady
If you want your video footage to come out smooth, steady and pleasant for viewers to watch, the best thing to do is to keep your phone steady while recording. When you are recording, it is a good idea to use both hands to hold your smartphone as close as possible to your body, which is helpful in achieving stability. However, this can be exhausted if you take continuous shooting, so here are other tips that you can adopt:
- Stabilizers, tripods and camera cages are useful for you to make your smartphone stay still when you are taking videos. And it is easy to take since they have perfect handles for you to hold.
- If a smartphone tripod or stabilizer is unaffordable or not practical for you, you can rest your phone on other physical supports, such as shelves, desks, chairs, books, etc.
Record audio
To make a good video, good audio recording is also needed unless a totally new audio track will be added when editing. Unfortunately, in most cases the microphone equipped in smartphone is in low quality and not appropriately placed. Therefore, if you are taking video recording outside, it is common to record the unwanted surrounding noises like wind, the honk of an automobile, which is hard to edit out. Therefore, it is ideal to shoot your video in a quiet environment.
If you are in need of outdoors shooting, getting an external recording device is necessary such as a directional microphone. When using an external microphone isn’t possible or practical, it is feasible for you to stay as close to the audio source as possible. If you feel like recording more clear audio, you can use your hand to cover around the phone’s microphone, remember not to cover it completely. In this way, unwanted noise will be decreased. And you can get a video with not so terrible audio.
Don’t use digital zoom
When it comes to show something clearly and detailedly, most people tend to use the zoom on the smartphone to get a closer shot of the subject. But pay attention, the lens isn’t zooming optically, so you’re just enlarging the picture digitally. And this will result in diffusion of the image.
So what should you do if you want to zoom in with your smartphone? It is simple. Just pause and walk closer to the subject and continue shooting.
Edit your video
After finishing shooting your video, it comes to editing. Some people may post their raw clip directly to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. It is OK. But if you want to make your video go from good to better, a little editing is needed. And this can also be processed on your smartphone.
Everything from basic trimming to adding transitions, titles, and effects is simple on both iOS and Android mobile devices. Whatever type you expect to edit you video into, mobile apps can simplify your video-editing process.
Conclusion
Many aspects make contributions to phone video shooting, among them portable video light plays an important role. For more advantages of using it, you can read the article Top 5 reasons for using LED photographic light.
Pay more attention to the tips above, and you will create excellent video simply with your smartphone.