Nowadays, it’s incredibly easy to find a smartphone that’s equipped with an excellent camera that allows you to capture stunning photos and videos with ease. With practice and knowledge, anyone can capture high-quality footage just by recording on their smartphones.
When uploading images and videos onto your website, you need to ensure that they’re of the best quality. Video production in Dubai and across the world are able to provide these top-quality services, but many people in the digital industry aren’t aware that they can shoot amazing footage themselves with their smartphones!
We’ve put together tips and tricks for every smartphone user to help you shoot the best videos that will enhance the look and feel of your website.
Clean Your Lens
First and foremost, clean your lens! A simple, yet forgotten, rule, cleaning your lens is an excellent place to start when you’re trying to record videos. Giving your smartphone camera a quick clean will ensure your video doesn’t come out blurry or have spots in the final product.
Always Shoot Landscape
Unless you’re taking videos for social media stories, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t rotate your phone to capture landscape videos! There’s nothing more displeasing that those two vertical black bars on both sides of a video. Make sure you shoot in landscape orientation – this makes the video more enjoyable to viewers and makes it easier to watch when projected to a widescreen or a television. You’ll be able to capture more of your scenes while shooting landscape as well!
Use a Tripod
Even if you have the steadiest of hands, you’ll find that a tripod will be extremely beneficial when it comes to recording videos. Tripods help stabilize your video footage and will make sure that the result looks professional.
Avoid Using Digital Zoom
Many smartphone companies have now focused on providing telephoto lenses so that users have a seamless and HD zooming experience. But if you wouldn’t trust the quality of your digital zoom, try to avoid using it while recording video footage. Physically move closer to your subject or object, trying to stay as steady as possible, or use accessories that allow you to extend your smartphone further away.
Digitally zooming in while recording will result in a very pixelated end product.
Record in Good Lighting
This may be obvious to mention, but do not depend on your smartphone’s flash when you’re recording videos! Try your best to record in well-lit areas. If there are lighting accessories around, such as lamps or neon lights, bring them closer to your subject to bring in more lighting to the video.
As much as you can, make sure you avoid back-lit settings. You might be able to see faces when they’re backlit, but more often than not, your smartphone camera won’t be able to pick it up and you’ll be left with a bright light that overpowers your subject. Move your subject so that the light shines on them directly instead.
Try to stray away from moving between differently lit rooms. If you’re following a subject from a dark room to a lighter one, the white balance will readjust and this would be jarring to your viewers. Additionally, watch out for areas that have harsh lighting conditions or darker, shadowy areas. Your smartphone may struggle to balance out the areas, resulting in video with less definition.
Manually Control Exposures and Focus
Smartphones can detect and adjust exposure and focus automatically, and this is great for pointing and shooting. While recording, it’s recommended that you manually adjust your camera’s settings. Lock these settings so that your video doesn’t come out overexposed or out of focus.
Use External Audio Recording Devices
While your smartphone’s built-in microphone may suffice for everyday videos, you may want to invest in an external microphone if you intend on taking professional videos such as interviews. You’ll be able to place the microphone as close to your subject as you’d like so that there’s a guarantee that you’ll have clear and crisp audio. During the editing process, you can sync the audio to the recorded video footage.
Composition and Framing
When shooting videos and even photos, think of your smartphone screen as a canvas. You want to compose all your elements deliberately so that everything blends and looks pleasing on screen. A painter arranges their colors and forms on their canvas and places their main subject where they know it will catch the viewer’s eye. Making use of the Rule of Thirds, align your subject with your camera’s guidelines (if you’ve enabled this on your phone) and allow your subject to stand out from their surroundings.
Make sure you align your shot with the floor or walls so that the video doesn’t appear to slant too much to one side. Avoid moving objects in the background that could distract your viewers!
Shoot in 4K Video
Most smartphones have the ability to shoot 4K video, you just have to enable this in your camera settings! While many people may not choose to watch 4K videos, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a shot. With 4K video, you’re ensuring that your footage will be watchable in the future when virtually every screen will be able to display 4K resolution or higher.
You’d also be able to capture extra detail while shooting 4K footage, which in turn lets you take advantage of the fact that many viewers do watch videos in 1080p resolution. Even editing 4K videos allows you to crop where necessary without degrading the quality of your video. 4K videos displayed on your website will have your pages looking professional and crisp.
Shoot in Different Angles
You may want to consider shooting smaller videos from different angles to provide a bit of flair to your videos. You can focus on smaller details that you’d like to highlight and shoot close-up shots as well. This allows you to produce a more dynamic video that will be more interesting and engaging to your viewers.
Charge Your Battery
Another simple, yet important, task, don’t forget to charge your battery! Especially when shooting 4K video, video recording consumes a lot of battery life. You wouldn’t want your phone to die on you in the middle of recording!
Recording video footage, in general, requires a lot of attention to detail and constant care. In order to have the best videos possible for your website and landing pages, make sure you follow these tips and watch as you bring your website to life.
