For a long time after its invention, shooting any kind of video was costly, time consuming, and tedious. Nowadays, practically everyone has a device in their pocket they can pull out and begin shooting and sharing high definition video in mere seconds. This ubiquity of high quality video has enabled not only more video, but more ways to experience events, and has even launched entire new industries around it.
While the spread of information is generally a good thing, most people who share their videos never get any sort of training on how to make a clip look good. I’m sure you’ve seen less-than-professional, often unwatchable videos from your friends or on video sharing sites like YouTube, where you have huge black bars on the side, or it’s so shaky you get a headache just watching.
DailyAppShow outlines below five of the best tips to improve the videos you take on your iPhone. Check it out:
Hold Horizontally
It’s natural for a person to hold their phone vertically: that’s just how they fit in our hands. And this is totally fine for photos. There’s even a name for it: portrait. However, for video, this is an absolute no no. While you have the ability to shoot video in portrait mode, what happens is that people watching the video will be watching a sliver of action in the middle of the screen, while the rest is dominated by huge black bars on the side. It’s like watching a movie through a mostly closed door. Here is a brief PSA in the form of a song by Jonathan Mann:
Stabilize
While the latest crop of iPhones do an amazing job and compensating for shaky video caused by hand holding the camera, there are ways to make your videos even more stable. Even Hollywood movies that use the “shaky handheld” look use cameramen who first trained extremely hard to be able to take steady video, THEN studied extremely hard to take video that is shaky enough to give it a certain feel, but still stable enough to watch.
For decidedly non-pros like us, we could use some help. And since nothing is more stable than solid ground, let’s use that to our advantage by using a tripod. In order to use a tripod with your iPhone, you’ll need a least two things (and a highly suggested extra): the tripod itself, and a way to attach your iPhone to it.
While we here at DailyAppShow like to use Manfrotto tripod legs and heads (Like the Manfrotto 055XPROB Pro), you can get started with Amazon’s AmazonBasics 60-Inch Lightweight Tripod at $23.49 as of this article’s publishing.
Next, to attach your iPhone, you’ll need a tripod-compatible adapter. We like RetiCAM’s adapter for it’s solid aluminum build and easy to use mechanism. They also have an XL version that’s compatible with the iPhone 6 Plus.
Although it’s not strictly necessary, we also recommend using a tripod head (the part that connects the camera or phone to the legs themselves) that is built specifically for video. Using a video head enables smooth side-to-side pans, whereas a regular camera head is built specifically for a completely static shot. You can get started for a low price with Grifiti Nootle’s pan head.
You’re not limited to tripods though, and often you will want to take shots on the go. You can still get more stable video using something like a pistol grip or a stabilizing handle. We like the Opteka X-GRIP and the Sunpak TS-1 Pistol Grip.
Ditch the Camera App
While the built-in camera app is easy to use and probably the fastest with the lock screen shortcut, it’s fairly barebones. App developers are able to squeeze a whole lot more functionality out of the camera than is provided to the user normally. In addition to the modes and limited provided by iOS, the camera can be used in a myriad of ways. Our favorite app for video on iOS is ProCam 2, which gives you more control over your video capture, with features like independent exposure and focus controls, your choice of frame rate and resolution, as well as monitoring tools like volume meter and orientation level. And it doesn’t hurt that the app interface is optimized for the new resolutions of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
As for settings, we stick with Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080) at 24fps for a cinematic feel. NOTE: it’s best to avoid using any of the built-in filters while you’re filming. Keeping the video as raw as possible during capture makes editing far easier, and you can’t take off a filter that’s applied when recording.
Lighting
Just like in photography, the more light you have falling on your subject when shooting video, the better and more noise-free the results will be. Sunlight is a great source of light (most of the time), and you can definitely use the fiery sphere in the sky to your advantage. Just make sure your subject is facing towards the sun and that you’re not creating a shadow covering anything you’re filming. What’s not a great source of light, however, is the iPhone’s built-in flash. Try to avoid using the flash as your main source of light unless absolutely necessary, as the light makes skin tones look less than realistic and gives everything else an odd color cast. Use a lamp or other source of light to get your subject properly exposed.
If you want to get more professional with your lighting, you can invest in a softbox. Softboxes create bright, even lighting that will go far to help properly expose your scene. LimoStudio has a video softbox kit for only $32 (as of this writing) that has everything you need to get going.
Another tip for properly exposing a shot is using the iPhone’s Exposure Lock feature. In the camera app, simply tap and hold on the part of the screen where you want your exposure to match, and the phone will keep that same level of exposure regardless of where you point afterwards. Use this feature to prevent videos from abruptly changing exposure value in the middle of a shot.
Improve your audio
Second only to visuals is the audio in your videos, and this is another area where we can improve greatly on the usual experience of iPhone videos. Keep in mind, the default microphone that captures audio on your device is microscopic, and is only capable of capturing some of the full sound spectrum.
One improvement you can make is to get a second recording device closer to your subject. This can be another phone or some sort of audio recorder. To get your audio synced up, Give a loud clap at the beginning of your shot, and align the two audio files when editing.
A more substantial improvement is to capture audio on the same device using a dedicated microphone. The best way to capture audio is digitally, as digital audio is free from sounds or distortion caused by a poor connection. Digital audio can be had by hooking up a microphone to your Lightning port. Blue Microphones has you covered here, with their Mikey Digital Lightning microphone. Blue Microphones is renown for their high class microphones for perfect audio, and the Mikey is no exception.
Another route to get better audio is to route a traditional mic via your iPhone’s headphone port. Cable Matters provides a 3.5mm TRS to XLR adapter in a variety of lengths which lets you plug in any ol’ XLR mic. For a complete solution, the Takstar SGC-598 is a battery powered shotgun-style microphone with a 3.5mm connector that’s perfect for a mobile video rig.
Edit on the fly
Taking a bunch of great clips is great, but you’ll need to put them together somehow. Once I have all the pieces I need to put a project together, I like to use iMovie for iPhone to edit everything together. The app is easy to use but powerful enough to make high quality edits, and includes useful tools like pre-made themes, color filters, and lots of different transitions and ways to customize your project. You can even bring in your own photos and audio.
So there you have it. Following these five tips will help you bring your iPhone videos and movies to a new level, and you can be proud to share your new creations.
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