Social media is an excellent platform to show your skills and talent to the world. And the best part is, the whole world watches you. With the introduction of YouTube a video-based social media platform, anyone can showcase their talent. For this, you need to make a video and upload it on your YouTube channel. This may further lead to start your vlogs.
Practice makes a man perfect. No one is perfect with the first they start anything. But with hard work and dedication to learn they made it reach a perfect level.
If you are here to know how to make perfect Vlogs with phones, it means you already know about vlogging. We know that all smartphones nowadays have a camera for capturing photos and recording videos. So, we assume that your smartphone also has a camera.
Video recording is not a difficult task nowadays. With the device in your hand and a few small accessories, you can also record amazing videos. We are here to share some tips with you to help you make the best vlogs on your phone.
Different types of Vlogs you can make are;
- Sharing your idea or views regarding some recent event. In such a case, you just sit in front of the camera and discuss your opinion.
- You travel somewhere and record the moments in your camera.
- Recording step to step guide of any activity like food making, or stitching, drawing, etc.
First of all, we have to shortlist all the additional accessories you will need for your smartphone. Nowadays the smartphones come with HD cameras so you need to check the pixel range of your camera. It should be about 720 pixels or higher. The higher the pixels the better will be the quality of the video. If you are an iPhone user you can also make videos through your smartphone.
Light
Light plays an important part in enhancing the quality of the video. If you want to shoot videos indoor you need to balance the light by yourself and it is quite challenging. The mobile flash cannot help you with this. You can use lamps or light bulbs for this purpose.
The light bulbs we have in homes are mostly incandescent. These bulbs emit slightly yellow color light. You should replace these bulbs with fluorescent bulbs or lamps. Fluorescent bulbs smoothly distribute light and give a balanced daylight look. The more the voltage of light more will be brightness around you.
But the maximum of two fluorescent bulbs with voltage 100-150(V) is enough for good quality video. Place these lights opposite to each other to give you a balanced light from both sides. The light on opposite sides removes shadows formation from opposite ends.
Vlog Tripod Stand
You can make videos by holding the mobile in your hand. But the problem with this is if you are using your hands during recording, you cannot hold a camera. So you need some supporting device for your phone.
You can get a tripod stand for holding your mobile phone. Tripod stand is a gadget to hold mobile phones and cameras for capturing pictures without shaking. Several companies are manufacturing tripod stands imparting special features to them.
One drawback of these stands is that you cannot connect your mobile phone with a tripod stand. But don’t worry you can get a universal adaptor to mount your camera on the stand. The universal adaptor connects all the android smartphones and iPhones to the stand. If you an iPhone user you can also use Glif adapter for that.
There are tripod stands that comes with light features so you don’t need separate light bulbs. You can adjust the height of the stand as you require. Adjust your tripod stand to a suitable height and start making your videos.
Selfie Stick for Vlogging
If you want to record videos of your traveling and guiding people about the place, you can buy a selfie stick. You can mount your cell phone on the selfie stick. Connect your cell phone to the button close to your hand by wire, so you can start and stop recording.
Nowadays several companies are manufacturing selfie sticks with enhanced features. You can also buy one with Bluetooth features. It allows you to cover the area for videos with a wide-angle.
Microphones/Audio devices
Most mobile phones do not have a good microphone. The quality of voice is not up to the mark which damages the essence of a good video. You can resolve this problem by connecting an audio device to the mobile.
Several microphone companies are manufacturing gadgets which help you record videos with high-quality sound. You can use Rhode VideoMic Me, which is one of the best voice recording mics for mobile phones. Be careful you connect the mic to your phone.
Some other mics are Blue Raspberry, Dayton audio IMM-6, and Apogee MIC+. All of them are affordable and provide better quality voice recording.
Tips for Recording Vlogs
Now, with all your gadgets you can start video production. Some of our tips for recording vlogs are;
#1. Position Your Phone at Right Place
While recording videos with the phone we constantly move our arm. As we cannot keep our hands at one fixed position. The shaking mostly spoils the video. So for nice video shots, you need to keep your mobile phone at some fixed location.
Some travel vloggers also keep the small mobile holding device in their hands. This device also helps reduce shaking in the video.
As discussed above you can place your phone on a tripod stand to resolve this problem. For travel vlogs, you can also use a selfie stick. This will help you to cover wider angles. Some mobiles have optical image stabilization hardware, which eliminates maximum shaking from the video.
#2. Keep Airplane Mode On
We receive calls and messages on our phones daily. If you receive any of these while shooting a video it disrupts your tempo and creates problems during video shooting. You can keep your phone on airplane mode to avoid such disturbance. Once you shoot the video turn the airplane mode off.
#3. Use Phone in Landscape Position
Keeping your phone in a horizontal position help you make videos with a wider angle.
#4. Consider Your Background
While vlogging is not about holding your camera or smartphone in hand and recording anything you want. It can be indoor and outdoor. For outdoor video making obviously, you need to see the location where you are recording. But, for indoor shooting, you have to take care of the background.
The background should be appealing and it should appear suitable on the camera. Don’t select too bright colors if you are using too much light. You can use just one color to make a good video.
#5. Make a Trial Video
Nowadays mobile cameras have several filters with which you can adjust the features of video and pictures. Adjust the features of the video on your camera, i.e., brightness, sharpness and contrast and then record a trial video up to 15 seconds. Now observe the recording, if, you think the recording is perfect shoot your video with those settings. But if it is not satisfactory, change the settings and check it.
Trial videos help you to record your videos with the best settings.
#6. Use the Rule of Thirds for Video Recording
Professional videographers use the rule of thirds for recording their videos. The rule is simple, you need to divide your focus points into three parts. These three parts are the three grid locations on your phone screen.
You can make balanced videos using this rule. You can bring professionalism to your videos by following this rule, but it will take time.
#7. Make the Voices Audible
Whatever you are recording, whether it is your voice for discussion, or you are recording some activity, be sure their voices are clear. If a video does not come with the quality sound it does not appeal to viewers.
Several microphones are available in the market in an affordable range. You can buy them and use them for better sound production.
#8. Video Editing Softwares for Vlogs
Once you are done with shooting your video, you can also edit them on your mobile phone. Several video editing software are available. Some of these are Magisto Video Editor, Quik, Adobe Premiere Rush, Luma Fusion, iMovie, and Apple Clips.
Magisto Video Editor can work on both iOS and Android devices. It is available free. Edit your videos with a step by step guideline on the software. The price for the premium version is quite low with advanced features.
Quik is free software for iOS and Android users. With the import photo option access, you can import photos from Google and other social websites.
Create jump-cuts in your video to remove unnecessary content from your video. Jump-cut option helps you provide your video a continuous look.
With this finishing step of your video, you can directly upload it on your YouTube channel or post it on Facebook. Following these tips, you can improve your video making. And one day you will be guiding others on how to make Vlogs using the phone.
