Videography Tips to Make Professional-Looking Videos

You don’t need to spend a lot of money on videography equipment or filmmaking classes to create a professional-looking video. It doesn’t take much to become a skilled Okoboji videographer. Just pay attention to some key details and practice your craft. These videography tips are great for creating videos that viewers love to watch, no matter if you’re producing a high-end production.

Get your equipment
For beginners, it is a good thing that high-quality digital cameras can be purchased at a reasonable price for both personal and professional use. Videography can be done with any gadgets you already own. As long as these basic things are kept in mind, you can use your iPhone or Android smartphone to practice videography.

For better quality footage, use the back camera
Landscape mode is used to shoot horizontally instead of vertically.
When shooting video, turn on the overlay grid if it is available. This will give you a guideline for maintaining your phone level.

Plan Your Shoot
You’ll be able to plan the entire video production, from start to finish, if you are shooting a music video, commercial or short film. Create your own storyboard and include illustrations to show the sequence of your scenes. This will allow you to visualize your final footage and outline the shots that you want. This will be your guide throughout editing and shooting. It can also help you decide the best time to shoot, the ideal locations, and the appropriate cameras (if you have multiple options) before you start filming.

Get Good Lighting
Lighting is a key ingredient to creating professional-looking videos. When conceptualizing, be mindful of your lighting. To achieve the desired effect, determine the type of lighting you need and where they will be placed. If you have an existing light source (like lamps or the sun) and you are on a tight budget, think about how you can adapt it to your scene.

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Keep it Simple
Filming anywhere is not enough. Use a simple background, or make it as clean and tidy as possible. Solid-colored backgrounds are popular. They can be a wall, a sheet of bedsheet or background paper. Many people place their subjects (or themselves) just a few feet from the backdrop to avoid shadow casting.

Manual Focus
The autofocus feature of your camera is very useful, but it can also cause problems with your recording if it moves in and out focus when trying to locate your subject under dimly lit scenes. Use the exposure/focus lock feature on your smartphone, or switch to manual mode on your standalone camera to allow you to use your eyes to set the focus.

Edit
This “pro tip” simply refers to the fact that you should think like an editor while filming. You should capture multiple angles and some “safety shots” when filming a scene. You’ll have more options later on when you create your final cut. This will help you save time and effort, which you could otherwise spend on refilming. It will also prevent you from taking subpar shots that can make your work look amateurish.