You're not ready to buy that expensive new camera yet, but you probably have a phone that is more than capable of capturing stunning photo and video to elevate your social media game.
Let's Talk Beautiful Photos
Most phones these days have amazing camera's built into them especially the iPhone. The key to setting your iPhone photos apart from everyone else's photos are the thought and creativity you put into achieving your visual goal. Ask yourself what are you trying to capture? What do you want your viewers to see and feel when they look at the photo? Once you've identified your subject and mood, it will be much easier to get the shots you want and keep consistent with branding.
Below are my top 2 easiest ways to elevate your game.
Lighting
Make sure you take photos where there is plenty of light. While there is a lot of work you can do in post do lighten a photo, you lose a lot of quality this way and your photos will be lackluster. If you house doesn't have enough light go closer to a window or go outside and take advantage of natural light.
Get creative with the light, pay attention to the ways the light is shaping the subject or scene you're trying to capture. Move around and really get a feel for your environment and then break some rules! Take a photo with the light behind your subject, underexpose a shot to create a mood.
Framing
Work the angles! You don't always have to shoot from chest level, try getting low and shooting up or getting high and shooting down onto your subject.
Try using the "rule of thirds" method to frame your subject slightly off center to create a more interesting composition. You can turn on your camera grid easily through camera settings. Photography Life has a great article explaining this rule, well with the read. https://photographylife.com/the-rule-of-thirds
If you have the storage, don't be afraid to take LOTS of photos until you get what you want. The more you practice the better you will be at capturing exactly what you want.
Let's Talk Video
Video takes a little more work than photo. You can have the most engaging content on your V-log, but if your viewers have a hard time seeing it, hearing it, or following you, then they won't watch it.
Check your camera settings.
Make sure you're at least recording in 1080 at 60 fps for clean smooth video. You can also shoot in 4K to give you more editing options, but these files will be massive and take up a lot of space on your phone. Most people will not notice the difference between 4k and 1080 on social media and web platforms.
Tripod
If you're not ready to purchase a tripod, find a way to rig it on a shelf or piece of furniture to keep the camera steady.
Lighting
Lighting is incredibly important when capturing video, it's much harder to "fix in post" than it is with photos. If you're recording a blog and your inside try to use light from a window, but pay attention to your background and make sure that it's not too dark. If it's not too noisy, you could even try going outside to record. Bottom line, make sure there is enough light so that your video has a crisp clean look and feel.
When you're ready, there are tons of affordable lighting options and hacks you can use to upgrade you set up.
Audio
Ideally you would record audio separately and put it all together in the edit, but if that's not an option right now, it's OK! If your inside and have carpet you should get decent audio that won't be obnoxious to your viewers. However, if you have hardwood or tile floors you will want to put some blankets/carpets down on the floor around you and your camera to help absorb sound and lessen the echo.
Test your audio before you spend an hour recording yourself. Even in your house there are everyday noises that we tune out naturally like the sound of the refrigerator running or the AC running are good examples. You may not notice it until you're editing your video and by that time you're already hours in and won't want to re-record it. So you should test a minute or two of audio to make sure there aren't any distracting noises in the background that would be competing for your viewers attention or make them keep scrolling.
Platform
Know the specs for the platform you are planning to post your videos to otherwise your uploads will not be cohesive or aesthetically appealing.
Editing
If you're a beginner, stick with iMovie to start since it's a native Apple app, it will be easiest for you to navigate. There are thousands of instructional videos out there you can use to help you along the way.
You don't need to spend thousands of dollars to get started, you just have to put your mind to figuring out a process that works for you.
LET'S CONNECT!
If I can be of any assistance to you on your journey please reach out!