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5 Tips to Take Better Photos and Videos on Your Phone
Creating content can be a bit daunting – especially if you don’t have professional equipment or don’t know how to use your equipment. Luckily, you don’t need a fancy camera to create engaging content for your social media profiles. It’s true, all you need is a smartphone!
In this blog post, I’ll cover 5 tips to help you to take better photos and videos on your smartphone!
1. Don’t Zoom
You may be tempted to use the zoom feature out of convenience or maybe something is too far away to see. But did you know that as you zoom in closer to an object, specifically on a smartphone camera, it becomes more pixelated? This is because the zoom diminishes the quality of the picture.
One alternative to zooming is moving closer to the subject. If you can, get within 6 feet of the subject to ensure that you capture the perfect shot.
2. Use a Tripod
You’ll see all sorts of creators capturing with their phones and cameras using a tripod, and the reason for this is it makes a difference.
A shaky hand will lead to a potentially terrible, blurry disaster. With the help of a tripod, the possibility of blurry results can be avoided. Not only will this tool help steady the camera, but it will also improve the quality of your photos.
And for the days that you don’t have a tripod available, grab your phone with both hands, rest your arms on your chest, point, and shoot. This should help steady the shot and give you a clean and clear picture.
3. Try Different Angles
This tip has a few different parts that I’ll break down.
Let’s start with composition. Don’t feel like you need to put the subject in the middle of the photo. Try to move the camera around so your subject is on either side as well as the middle. Remember the “Rule of Thirds” when taking shots.
Next, try shooting in both landscape and vertical modes. The orientation does matter especially when there are different subjects in place. Also, consider the distance of the subject. If you are taking a photo of your entire team, you probably don’t want to shoot from far away and vertically. For a team picture, get up closer and shoot horizontally.
Finally, move around. Get low to the ground and angle the camera up. Get some fun point-of-view video clips. Challenge yourself to try new things out as you never know what could come out looking good.
4. Capture the Audio
When recording a video, you should always consider the video itself but if your video has sound don’t forget to double-check that you are recording the audio as well. We suggest investing in a small microphone that you can attach to yourself if you’re talking in the video.
Alternatively, you can place your video in an editing tool and record your voice-over afterward.
Either way, we suggest investing in a microphone, so your voice is clear and crisp.
5. Find Good Lighting
Lighting is everything and can make or break your shot. If you have terrible lighting your content will not be appealing and will cause the Facebook and Instagram algorithms to not push your content.
Some tips we have when it comes to lighting are;
- Find natural light from the sun if possible (golden hour is great to take shots outside)
- Avoid using flash to provide better lighting (constant lighting is best)
- Purchase portable lights (they can be great additions to your equipment)
Now that you have read through our tips, it’s your turn to go out there and make some content!
If you have any other questions about shooting either photos or videos feel free to reach out to our social team for help!
—Marie Dubray, Social Media Specialist, Sesame Communications