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How to Make Your Videos More Professional with Composition

Video

One of the easiest, most cost efficient ways to make your videos more professional is with simple composition. Composing a shot really isn’t all that simple though. But there are some tips that can help you start looking more professional right now.

There are a lot of ideas out there about composition. A beautifully composed shot is magic for conveying the vibe of your video. There’s actually a lot that goes into that shot. Where you place the subject or subjects of your videos is important. But also where they face (blocking), what surrounds them (staging), their perspective, how they’re framed, and even the size of their body in proportion to the rest of the shot.

Here are just a couple of tips that will save you from looking like an amateur.

Video Composition – Rule of Thirds

We’ve come a long way in the analysis of great art. The more ew’ve seen about great works of art, the more we realize a pattern in it. The subject is rarely centered in the shot. In fact, the point of interest in the shot is almost always in a third position of the shot. This started with the Phi Grid.

Composition for video

Anywhere along the red line is where our eye naturally travels. The focus is more and more clear as you spiral down into the corner where the horizontal and vertical thirds overlap. Like this.

Rule Of Thirds for Video

Both of these examples use the lower right third as a point of interest, but you can use any of the thirds lines to create focus in your videos. And if you can frame your subject in the places those lines meet, you can create even more focus.

I could write several posts about this, and many people have. Just keep in mind as you shoot to know where your subject is in the frame and where you want your viewers eyes to focus.

Video Composition – Perspective

Great cinematographers have played with perspective in so many ways that their audiences rarely even notice anymore. In the movies you watch, can you remember a specific scene where the camera made it look like you’re looking down on the subject of the story? Probably not.

You can use this technique too for your videos. Most interview style videos will place the camera slightly about eye level of the subject of the interview. This makes several things happen.

Video Composition Perspective

First, the viewer relates to the person more easily because they see them as a peer or slightly below them. All those phrases about looking up to people or looking down on them – they aren’t just phrases. They represent very real situations in our physical lives, and they are seated in our psyche. I’m not a psychiatrist, but I’ve seen this use of perspective enough to believe that it works, even if only in our subconscious.

Second, placing the camera slightly above the subject makes them look up slightly creating more imposed interest on their part and minimizing of any sagging skin. Nothing’s worse than forcing someone to have a double chin because you put the camera too low and they’re having to look down. I see this a lot from people doing video from a webcam. Seriously, don’t do it.

Video Composition – Growths and Amputations

A lot of composition is simply looking out for unintended distractions. Enter growths and amputations.

A growth in when you have something that seems to grow out of a person. The worst is when it’s something obvious like a tree growing out of someone’s head. This is one of those composition tips that catches everyone off guard. You really have to watch out for it creeping into your shots.

video composition growths

This picture just doesn’t work on so many levels, but the biggest, by far, is the distraction of the small tree growing out of this guys head. What happens in a shot like this is the viewers eyes don’t know where to land. It’s obvious to our brain where we should look, but our eyes are distracted by the high contrast background. I’m sure this was probably a compromise shot, where the photographer was trying to get the subject out of the direct sunlight.

Luckily, this shot didn’t also fall victim to the second problem of amputation. This is where you cut off limbs at the joint, making it seem like the limb was amputated. I don’t want to create a gross picture in your head, so trust me, make the frame end in the middle of your subjects limbs, not at the joint.

Conclusion

There really is so much that could be written on composition. The best teacher will always be experience. You just need to get out there and shoot. But you can also shortcut that by analyzing your shots and other people’s too. Look at the ones you like and break apart their composition. Look at the ones you don’t like and ask yourself what’s wrong with it.

You can see the video for this post here.

 

How To Make Your Videos More Professional With Sound

Audio, Video

Sound is the second biggest problem you’ll see for making professional videos. You can get every element right for the visuals, but if the sound is off, the whole video just feels cheap. Here’s where we talk about that audio.

How To Get More Professional Video Sound

So there are basically two problems you can make for yourself with sound. You can get your levels wrong or you can get your tone wrong. Either of those will kill the sound of your video. So let’s look at a couple of these problems.

Sound for Video – Levels

The worst problem is when the sound is too soft. If a person can’t hear what your saying or the subject of the video, then it will sound off. For videos with dialogue, this is the worst. Why even make a video if people can’t understand what your saying?

The second problem is much like the first. If the sound is too loud, it annoying. People steer clear of these videos.

The third problem (yes there’s a third) is when you record a signal to loudly and is distorts the signal. This makes the sound hard to understand as well. So basically, what I’m saying, is get the levels right. But how?

Glad you asked.

The best way to get you sound levels right is to use your sound bars in your camera or recording device.

SOund Monitoring

This is my audio recorder. The big black bar you can see is the meter for sound levels. It even has a light right next to that that is only for overloading the signal called “peak.” You’re camera or even smart phone probably has the same kind of metering.

All you have to do is set the recorder where ever you’re going to have it when you record and then talk at the level you will speak during your recording. When you test the levels, just make sure the highest sound is just below peaking. No sweat.

Sound for Video – Tone

Now that you know how to set your levels, let’s talk about tone. Equalization was invented with the advent of the telephone. The found that boosting certain frequencies made the people listening on a phone easier to hear.

Now, people take EQ for granted. You can fix almost any sound. So listen to your audio and then listen to something professionally recorded. Commercials are a great source. Does your voice sound like the commercial? If it does, pat yourself on the back and walk away.

If you’re sound is too thin, it won’t win you any awards for sound quality. Someone’s voice that has too much high-end EQ or not enough low-end will sound tinny or nasally. Not appealing at all to my way of thinking. So boost up those lows if you need to. I’ve found that frequencies between 200-500Hz are great for this.

Sound for video

If your voice sounds too muffled, it’s also hard to hear. Usually this comes from some kind of barrier or muffle in front of the mic. To fix muffled sound, regain some of the presence of your voice my boosting the highs. Frequencies between 3kHz-8kHz are great for this. Experiment and compare your sound with others to get it right.

Sound for Video – Noise

One last thing. If you want pro sound for your videos, you have to start listening like a sound engineer. That means listening for noise. Let me be specific. There’s additive noise, like barking dogs outside, or heat and air coming on and off. Then there’s extra noise in the room which we call – room noise.

Unfortunately, this has to be corrected when you record. There isn’t much your can do once your have extra noise in your sound for video. So make sure to monitor your sound before you record. Almost all cameras and sound recorders have a headphone out jack to do this.

You can correct a lot of your problems with good mic placement. Make sure it’s nice and close to your subject (usually you mouth). Try to get it as close as possible. Lapel mics and shotgun mics a re great for this.

Conclusion

Getting your sound right in video is just essential. If you’re still wondering about all this, watch this video. It might explain it better.

 

How To Make Your Videos More Professional With Lighting

Video, Video Lighting

Ok people! Are you ready to start making more professional videos with lighting? Yeah?! Before we get started, think about this.

So many people are trying to leverage video as a platform. Over 500 hours of video are uploaded every minute on YouTube alone. That’s not counting Facebook, Facebook Live, Instagram Stories or any other platform. Video is the fastest growing platform right now.

With all that competition, it’s not enough just to make a video. Your video has to stand out. It needs to represent your brand and make you look like you know what you’re talking about. Do that, and you set yourself up as an authority. You want to be part of the influencer crowd, right?!

SO here’s the dealio.  Lighting is the easiest way to make your videos look epic! But people make four big mistakes in lighting their videos. Here they are:

  1. Under Lit and Over Lit Lighting
  2. Unbalanced Lighting
  3. Hot Spots
  4. Zero Depth

If you’re confused about those things, watch this short video where I explain each of them.

Under Lit Video Lighting

Ok, this is the worst. A lot of people just don’t light their videos at all. What I see often are videos that you can barely make out what the person in the video is doing. They’re in a shadow or not even visible.

Another mistake with under lit lighting is that the video has a lot of noise in it. Low lighting makes your camera try to compensate for the lack of light but gaining up the ISO.

Video Noise Low Light
This is the difference between video noise on the left and no noise on the right.

Either way, this makes your video look crappy and very unprofessional. And it’s easy to fix. Just shine some light on it, right?!

Over Lit Video Lighting

Over lit videos usually happen with lighting is out of balance (like my point for #2). A lot of the videos I see have problems with too much light. Too much light?! Can that happen?! Yup!

Over lit Video

Over lit videos wash out all the details. An overexposed image can’t be fixed in editing. There’s no information in that image. So it’s just as bad as under lit video.

Unbalanced Video Lighting

Another problem happens when the lighting is too bright, especially in one area. Instead of balancing the the light, the video exposes for the darker area and the subject gets a hotspot, usually on their head somewhere. Check this out.

Unbalanced Light

This shot shows exactly what I’m talking about. The background is exposed correctly, but the subject – the girl – is completely over exposed. The lighting isn’t balanced and looks amateurish.

Ok, now you’ve watched the video. What do you think? Were you making some of those mistakes?

Now worries if you have. Now you can be your own hero and fix them yourself.

If you’re unsure, get some help over in my Facebook Group. It’s a totally chill place to get feedback and help for your video needs. If you missed the challenge, you can still sign up for the rest of the content here.

Which Mic is Best For Video – Dynamic or Condenser

Audio, Blog, Video

If you’re wondering which mic you should use for the best sound quality in your videos, you’re not alone. I get this question a lot. So let’s jump right in.

This question usually comes from videographers when they step up from either on in camera mic or they move up from an on camera mic. Now those might sound like the same thing to you, so let me help you see the difference. An in camera mic is the mic that comes built into most DSLR and video cameras. This mic usually sounds super thin and tinny.

In Camera Mic
In Camera Mic

People will step up from the in camera mic to the on camera mic. This is usually a mic that is mounted to the camera, either on the hot show on top of the camera or a cage built for the camera.

On Camera Mic
On Camera Mic

We’re going to look at microphones that aren’t in camera or on camera. I guess you could call these off camera mics, though most people would call them external mics.

TYPES OF MICS FOR VIDEO

In the world of mics, there are a couple of differences. The first would be the pickup or polar pattern. The pickup pattern refers to how much noise is rejected by the mic, usually by either distance or angle. If you want to know more about pickup patterns, read this.

What we’re going to be talking about are two other ways to single out mics – condenser and dynamic mics.

Condenser mics are just ones that require a little voltage to work. Some can be powered with a battery, but most use a trickle of voltage supplied through the mic cable. This is called phantom power, although it has nothing to do with ghosts. Almost all large diaphragm mics are condenser mics.

The other kind of mic you’ll find is called a dynamic mic. These mics don’t need power to run. Many hand-held mics are dynamic mics.

WHICH MIC IS BEST FOR VIDEO

So know you know the difference, but you still need to know which mic is best. That’s an answer you’ll need to make for the context of your video. Let’s talk about the sound quality of those two mics.

The condenser mic gets power. The power makes it more sensitive, especially at lower noise levels. If you need to capture the nuance of someone whispering in a quiet room, a condenser is the best option. If you want to get the best performance for all the subtleties of a singer, a condenser might be the best.

Basically, condenser mics work for videos where you can control the ambient noise or noise you don’t want captured by the mic. They are more fragile that dynamic mics too. So you’ll also probably only use them in controlled situations where they wouldn’t get bumped around too much.

Dynamic mics are the workhorse of live entertainment. These mics are less sensitive than condenser mics in general, but they handle more abuse and also louder sounds well. Dynamic mics are used to mic drums, loud guitar amps and people’s voices, so they’re fairly versatile, but you would probably never see them being used for a vocal in a studio.

HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR MIC

Maybe the best way to make this choice is to think about what situations you might face. If you’re shooting a punk rock band in a club with chicken wire in front of the stage, you probably want to go with the dynamic mic. And maybe a set of brass knuckles. If you’re shooting at home in an enclosed room where you can control the noise, a condenser might be the better choice.

But it really just depends on your usage. Here are a couple of things to think about.

How close can you get to your subject. The typical, large diaphragm mic used in studios do a horrible job at rejecting unwanted noise. So if you use them, for example, in your kitchen, shooting someone cooking, it’s going to pick up every plate clatter, every spoon tap and all the cooking sounds made while shooting. Kitchens often have a lot of hard surfaces that reflect sound. That means lots of reverb and echo. So, unless you can get really close to your subject, a condenser mic would have a difficult time with kitchen duty.

Another situation that would be hard for a condenser would be something like a yoga studio. It would be hard to close mic a yoga instructor with a large diaphragm condenser mic. This would again capture a lot of room noise, which probably wouldn’t be what you want.

A dynamic mic, on the other hand, would reject more noise in the kitchen, but would still need to be closer to the subject. This is easier because you can usually get a lapel mic for this type of work that can be fixed really close to your subject. The same would be true for the yoga instructor.

So as a general rule:

Condenser mics work best:

  • In closed rooms
  • Where the sound isn’t loud
  • When you can control extra noise

Dynamic mics work better for:

  • Louder environments
  • Where it might be more noisy
  • When you have less control over extra sounds

If this seems confusing, maybe watching a video would help.

If this has been helpful, you might consider getting my ebook, How to Unsuck Your Video. It covers everything I look at when evaluating videos and it has helpful tips in fixing all those problems it points out. Get it here.

How To Use Household Lighting For Your Videos

Blog, Video, Video Lighting

A lot of people don’t know it, but they already have the lighting they need in their house. Just because cheap lighting is more available now than it was years ago, doesn’t mean you have to go out and buy new lighting. Often what you have can be used to make great looking videos.

So here’s the deal. With most cameras, you can get decent results using your lamps and ceiling lights. It might require some modification and definitely some experimentation, but you can get great results from your household lights.

KINDS OF HOUSEHOLD LIGHTING

Household lighting, or practical lighting as they call it in studios, comes in several flavors. Most homes have a variety of over head lighting and lamps. Most of these lights use some kind of bulb. This is a great time to talk about bulbs.

Most homes have a mix of incandescent, fluorescent and LED light bulbs. You might also have halogen lights. Those are the ones you can cook an egg on from the heat generated by the bulb.

Incandescents are the ones most people grew up with and generally have a warmer, orangish hue. They’re usually not very bright and can be used easily in most situations. Incandescents can also be dimmed, which makes them a bit more flexible.

Fluorescents are the long tubes usually found in the kitchen, although they have come lately in a spiral tube that fits most lamps. These bulbs usually are a bit brighter and have more of a blue and sometimes green hue. Fluorescent tubes are great for creating softer shadows because are bigger. Older fluorescents tend to fade over time and flicker as they age. They also cannot be dimmed.

Lastly, there are LED bulbs. LEDs come in such variety that they deserve their own chapter in the book of lighting. They can be found in many different brightnesses, many different color temperatures and some can be dimmable. So when you go looking for LED lights, you really need to know what you want.

USING HOUSEHOLD LIGHTING

For this post, I’m going to focus on using lamps with LED bulbs, since they are easy to find and the most flexible. What I would start out with is the brightest LED bulb you can find. You will probably also want to get one that is daylight balanced. That means it’s rated at around 5500k (k stands for Kelvin, the measurement used for color temperature).

Here’s where all the fun experimentation comes in. I used a regular table lamp with a 150 watt approximated bulb rated at 5500k. I picked it up at my hardware store. The one I got is dimmable, but I didn’t use that for this video. Beware of dimmable LEDs. They can sometimes cause flickering in your videos depending on your shutter speed and the way it dims.

I set my light up exactly the way I would a softbox light or and umbrella light. It was slightly the to right and slightly above my head. This is a standard lighting setup.

Here’s the video where you can see what I did.

I also had some window light from behind me that helped fill in the room with ambient light. The great thing about household lighting is that you don’t have to pay a lot of money for them. You can experiment as much as you want without spending a dime.

If this post has been helpful, get my free resource to help you unsuck your videos. No worries. It’s just a self-audit to show you what I look for in my own videos that make me cringe. It also shows you how to fix those problems.

The Secret For How To Use Umbrella Lighting For VIdeo

Blog, Video, Video Lighting

Umbrella lighting – lots of people have it, few actually know how to use it well. Even fewer know how to get the most out of your umbrella lighting set-up. But you will in just a couple of minutes.

Umbrella lights are one of the best investments for new videographers. They’re inexpensive, portable, and easy to set-up. There are probably thousands of umbrella light kits on Amazon with three lights for around $50. This makes umbrella lighting accessible.

The problem is that those kits don’t come with any training. A lot of kits don’t even tell you how to assemble them. Enter all the problems stage left.

WHAT MAKES AN UMBRELLA LIGHT?

I know this sounds like it’s redundant, but trust me, this needs to be written in stone. I’ve seen so many people using something they call an umbrella light that just isn’t.

The basics. An umbrella light used for video just has an expandable umbrella of diffusion material between the light and the subject you want to light. It’s usually set-up like this.

how to umbrella light

There are some umbrella lights that are reflective on the inside. While technically those are umbrella lights, they’re generally used for strobe photography, not video. If you have the reflective umbrella lights, you can point to umbrella away from the subject and let only the reflections shine out.

HOW UMBRELLA LIGHTS WORK

OK, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about using an umbrella light. The goal of an umbrella light is to soften the light on your subject. It does this through a diffusion silk. The diffuser really just makes the light bigger. Here’s how that works.

When the light source projects all that light, it’s the size of the bulb (or bulbs if you have a multiple bulb source). The umbrella is much bigger than the bulb, so when the light from the bulb hits the umbrella, light permeates the diffuser, making the diffuser the size of the light instead of the bulb.

The size of the diffuser creates soft shadows that most people prefer for videos. This is the reason umbrella lights work.

HOW TO USE UMBRELLA LIGHTS

The biggest change you will see in umbrella lights will come from movement. Most of the time, simply moving the umbrella closer to the subject will change the light. The closer the umbrella is the the subject, the less soft the shadows will be and the brighter the light will be.

You can also change the distance from the bulb to the inside of the umbrella in most lighting kits. Changing the distance between the bulb and the umbrella changes the diffusion of the light, making it softer or sharper, but it also changes the brightness What does that mean?

If you want your umbrella light to be softer, either change the distance from the subject or change the distance (make the gap bigger) from the light bulb to the umbrella.

That’s it really. And when I say that’s it, what I mean is, “Welcome to the glorious world of experimentation.” It’s similar to giving a child a box of crayons and paper and telling them, “That’s it.”

There are so many ways you can use an umbrella light. Watch this video if you want the visual scoop on how to use umbrella lights.

If you’re trying to up your video game, why not download my free guide. It’ll give you the perspective of almost 20 years of creating videos and tell you a lot of tips like this one on how to make them better.