How To Take Android Videos Like A Pro
By Stanley Meytin
We all love to share our videos online, and the quickest way to do that is by taking them with our phones. Unfortunately, it always seems like when we capture our favorite moments the picture quality is far from what we’d hoped for. Lucky for you, it’s not your phone, it’s you. If you’re ready to start taking Android videos that are worth sharing online, consider these suggestions.
Prepare Your Phone
Whether you’re heading out to a video shoot or local convert, you want to make sure your phone is at it’s best. Here are a few things you should always do before taking video with your smartphone.
Clean Your Camera Lens
Cleaning the camera lenses sounds simple enough, but you’ve probably never done it before. Even the smallest dust specs or hairs can affect your Android video quality, so take a second to wipe it down before you shoot anything. A moist cloth works best, but there’s no shame in using the sleeve of your shirt. Avoid using tissues or napkins as they can sometimes leave behind more than they’re removing.
Check Your Settings
Your smartphone offers a number of video options that can significantly improve your picture quality. While cell phones still don’t come close to professional video equipment, they do have several resolution and frame rates to choose from. In your video settings, you will see options like 1080p at 30 frames per second. The “p” stands for the number of pixels per frame and improves the image quality as numbers increase. Frames per second offer the video more fluidity as the numbers go up, and allow you to shoot in slow or speed up motion.
Ensure You Have The Necessary Storage
There’s nothing worse than seeing that dreaded message come up on your phone’s screen informing you that you don’t have enough storage space to take a video, leaving you scrambling to delete unused apps and old pictures. Check your phone’s storage before you plan on taking any videos to ensure you never fail to capture the moment. The higher the video quality is, the more room it will require. If you’re taking lengthy videos or plan to capture multiple takes of a scene you’ve scripted, consider moving large files from your phone to an external hard drive.
Use Proper Lighting
It’s easy to tell a video was taken by an amateur when the lighting is off. If you want your Android or iPhone video to look professional, pay close attention to how lighting sources are affecting your video picture quality. These are the best lighting options for taking videos with your smartphone.
Natural Lighting
Both Android videos and iPhone videos are best taken outdoors or in a room that offers optimal natural lighting. The most faltering outdoor lighting occurs when the sun is low on the horizon, which occurs for a few hours after sunrise and before sunset. Keep in mind that both the weather as well as the time of the year can impact your video’s lighting when filming outdoors.
Lamps
When filming at night or a poorly lit room, adding lamps or other light sources seem like a natural solution. However, most light bulbs have a slight yellow hue that can give the subjects in your video an unnatural tone. If you don’t have professional lighting equipment, it’s recommended that you use fluorescent lights. Take a few test shots if you’re unsure what kinds of light bulbs you have on hand.
Avoid Certain Angles
Certain lighting angles will create shadows and overexposure that will completely ruin your video. If you’re using a window to provide the lighting for your video, make sure the subject isn’t standing in front of it. Backlighting often creates a silhouette effect that you’re likely not going for. Instead, have the subject face the window and capture the video with your back to the light source. Additionally, you don’t want to be pointing the camera directly at a light source or lamp as you’ll risk washing out your subject. The best thing to do is to take a few test videos and make any necessary adjustments to your lighting.
Position Your Phone
When you’re trying to take an Android video like a pro, how you position your phone is critical. In order to get quality results, there are a few things you should avoid.
Landscape vs. Portrait
Always capture video with your phone in landscape position to avoid those pesky black bars on the sides of your content. It ensures your video will be compatible with all social media platforms and significantly improves the quality.
Keep The Camera Steady
The best way to avoid a shaky video is to use a tripod. While they specially make tripods for smartphones, if you’re only taking one or two videos then it might not be worth your investment. As an alternative, you can prop your phone up on a table or chair and get the same results.
Framing
Likely you’ll want your subject to be centered in your camera frame. Get as close as possible and avoid using your phone’s zoom feature as it reduces the quality. If you’re looking to capture the zoom effect, strap your phone to a scooter or chair with wheels instead.
Improve Sound Quality
The microphone on our cell phones are great for talking on speakerphone, but they just don’t cut it when it comes to capturing a video. Unless you plan to dub music over your content, then consider the following approaches.
Use An External Microphone
Your phone’s built-in microphone will capture unwanted sound from all directions, which heavily distorts your video’s audio. An external unidirectional microphone is recommended as it will only pick up sound from one direction, making it ideal for capturing dialog.
Find A Quiet Location
Even with a microphone, you’ll still want to shoot your video in a quiet location if possible. If you’re filming outdoors on a windy day, you might have to stand behind a building or structure that blocks it. Avoid tunnels, stairways, and anywhere that creates an echo. Having your subject stand as close as possible to the microphone can help to improve audio quality as well.
Try Voice Overs
Voice overs can save your video’s audio quality, and it’s relatively easy to do. There are software options as well as numerous apps that can transform your Android videos from amateur to pro in no time. If you’ve already taken video content, but you’re unhappy with the sound quality, this option can allow you to find some use for anything you’ve already shot.
Work With Video Editing Programs
Now that you’ve shot your video you can either post it as is, or you can take some time to edit it. Opting to edit the footage often makes it look for professional, and in turn, the content will be taken more seriously.
Play With Standard Editing Features
Your phone’s camera likely comes with some standard video editing features. These are usually nothing more than the option to add filters, text, music, and trimming the length of your content. If you’re looking for a quick fix, these editing features can transform your Android video with just a few clicks.
Use Video Editing Apps
There are a ton of video editing apps that you can download to your phone that offers more features that can help to give your content a more professional appearance. They allow you to combine numerous video clips and images in a sensible order, either manually or automatically based on what the app finds most compelling. Other editing features you can find in your app store allow you to do voice-overs, add special effects, subtitles, and so much more.
Now that you know what you need to do to take quality Android videos, the next step is to take action. With each video you record, your skills will develop, and you’ll advance from rookie to pro in no time. Your audience is sure to take notice and who knows, your next video could go viral!
Reading Time: 6 minutes
By Stanley Meytin
We all love to share our videos online, and the quickest way to do that is by taking them with our phones. Unfortunately, it always seems like when we capture our favorite moments the picture quality is far from what we’d hoped for. Lucky for you, it’s not your phone, it’s you. If you’re ready to start taking Android videos that are worth sharing online, consider these suggestions.
Prepare Your Phone
Whether you’re heading out to a video shoot or local convert, you want to make sure your phone is at it’s best. Here are a few things you should always do before taking video with your smartphone.
Clean Your Camera Lens
Cleaning the camera lenses sounds simple enough, but you’ve probably never done it before. Even the smallest dust specs or hairs can affect your Android video quality, so take a second to wipe it down before you shoot anything. A moist cloth works best, but there’s no shame in using the sleeve of your shirt. Avoid using tissues or napkins as they can sometimes leave behind more than they’re removing.
Check Your Settings
Your smartphone offers a number of video options that can significantly improve your picture quality. While cell phones still don’t come close to professional video equipment, they do have several resolution and frame rates to choose from. In your video settings, you will see options like 1080p at 30 frames per second. The “p” stands for the number of pixels per frame and improves the image quality as numbers increase. Frames per second offer the video more fluidity as the numbers go up, and allow you to shoot in slow or speed up motion.
Ensure You Have The Necessary Storage
There’s nothing worse than seeing that dreaded message come up on your phone’s screen informing you that you don’t have enough storage space to take a video, leaving you scrambling to delete unused apps and old pictures. Check your phone’s storage before you plan on taking any videos to ensure you never fail to capture the moment. The higher the video quality is, the more room it will require. If you’re taking lengthy videos or plan to capture multiple takes of a scene you’ve scripted, consider moving large files from your phone to an external hard drive.
Use Proper Lighting
It’s easy to tell a video was taken by an amateur when the lighting is off. If you want your Android or iPhone video to look professional, pay close attention to how lighting sources are affecting your video picture quality. These are the best lighting options for taking videos with your smartphone.
Natural Lighting
Both Android videos and iPhone videos are best taken outdoors or in a room that offers optimal natural lighting. The most faltering outdoor lighting occurs when the sun is low on the horizon, which occurs for a few hours after sunrise and before sunset. Keep in mind that both the weather as well as the time of the year can impact your video’s lighting when filming outdoors.
Lamps
When filming at night or a poorly lit room, adding lamps or other light sources seem like a natural solution. However, most light bulbs have a slight yellow hue that can give the subjects in your video an unnatural tone. If you don’t have professional lighting equipment, it’s recommended that you use fluorescent lights. Take a few test shots if you’re unsure what kinds of light bulbs you have on hand.
Avoid Certain Angles
Certain lighting angles will create shadows and overexposure that will completely ruin your video. If you’re using a window to provide the lighting for your video, make sure the subject isn’t standing in front of it. Backlighting often creates a silhouette effect that you’re likely not going for. Instead, have the subject face the window and capture the video with your back to the light source. Additionally, you don’t want to be pointing the camera directly at a light source or lamp as you’ll risk washing out your subject. The best thing to do is to take a few test videos and make any necessary adjustments to your lighting.
Position Your Phone
When you’re trying to take an Android video like a pro, how you position your phone is critical. In order to get quality results, there are a few things you should avoid.
Landscape vs. Portrait
Always capture video with your phone in landscape position to avoid those pesky black bars on the sides of your content. It ensures your video will be compatible with all social media platforms and significantly improves the quality.
Keep The Camera Steady
The best way to avoid a shaky video is to use a tripod. While they specially make tripods for smartphones, if you’re only taking one or two videos then it might not be worth your investment. As an alternative, you can prop your phone up on a table or chair and get the same results.
Framing
Likely you’ll want your subject to be centered in your camera frame. Get as close as possible and avoid using your phone’s zoom feature as it reduces the quality. If you’re looking to capture the zoom effect, strap your phone to a scooter or chair with wheels instead.
Improve Sound Quality
The microphone on our cell phones are great for talking on speakerphone, but they just don’t cut it when it comes to capturing a video. Unless you plan to dub music over your content, then consider the following approaches.
Use An External Microphone
Your phone’s built-in microphone will capture unwanted sound from all directions, which heavily distorts your video’s audio. An external unidirectional microphone is recommended as it will only pick up sound from one direction, making it ideal for capturing dialog.
Find A Quiet Location
Even with a microphone, you’ll still want to shoot your video in a quiet location if possible. If you’re filming outdoors on a windy day, you might have to stand behind a building or structure that blocks it. Avoid tunnels, stairways, and anywhere that creates an echo. Having your subject stand as close as possible to the microphone can help to improve audio quality as well.
Try Voice Overs
Voice overs can save your video’s audio quality, and it’s relatively easy to do. There are software options as well as numerous apps that can transform your Android videos from amateur to pro in no time. If you’ve already taken video content, but you’re unhappy with the sound quality, this option can allow you to find some use for anything you’ve already shot.
Work With Video Editing Programs
Now that you’ve shot your video you can either post it as is, or you can take some time to edit it. Opting to edit the footage often makes it look for professional, and in turn, the content will be taken more seriously.
Play With Standard Editing Features
Your phone’s camera likely comes with some standard video editing features. These are usually nothing more than the option to add filters, text, music, and trimming the length of your content. If you’re looking for a quick fix, these editing features can transform your Android video with just a few clicks.
Use Video Editing Apps
There are a ton of video editing apps that you can download to your phone that offers more features that can help to give your content a more professional appearance. They allow you to combine numerous video clips and images in a sensible order, either manually or automatically based on what the app finds most compelling. Other editing features you can find in your app store allow you to do voice-overs, add special effects, subtitles, and so much more.
Now that you know what you need to do to take quality Android videos, the next step is to take action. With each video you record, your skills will develop, and you’ll advance from rookie to pro in no time. Your audience is sure to take notice and who knows, your next video could go viral!
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