Achieving cinematic footage on your mobile phone has never been easier. The onboard camera controls on most smartphones are great, but to get the most control out of your images, follow these tips!
Remember the light
A good general rule of thumb for video is the higher the frame rate, the more light you will need. So if you’re trying to capture 60, 120, or 240 frames per second slo-mo, it’s best that you do it in good lighting conditions.
Pro tip: Tap anywhere on the screen to focus and expose on that portion of the image.
Watch your storage
More pixels take up more space, but also give you more flexibility for editing.
Even if you don’t intend to share your final video in 4K, it’s worth capturing in 4K for the most flexibility when you edit (ex: cropping), and then export your final video in 1080p. Of course, this takes up more space on your phone so double check your storage!
Pro tip: Tap and hold to lock auto focus and auto exposure.
Lock it in
Shoot a lot of videos and want the camera to be in video mode anytime you open it? It’s possible!
On iOS go to Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings > toggle ‘Camera Mode’ on
Pro tip: Swipe your finger up or down as you tap (or tap and hold) to adjust exposure.
Don’t forget about the sound
It seems obvious, but sound plays a big part in a video experience. If you’re outdoors and it’s windy, try to shield your phone’s microphone.
If you’re capturing a sound source that is distant from the camera, try to use a remote microphone or ask a friend to use their phone to record sound.
Pro tip: Turn on the grid. This helps with framing and composing your subject in the frame.
Capture the color
If you like to really go big when it comes to retouching color/looks of your video, apps like Filmic Pro and others have a D-LOG mode.
D-LOG lets you capture a low- contrast, desaturated, raw video, offering you flexibility for color correction.
Do not disturb
Imagine filming, and then in the middle of capturing the best moment ever, your phone rings. Womp womp. Enable ‘Do Not Disturb’ mode when you plan on capturing longer scenes so that doesn’t happen.
Get vertical
You might have some existing videos you’d like to convert into a vertical format. Apps like Wave (desktop) and InShot do this.
InShot Pro tip: start a new project, pick your horizontal (16:9) video, tap on ‘canvas’, pick 9:16 and pan and zoom the video frame to center it where you want.
