- This is the complete updated guide
to shooting videos with your iPhone.
We'll cover everything step-by-step
so that you'll learn exactly how to film with iPhone,
with all the latest camera settings, tools,
and iPhone video tips to get awesome results.
Hey, it's Justin Brown here from Primal Video,
where we help you grow an audience
and scale your revenue with online video.
If you are seeing value in this video,
make sure you're giving it a thumbs up.
It makes a huge difference.
And all the links to everything I mentioned in this video,
you can find the link in the description box below.
Let's jump into it.
So we've created video guys like this before,
and the comments have always been awesome.
But it's been a few years now
and there's been some big updates
on the iOS software side of things.
But also in the iPhone cameras as well.
So in this updated version,
we'll cover off on the latest tips,
plus all the coolest gear I recommend right now,
and all the key settings and steps that you need
to get the most out of your iPhone camera.
Now, to be perfectly clear,
you don't need any additional gear to get great results
following along with the process that I'm about to show you.
But I will mention some of the low-cost tools that I'm using
to get even better results as we go through.
And just like last time, don't worry about taking notes.
We've put together a quick start reference guide
that you can download for free and follow along with
next time you're filming.
So make sure you're sticking around to the end
for that link.
Okay, so step number one
is to prepare your content for filming.
I know this one sounds pretty obvious when you hear it,
but it's gonna be much easier
for you to create an amazing video,
if you've done a little bit of preparation work upfront,
instead of just trying to wing it
or figure it all out while you're in front of the camera.
So what I'm talking about here
is doing a little bit of preparation work.
Either just jotting down a few bullet points
that you wanna cover,
or it could be a full-on word for word script,
that you're gonna read out for your content.
Either way, this is gonna help you
create your content faster
and have the content be more succinct
and engaging for your viewers.
Step number two is to find a suitable location for filming.
So the ideal location would be something
that's not too distracting for your viewers
with whatever's going on in the background
and also being mindful of any background noise
or noise in the area that you're filming.
So you wanna be mindful of things like
a lot of kids playing around outside or
someone mowing the lawn or using a leaf blower,
or planes flying overhead.
It can be really distracting for you creating the content,
but also distracting for your viewers,
watching your videos back afterwards.
So you wanna try and find a place
with as minimal background noise as possible.
You also wanna try and find a place
that matches the overall feel
or vibe you're going for in your videos.
So the background matches the content that you're producing.
So it wouldn't really make sense to have
a cooking video filmed in a gym.
Likewise, with your content,
you wanna make sure that it's congruent
with what you're saying,
and where you're actually shooting it.
Now the most ideal location as well
would ideally be something
where you can just set everything up and leave it set up.
If you're gonna be filming in the living room of your home,
then you could have people rocking up.
You could have to set up and pack up
every time you wanna shoot a video
adding to that procrastination,
or the extra effort that's gonna go into you just
quickly shooting some content.
So the ideal scenario and the ideal location
would be somewhere,
where you can leave everything set up,
just walk in, turn everything on,
and you're good to go creating content.
The next step then is to decide if you're going to be using
the selfie camera, the front facing camera,
or the primary camera,
the main one on the back of your device.
And there are pros and cons of each.
So if you're someone who wants
the highest quality video recording out of your iPhone,
then you'll wanna be using that primary camera
on the back of the device.
But, it's gonna make it pretty hard
for you to shoot videos like this yourself,
because you won't be able
to quickly glance across at the screen,
check that you're in focus,
that you're actually recording,
because the screen is gonna be facing the other way.
But we have done a video on this channel,
and I'll link it up in the cards
and below in the description,
with a few different options for you
if you are gonna be shooting videos solo,
and using the back primary cameras on your device.
So the other option you've got then
is to use the front facing camera,
the selfie camera on your phone.
Now, while it's not as good
as the cameras on the back of your device,
this is still going to be more than enough
for you to create amazing looking videos
and to do it much easier
because you're able to see yourself
quickly glancing across at your phone screen,
to make sure that everything is all good
while you're recording.
So what I'm shooting this video on right now,
is the front facing camera on an iPhone 12 Pro.
And this is what it looks like.
But you definitely need to make sure
that you are making eye contact with the camera lens,
and not with the phone screen.
So if I'm looking at the phone screen now,
we see people do this all the time.
They're looking at themselves.
You need to be making eye contact with the viewers,
which is where you're looking at the camera lens.
So, if you're using the selfie cam, eyes on the lens.
The next one then is another obvious one when you hear it.
But a lot of people don't do it.
And that is to clean your camera lens.
These are our phones.
They are up against our faces.
They could have fingerprints, dirt, makeup,
whatever on them,
all covering that camera lens or smearing it,
creating a lower quality blurrier video
at the end of the day.
So you really wanna build that habit,
that before you take any photos or videos with your phone,
that you are cleaning that camera lens.
So, ideally you would be using some sort of
microfiber cloth or lens cleaning cloth
that you might get with your glasses,
to make sure that you're not gonna scratch the lens.
But whatever you've got access to,
as long as it's a soft material, will probably be fine.
The next step is to stabilize
and position your phone for filming.
So unless you're after that shaky
"Blair Witch" style footage,
then ideally here, you're gonna be trying to get your phone
out of your hands wherever possible.
Just holding your phone out in your hands
is one of the most unstable places that you can put it.
Even using something like a selfie stick
is going to give you a much better result
at taking some of that shake out.
But ideally if you are going to be moving around,
then that's when you could be looking
at something like a Gimbal stabilizer, like the Osmo Mobile,
which will really take all the shake and movement out of it.
But if you're not gonna be moving around
and you're just gonna create a locked off shot,
like this one, where there is no movement,
then really you can use whatever it is you've got access to,
to get your phone to the right height.
So that the camera lens that you're going to be using
is just below eye level.
And I do mean ever so slightly below eye level.
That'll stop any of the up the nose shots,
or you looking right up to the camera.
So to get your phone to the right height,
whether you're gonna be sitting or standing,
this is where a tripod is gonna make your life so easy.
And there's all different sized ones,
from ones that will work well on a desk,
to ones that will go right up to standing height.
And we'll have links to our recommendations
down in the description below.
But one great all rounder,
and the one that I'm using here for this video
is just a $20 Arkon tripod.
It'll let you Mount your phone
in both portrait and in landscape so you're covered,
no matter what type of videos you wanna create.
And you can see in the case of this video right here,
I've just used a box to lift it up,
to get it to the right height.
So you don't need to have access to the world's best gear.
You could probably use
something that you've already got lying around the house,
or, couple it with some really cheap gear as well.
Now for you, it could be that
you're just placing your phone up on a bookcase,
or a TV cabinet,
or whatever it is that you've got access to,
just make sure that your phone is at the right height
and that is out of your hands wherever possible.
The next step is to set up your lighting.
Now, the most important thing with lighting
is to light yourself
or the subject of your video up first.
And then if you've got access to any additional lights,
then use those to light up the background.
Now, if you don't have any lights,
then you can use
the natural light coming through the window,
which is what I'm doing here.
But really any sort of lines that you've got lying around
can help improve your shot.
So whether it's a desktop light, a bedside table light,
you can bring it into your shot
to maybe even up some of the shadows
that you might have on your face.
Or to use it to get creative
and light up something in the background.
Now, a great portable, cheap LED light
that I use, I love, and I recommend,
is the Yongyuo YN300 Air.
Crazy name, good light.
And it's actually what I'm using here right now.
So I'm currently sitting in front of a big window.
I've got lots of natural light coming in through that.
And I'm using the Yongyuo light just as a fill light
to fill in some of those shadows.
So if I go ahead and turn that light off now,
then this is what it looks like.
So it's not a massive difference,
but I'm definitely a lot darker in the shot.
And I don't stand out from the background as much.
And now that you've got your lighting sorted,
the next step is to connect to your microphone.
Now, I would say that your audio
is probably the most important piece of your video.
If you've got distorted or scratchy audio,
it's gonna be very distracting for your viewers.
And it's gonna be very hard for them
to be engaged with your content,
and to stick around watching it.
Now, what I would strongly suggest
is that you're using an external microphone,
an additional microphone,
not just relying on the one that is built into your iPhone.
Now, if that's all you've got access to
then still create videos.
But I would say that if you're gonna spend
money on one thing, it should be your microphone.
And you can get an amazing microphone just for $20.
That is definitely going to level up
the audio in your videos.
The microphone that I'm using right now for this one
is a $20 Lavalier microphone called the Boya BY-M1.
And it's actually what we've used
for a lot of the videos on our YouTube channel as well.
This thing has a ridiculously long cable,
and it will work on cameras, smartphones,
and even computers.
And another option,
if you're looking for something wireless,
the Rode Wireless Go is probably our best
bang for buck recommendation for a wireless microphone.
And you can purchase an adapter
so that it will work with your iPhone as well.
Now, another great option
if you're gonna be moving around
and you don't wanna be physically cabled in,
and connected to your phone
and you still wanna get great audio,
it would be to look at a little mini shotgun microphone
and Rode make a great one,
the Rode Videomicro.
So, again, links are in the description box below.
But getting great audio here is really key
to having an amazing video.
Now, if you're on one of those newer iPhones
that doesn't have that headphone jack plug,
then you will need to get
a lightning to headphone jack connector adapter,
so that you can plug in the microphone.
Next up, we're gonna prepare our phone for filming.
So you wanna make sure
that you've got enough storage on your device,
to hold the videos that you're about to create.
So it could be that you're going through,
you're doing a backup,
of all the photos and videos and stuff that are on there,
whether it's to iCloud,
whether you're copying them off to your computer,
but you're removing them off your device
to free up some storage,
so that you're not gonna run out
halfway through creating a video.
And another thing you don't wanna run out of
halfway through filming is your battery life.
So you wanna make sure that you are prepped
and you have charged your phone fully before recording
'cause sometimes,
these things take a lot longer than we think.
And if you're going into it
with only a small percentage of battery,
you might run out, and that can be pretty frustrating.
You'll also wanna lock in
the recording quality for your videos as well.
So you need to choose
if you're gonna be shooting at 1080p or 4K.
Now this will be dependent on which device
and which camera you're using
as to what options you will have access to.
Now as a general rule,
I'd say wherever possible to try and shoot your videos
at the highest quality possible for your device.
So if you've got the ability to shoot in 4K,
then shoot in 4K.
If that's 1080, then set it to 1080.
If you've only got access to shoot videos
at 720p on your device, still create videos.
It's not going to be detrimental
to the growth of your YouTube channel
or the performance of your videos.
But wherever possible,
I would say you should be aiming for 1080p at a minimum.
And the main reason I say,
shoot your videos in the highest quality possible,
is that you can always compress,
or you can always lower the quality of the video afterwards,
but you can never go back.
So start with the highest quality.
Now there's one more setting
that I wanna bring your attention to.
And that's HEVC recording.
And you get to turn this on or off.
So it's high efficiency or high compression,
for your videos that you're capturing.
So it does mean that you'll be able to capture
still great looking videos,
but there'll be smaller file sizes
because they are compressed.
But the downside of doing this is
depending on which video editing software you're using,
that they might not be able to play these back
or edit these back right now.
Or some of your computers might not be powerful enough
to decode and to edit these files efficiently.
So for me personally, I always turn this off.
So that way I know that my footage can be easily edited
on pretty much any device or any computer.
Now, I'd also strongly advise
that you were putting your phone into airplane mode,
or do not disturb mode,
so that you're able to block or stop
any notifications or phone calls or anything coming through
while you're recording.
Absolute best case.
It's going to annoy you a little bit
or distract you a little bit.
Maybe break your train of thought
while you're creating your content.
But worst case, it could actually stop the video recording,
or it could even remove everything
that you had recorded up to that point.
So, it's good practice
just to try and stop any notifications
or any distractions coming in while you're filming.
Next up, you wanna lock down your camera settings
so that nothing is changing
while you're recording your videos.
So here you wanna open up the camera app.
You wanna switch over to video mode.
You wanna select the camera lens
that you're going to be using,
make any adjustments to the framing of your shot.
And then you just wanna tap and hold
on the area that you wanna set the exposure
and the focus for.
And if you keep holding that down,
a little box will pop up saying AE/AF Lock.
Auto exposure and auto focus lock.
And this means that your brightness and your focus
is locked at that point.
So ideally you're doing it with yourself
or whoever is gonna be on camera.
That's what you're tapping on
to set that focus and exposure.
Now, if you're tryna do this yourself,
then I suggest bringing in some sort of a placeholder.
A pillow or a backpack
or something that you can put in the position
that you're gonna be sitting or standing in.
And you set the focus and exposure to that.
Then you just move it out of the way when you're good to go.
Now, after you've locked that focus and exposure,
if you wanna make any brightness adjustments
to make it brighter or darker,
then you can just tap on the screen,
and swipe up or down slowly.
And it will make those minor adjustments
to make your shot brighter or darker.
Once you let go, that is where your shot will be locked.
And the reason you wanna do this,
is so that your phone isn't automatically adjusting,
going brighter or darker,
or even shifting focus to other things in your shot
while you're recording.
So this gives you full control,
knowing that how you set it,
it will stay for the entire length of your video.
Now, there are some amazing apps that take this much further
and allow you to really lock everything down
and give you DSLR like settings in your iPhone.
Our top recommended aftermarket
or third-party camera app to do that, is Filmic Pro.
This is an amazing app.
It works on iOS and Android.
And we have dedicated tutorials on that again,
that I will link down below.
Now, we're almost at the point
where we're ready to create our content.
But there's one more step that is super important
that can save you a ton of headaches and wasted time.
And that is to create a short test video.
So what I'm talking about here
is getting everything set up, ready to go,
as if it's the real deal,
where you get into position,
you've got your lighting, you got everything sorted.
You press record and you record for five, 10, 20 seconds.
And you present
as if you're actually going to be presenting as well.
And then you stop recording and you play it back
so that you can check that everything
is the way that you wanted,
that it looks good, that it sounds good,
that everything is working properly
before you actually get into your real content.
This is gonna save you so much time,
because if there was any issues
or anything that wasn't working properly,
you're able to catch that in that 20 seconds,
instead of finding out later,
when you go to playback or you go to edit your video.
Now the biggest thing to watch here,
and this is speaking from experience
is that obviously to play back the video
and to hear that it sounds good,
you'll have to unplug your microphone.
So you've gotta make sure that afterwards,
when you've done your test,
that you're plugging your microphone back in.
It's a simple one to forget.
Even after your test goes well,
if you don't plug your microphone back in,
you could create a terrible sounding video.
So you wanna make sure that you are plugging that back in,
do a quick sanity check again,
to make sure that everything is all good.
And then the next step
is where we actually record our video content.
So this is where we're pressing that big record button
and we are presenting to camera.
Now, a couple of things to keep in mind
while you are recording.
The first one I've already mentioned that
is to keep your eyes on the camera lens.
Whether it's the front facing camera or the back camera,
you wanna make sure that
you are keeping eye contact with the viewers,
and not looking at yourself.
You also wanna be mindful
of anything that's going on around you
that could be distracting for your viewers.
So it could be something that's going on in the background.
People walking past.
It could be that there's a big truck that's parked outside
or airplanes going over.
And the noise is filtering through into your video.
So you wanna be aware of those things.
And it could be that you just pause your video recording
until that distraction goes away.
Or, you move to another location
where that's not gonna be an issue.
But all that's left then is just for you to focus
on creating your amazing video.
Now, earlier in the video,
I said I would be sharing with you
your free downloadable checklist
of everything that we covered off in this video,
for you to download and print out and use,
next time you're creating your videos
so that you don't miss any of these steps.
There is a link to that guide onscreen now,
and below in the description.
And I'll see you in the next.