Ahoj! I've been using smartphone gimbal with monopod many times in my past videos and I
get lot of questions from you. Lot of people are asking. How are you really doing that?
What modes are you using? How you operating the smartphone gimbal? etc. etc. etc. So,
in today's I am gonna be doing some creative shots with smartphone gimbal and monopod to
cover the large angel shots. Some people refer to it as fake drone shots even though those
are completely different because you cannot simply fake a drone. You really have to send
it out. But you still get that kind of a bird's eye perspective. Little bit higher perspective
especially if you are petite person. The stuff we don't normally see from eye level, from
this eye level. So let's get going. Majority of those creative shots you can do with any
gimbal. And for the new faces, welcome. My name is Zdenka Darula. If your passion is
photography and video, consider subscribing to this channel. Let's start with what you
need. Obviously you need a smartphone and a gimbal. I am gonna be using today Hohem
iSteady V2. I have reviewed this gimbal 2 or 3 weeks ago. Everything I am gonna be showing
in today's video is linked below in video description. You will also need a lightweight,
as long as possible monopod to be able to create very large movements. If your gimbal
comes with a selfie stick, you can use that as well. But the angle shots will be quite
limited because you are not gonna be able to reach that high or that far. Let's start
with just basic shots and build it up all the way to very creative ones which have not
been shown on this channel yet. Everything I am gonna be filming today is gonna be filmed
in Protake app. Hohem iSteady has very good stabilization however, Protake app can give
me extra level of stabilization. I am also gonna be filming everything in just automatic
mode in 60fps because some of the clips I would like to slow down in a post. I would
be able to play with them little bit. You can film in 24fps or 30, it doesn't matter.
If you want to keep the clips in a real speed. First shot is just standing on the spot, facing
the camera to the ground and slowly lift the monopod up. I am using all follow mode because
I want the tilt motors to be unlocked. And I am slowly revealing the location.
And you can absolutely do the same thing if you gonna be walking forward and you lift it up or walking
backwards, lift if up or even if you go sideways. The best lens to use is ultra wide angle lens
because it's gonna look that you are even higher.
I am gonna go backwards.
You can also do the grand reveal in tilt lock mode. If you want to start let's say behind the bush
or tall grass like in a flash light position and just go up. Now, some of the gimbals don't
have very large tilt movement like this gimbal as well. So this is the maximum I can really
get. What I do to help to get that angle even bigger, I just added a mini tripod, sorry
mini ball head on a monopod to help to get the angle up.
And same applies with variations. You can go forward, you can go backwards, you can go sideways.
Since I also have selfie stick for this gimbal, I am gonna show the same shot with a selfie stick. This one has
actually an elbow so you band it towards you. And as you can see the movement is not that
high. This is probably the maximum I can just lift. But you can still get pretty good idea
of the location.
Walking side shot. If you happen to be in the middle of a tall trees
with beautiful flowers or some fruit or you know just tall bush or even in the middle
of the buildings, you might want to lift your monopod very high and you might want to do
a side shot. For this one you want to select tilt follow mode because you don't want the
phone to go accidently up or down, you want to stay in the same level. If you gonna be
doing this shot in the middle of the building just make sure you don't film in the windows.
You don't want to invade the privacy.
Walking forward shot. The same thing like going sideways.
The mode you are going to select is tilt lock mode because you don't want the gimbal to
go this way. You want to stay as you are walking forward and you might show a scene where you
are getting from one place to the other. Now, you don't want to really do a clip which is
40 seconds long because nobody is gonna stay watching it for that long. So you can just
walk to the long take and then in a post you can speed up some of the parts and add a blur
effect. That way you will still get the message across, you will show that you are moving
from place to place.
I really like using monopod whenever I am on some kind of a structure.
It can be gazebo, it can be very high patio and stuff like that because that way when
I raise the monopod, I can get the kind bird's eye perspective. I can look down over it.
And for that one I like to use all follow mode.
Straight up shot on your friend. If
you happen to be with your friend in a park like I was a while ago with my friend Martina,
what I did, I just basically had her lay down on a porch, I had my camera facing on her,
I was using ultra wide angle lens and tilt lock mode making sure the camera doesn't move
on me. And very simply I was lifting the gimbal up and down. If you happen to see your feet
in a shot, if you are not on a raised platform and you have a trouble with that, try using
just standard lens instead.
Up till this point I've been talking a lot about filming with
ultra wide angle lens but you can also film with standard lens if you have already enough
ultra wide angle shots and you can use monopod for that for hard reachable areas. Such as
windows, car, branches or trees. Now, the mode I am using for this one is tilt lock
mode but sometimes you can also use follow mode.
Another idea for creative shots would
be using FPV mode. If you use monopod and you go very low to the ground, you are not
gonna kill your back and you can also mix it with shots very high up. Ultra wide angle
lens will help you so the movement looks even faster.
Next 2 shots will be very much equipment
specific. You will need a gimbal which comes with a remote. This one has a remote, that's
why I have it on my hand and I am controlling everything from my hand. Otherwise there are
few other gimbals on the market which already have a remote. I might link them below in
case you are still in a market. Basically on this first shot what I am gonna be doing,
I am gonna be walking forward or walking sideways. As I will have the gimbal very high in the
air, I am gonna be panning to the side. Being able to tilt or pan while you have your gimbal
very high will give you many more possibilities for creative shots. To be able to do this
shot, what I did, I went to Hohem pro app and I changed the settings for the gimbal
for the joystick to slow so all the tilt and pan movements from the remote will be very slow.
There are 2 creative shots you can actually do but you can do them only in Hohem pro app
because you cannot zoom in, zoom out with another app. So I went to the settings and
I adjusted the zoom speed to 10 to make sure it is quite slow and here you can play with
dolly zoom. You can zoom in as you are going backwards, or you can zoom out as you are
going in. And the same thing you can do with focus. Just switch it from Z to F in the app
and here you can actually with plus and minus signs do a focus pull. I like to use it for
the closing shots when I am showing off the location and I go kind of to the ground and
I just blur it out.
And let's do the obvious. Whenever you are standing on the top of the
cliff or you are standing on raised platform like a tall staircase or even gazebo which
is much higher and you use ultra wide angle lens, you lift the gimbal very high in the
air, it's gonna look like you are even higher. For that one I usually use just all follow mode.
We've seen quite a bit of shots in today's video with monopod or selfie stick. Let's
run through them one more time.
Hit the thumbs up if you liked today's video and subscribe
for future videos like these. If you have any questions, comments or simply want to
say high or ahoj, you know what to do. Leave it below and I'll see you my friends in the
next video. Cau, Ahoj.