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What up, beautiful people?
It is your homegirl, Ms. Shameless,
back with another Tech Talk.
Yes.
This video is all about how to film like a beauty guru,
because I know a lot of you want to start your own
beauty channel, YouTube channel, what have you channel.
I have tons and tons of videos on tech
that you can watch over here.
So I talk about lighting. I talk about audio.
I talk about editing.
But in this video, I want to talk about the setup.
There is a standard setup that most beauty gurus use.
You don't need to have it all.
You don't need to do it all.
But I definitely encourage you to work with what you've got.
Okay? It's not about how much, how little you have.
It's working with what you have and making it work.
So the first thing when it comes to filming is lights.
I have videos on lighting, cheap and affordable lighting.
For beauty gurus, there is kind of like a standard lighting.
There is a three-point lighting system.
So I have a ring light here, and then I have two fill lights
over here.
Now, you can use more lights, and I know
some beauty gurus be using the most, five, six lights.
For the longest time, I just used one light.
But for the purpose of this video,
I'm going to use three lights.
You can buy them on Amazon.
Depending on what budget you have
will dictate which lights you're going to buy.
Lighting video over here.
So once you have your lighting setup,
this main ring light here is going to just
fill the front of my face,
and these two lights over here are just going to fill in
the shadow.
I can play around and fiddle with it. So can you.
You can move them. It can be more to the side.
Depending on where you want the light to hit.
But in this video, I kind of like this setup.
That's lighting. The most important part.
But before we even get into the lights, what's your backdrop?
What's your background situation? What is your set?
I have a video on sets over here.
And I talk about backdrops, environmental.
And in this case, this is an environmental lifestyle setup
that most beauty gurus use.
Not necessarily this, although this is
the Impressions vanity light that I am gagging and dying --
I just got it.
I've been wanting this thing for years, and it's so pricey,
but it was on sale.
But I actually got the hookup on this one, so I'm really happy.
But again, you do not need to go and blow all your money off.
The reason why I brought this up was because
this is my background. Use what you got.
For the longest time, I filmed in front of my clothing rack.
And I just like to pick things that are interesting.
So in this case, it's colorful. There's some texture there.
And I just put depth between me and the background.
You can go right up to it,
but I kind of want to have that blurry effect,
and I have a video here on how to blur it.
But really, it's about getting some distance
between you and your background.
And then depending on what kind of lens you have,
you can really throw that out of focus.
What I've also found standard for beauty gurus --
IKEA drawers.
Now, I got these IKEA drawers from IKEA. [laughing]
These are the Alex drawers.
And I used to always clown beauty gurus,
because they all had them.
But they're actually really helpful,
because you store all your makeup in here.
For the longest time, I just had my makeup sitting
on top of my tabletops, my counter tops.
Now I just put everything in here, and it's hidden.
It's a hot mess in there.
But at least it looks nice and clean.
What's also really cute is accent pieces.
I bought a bunch of accent pieces from Home Goods.
They're cheap. They're affordable.
But it's like little pops of color.
Now, you don't have to go out and spend money again.
You can use what you have in your house.
So it could be a glass.
It could be a jar.
You can have fun and be creative.
But I like to have some situations in the back.
So I have a little floral piece, fake.
I have my mug. Yes, I drink my coffee with a straw.
I don't want to stain my teeth.
I like feathers, boas.
You can even use Christmas lights.
Christmas lights, LED color lights add extra pops of color
and dimension in your videos.
Whatever the case is, you can have fun.
Be creative.
Have a color palette.
I like light colors.
A lot of beauty gurus tend to use light colors.
Again, you can go against the grain.
You can do dark colors and have blacks and grays with whites.
And this is where you can really brand yourself
and create an aesthetic, a look.
Now for the actual filming portion.
I have a mirror right here, and I like to place it
right in front so I can see what I'm doing for my makeup.
I guess I could use that mirror,
but I would have to film into the mirror,
and it will flip the image, which is a little bit confusing.
Now there's a little thing called cheating
where you cheat certain things so the viewers don't see it.
Now, you don't see that I have a mirror.
And you want to make sure you have all your equipment
and pieces here.
Also, audio. Sound. It's right in front of me.
So I'm talking right into it.
For tutorials, I do recommend having no audio. Just video.
And then voice over the steps.
That will save you lots of time.
And again, I have a video on audio.
You can use a recording device such as a smartphone
or a microphone.
I use my iPhone a lot to record sound.
Okay, and finally, how to actually record yourself.
Now there are a couple of ways to go about doing this.
Number one is a remote.
I bought this on Amazon, and I use this with my Canon.
I'm currently shooting on a Canon 5D,
but it allows me to remote-fire.
Now, what I have to do with this particular remote
is put the camera on Photo setting,
making sure that the lens is on autofocus,
and I sit where I want to be in focus,
and then I click.
Then I run around, get up, make sure that the photo
is in focus.
And if it is in focus, I'll start recording.
If it isn't, I run back, sit back down, make sure
that the focusing is on me.
There are different types of remotes out there.
I bought this one because it has more than one button.
So one is to focus.
And I thought the other one was supposed to actually record,
but it doesn't actually record.
But anyways, I don't even -- I have no problem running around.
It's my little workout. Okay.
Now what if you don't have a remote?
I have a solution for you. [text notification]
Teddy needs a name.
Teddy, we are not the same complexion.
This is Teddy.
Can you please give him a name in the comments below, okay?
So Teddy will be my assistant,
and Teddy will sit right here.
Now, Teddy is shorter than me.
So I will prop Teddy up so he is somewhat my height.
And then I will run behind the camera and make sure
Teddy's in focus.
So let me just do that.
Okay.
Out the way, Teddy. Thank you for everything you've done.
Thank you for being an awesome assistant.
And then I try to make sure that Teddy
is the same kind of depth as me.
If he's too forward, I'm going to be out of focus.
If he's too back, I'm going to be out of focus.
So you want to make sure it's just right.
I do like the remote because I know it's pinpoint-accurate,
because I'm sitting here versus using my stand-in.
But I do use stand-ins sometimes.
Sometimes I can't find the remote.
Oh, what am I going to do?
Stand-in, come in over here.
I can either use my teddy bear or I use a tripod.
I focus on the tripod, then I step in and make sure
I'm right where the tripod is,
and then I throw the tripod out. Get out of my shot.
And then there's also live-view mode.
So my camera doesn't have a flip screen.
If you're starting out, maybe that's something
that you want to get.
There's the Sonys, the A5100,
which I believe they discontinued.
The Canon TI series have this flip screen.
But I don't have a flip screen.
I also don't like to watch myself while I'm recording,
because then I spend all this time looking at myself,
getting lost.
Most beauty gurus have a monitor of some kind,
whether it's a television monitor, some sort of tablet.
In this case, I'm using my laptop.
Now, this is really cool.
I did it a couple times, but I did find myself
staring at myself all the time.
But the good thing about this is,
you can see if you're in focus or not.
And I'm in focus.
And then you can record and stop recording here.
So I don't have to use a remote.
I don't have to run behind my camera.
I can just record from my laptop.
This is the EOS Utility that came with the camera.
So again, depending on the camera that you buy,
there is software that will allow it to sync to the computer
and preview.
Canons have it.
I don't know about the other cameras, to be quite honest,
because I don't have them.
I do suggest that you get a long USB cable.
So I have a cable running from my camera to my laptop.
And this is really long.
I got this from Sammy's Camera.
But you can get these on Amazon.
Oop.
There we go.
So that way, if your camera's far, it will reach.
You don't want to use a short USB, because
then your laptop is going to be closer to your camera,
and then you won't be able to see the laptop.
Now, added tip -- not everyone does this --
but close-ups.
So this is like a nice, tight setup.
I recommend two setups max,
one that's wide for the intro-outro, and
if you're going to go in tight, this it the time to do it,
for the tutorial part.
So I have all this negative space.
I can either hold up products here,
or in post when I'm editing the video,
I can drop in some graphics or some titles
as to what product I'm using.
So you have some negative space.
So if I'm a beauty guru, I'm just going to be like,
"Hi, guys, I'm just going to take this color right over here,
which is called Fin [ph.], and just dab, dab, dab.
I'm going to work it on my brow bone, like such."
Don't make fun of my brow. I don't know what's going on.
Let me try to fix it.
But this is how you would do the makeup portion.
You don't have to be tight.
You can be wide.
But if you want to get in and show the viewers
what you're doing --
yo, it's like three cuts on my brow.
I don't know what's going on. Don't judge.
Anyhoo.
So to get in this tight, either you use a kind of macro lens --
I'm currently using a 100mm macro lens -- or
you can zoom in, punch in when you're editing to make it --
but you lose some information there, so
try to get as close as you can with your camera
and then your lens without you looking like a fish
or distorting your face.
You don't have to go the mile.
You can just stay wide. Stay wide, girls.
Don't show 'em what you really look like.
Stay tricky.
And that's pretty much it.
The big, big takeaway:
It's not about what you don't have.
It's about what you have.
Work with what you got.
Once you maximize what you have,
the universe will give you more. Trust and believe.
And when you work with what you have,
it forces you to be creative.
What can I create within the confines of this world?
I don't have that much.
And honestly, being frugal is being creative.
That's how you get really creative.
A lot of people put off making something
because they want it to be perfect.
There's no such thing as perfection.
Just start with where you are
and then allow yourself to grow in the process,
you know what I mean?
So have fun, you guys.
Get yo' life together.
Or at least get your YouTube channel together.
That's it for me. Make sure you guys like this video.
Make sure you're subscribed.
Turn the notifications on so you know when I upload a video.
But I upload videos every Tuesday.
At least, that's what I'm trying to go for.
Comment below and let me know
what you're watching this video for.
Do you want to start your own YouTube channel?
And if so, what kind of videos do you want to produce?
And if you have questions, watch my playlist.
I have a ton of videos.
A lot of you guys ask me questions that I've
already made a video about, so make sure you guys watch.
Info Box for all the information.
And until next time, remember to do you, boo,
and stay true, boo.
Be shameless.
Be a tech geek.
Be a geek. [laughing]
So much fun.
Oh, my armpits are not shaved. Oops.
[giggles]
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