- Oh, this looks horrible.
Much better.
Let's show you how we did this,
with the help of the experts.
- What's up everybody?
My name's Ben Johnson and I'm super excited to be here today
on the vidIQ channel.
Rob asked me to share some tips with you,
and I thought it'd be really cool
to take you through the process
of how to set up a great talking headshot
for YouTube videos.
Today, I've got my beautiful wife,
Mikayla here joining us to help illustrate this example.
We are gonna take this shot from this,
which is where I feel most of us start,
to this which is a massive improvement.
First, let's talk about camera placement.
A lot of times I will see creators shooting
with their camera way too high or way too low,
neither of which is flattering.
Instead, you should try placing the camera at eye level,
or maybe just slightly above eye level.
This will make a more flattering shot
and help you directly connect with your audience.
Now that your camera is in a good position,
let's figure out where you should be.
To do this we'll use the rule of thirds.
This is a photography rule in which the image is divided
into thirds using horizontal and vertical lines.
A great look for YouTube is to place yourself
in the middle third with your eyes falling across
the top horizontal line and make sure to give yourself
a little bit of headroom.
All right, now that we've got you and your camera in place,
let's talk about your background.
As the content creator,
you are responsible for every pixel in your frame,
and that includes what's behind you.
When possible I'd recommend cleaning out the background
so that you can start with a clean slate
and then only bring in things that are intentional,
little tables, bookshelves, and cubbies are a great way
to bring in some accent items.
Think about your channel and your niche
and you'll probably be able to figure out some items
that you can bring in to help the viewer feel
like they've found the right place.
For example, I have a channel about content creation,
so I may put some lenses or a computer behind me.
When in doubt plants
and little lights make great background elements.
All right, now that we have our composition
and background set, let slide it.
For the most part it doesn't usually work well
to just leave the room lights on.
A lot of times, that's going to cause unwanted shadows
under your eyes which could make
you look extra tired or unhappy.
Instead, I'd recommend starting by turning off
all the lights.
This will give you a blank canvas to work with.
Next, I'd bring in the key light and turn it on.
A key light is the main light which is lighting you.
Now instead of just shining it directly
at you at full brightness,
I'd actually recommend moving it to about a 45 degree angle,
raising it up and angling it down
and then start by running it at about 25 to 50% brightness.
Also watch the eye and make sure
that you get a little reflection of the light in it.
This is known as a catch light
and will create a nice sparkle.
Now, this already looks pretty good,
but if you wanna take it a step further,
you can add in a hair light as well as a background light.
To find out more about how to do these techniques,
you can check out my lighting for YouTube video here.
Now, if you find that you're turning
the brightness of your lights up,
but somehow the image itself seems to be getting darker.
It's probably because your camera is on auto settings
and it's fighting you.
I'd recommend going manual
and here's a couple of quick settings you can start with.
Adjust accordingly until you get the look that you want
for your space.
All right, and let's not forget about audio.
You could have the best looking scene in the world,
but if your audio sounds bad,
people are not gonna stick around
to hear what you have to say.
Remember, audio is literally half of video,
so we've got to prioritize it.
Honestly, the biggest tip that I can give you
when it comes to audio is just to get your mic close.
This is why using a wide lens can be super helpful
because you can actually still keep the mic
very close to you without it being in the shot.
Another method is to wear a lapel mic,
or even just to have the mic intentionally in the shot
like you see on a lot of live streams and video podcasts.
You can figure out which technique works best for you.
Just make sure to get the microphone close.
You also wanna make sure that you're not recording
your audio either too quiet or too loud.
For best results aim to have your audio recorded
at about -12 decibels.
This will make sure that it's not distorting,
and then you can raise it up while you edit.
- This is an audio test where we are testing the microphone.
This is an audio test where we are testing the microphone.
- The main thing we need to understand
when creating a great shot for YouTube is what the goal is.
The goal is to make it easy for your audience
to consume your content.
To achieve this, we simply just want the shot
to be easy to look at and easy to listen to.
Links to our favorite gear
are in the video description below.
- Help just get my eyes level, got it.
There are a lot of awesome practical tips there,
but it may be that you can't afford
all of the equipment required to have such an awesome setup
as Ben and Mikayla.
So if you wanna learn how to monetize your channel,
to start reinvesting into your content
then check out the video over here.