How to Capture Better Videos With Your iPhone

[ahunt01]

It would be nice if the new iPhones enabled EIS when shooting 4K video... You would think the iPhone 8 & X could do this... Video shot in 1080 is significantly smoother!

 

[JosephAW]

Has everyone forgotten Horizontal Camera? Always records horizontal even when holding portrait or anywhere in between.

Horizon Camera by Horizon Video Technologies
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/horizon-camera/id778576249?mt=8

 

[A MacBook lover]

10 seconds of video isn't going to ruin that big day, is it? By that time my wife and I will have enjoyed the video 200 times on our devices in full screen, which is more important to us. Besides, if I took the video on landscape, then 2/3 of the video would be something other than the subject matter, which is all that matters when you watch your kids take their first step. Arguably, it looks far better without the messy living room (don't judge - you'll understand if/when you're a parent!) in frame.



I already covered this in my previous post. I don't take videos of my kids for Hollywood and I'm not filming Star Wars in this example. It's frankly a bizarre comparison to make, especially in light of the fact that I already made the point clear that this was for personal use, not an attempt at a major production. The next Star Wars movie is at zero risk of being shot in portrait as a result of my reckless home filmmaking. And I wouldn't record my kid's soccer game in portrait - again, I said it's a decision that should be considered each time you make a recording. BTW, here's another thing you'll never see on a movie screen: a notch.

You are simply trying to reaffirm your bad decision. It is disservice to your family members by shooting in vertical. Make the extra effort to shoot the way that everyone will enjoy

 

[Tech198]

I don't mind tips, but why is the correctness always "Landscape only" ? Not every single shot must be landscape, particularly if your shooting a single person and don't want the space around you.

You could shoot in landscape, then crop, to 'simulate' the same deal, but isn't it better to just get it right first time anyway?

 

[thibaug]

The thing I hate most about iPhone video is the blown highlights. I am forever reducing the exposure level to avoid this. I wish there was an option to permanently underexpose by half a stop. Maybe more. I know it can be done in third party apps, but they are fiddly and not accessible with a simple swipe.

Some of the apps have presets or curves you can pre-adjust. I’m enjoying the Filmic Pro app mentioned in the article. The flickering white balance in the default app is just too distracting.

 

[meaning-matters]

A pic is worth a 1000 words.

View attachment 753509

Now show lost top and bottom in landscape.

 

[georgB]

How about how to compress the videos afterwards?

There are a few easy ways, but HandBrake is usually my first choice. https://handbrake.fr/downloads.php

 

[acarney]

A question I’ve had and have not been able to find a good answer or solution to is this...

The SnapChat app seems to boost ISO a LOT in low light, yes it looks noisy a bit and colors aren’t stellar but you can actually SEE stuff rather then a dark screen with just a couple blurry lights or something.

The phone app doesn’t seem to be able to boost iso NEAR as much, even if you manually adjust/lock focus and brightness, it just really doesn’t do much.

Filmic Pro gives you specific options for ISO but again, it’s max ISO seems to be about the same as the built in camera app.

Does anyone know a SIMPLE app that will boost ISO, or software gain or something, to get video in the dark like SnapChat does? Honestly if SnapChat didn’t require you to hold the button the whole time and capture like a max of 1 minute or something (I think) I would probably just use that... but ideally would like a video app made for longer videos.

(Before you ask, yes I know quality sucks, but when you’re in a really dark area it’s better to have some details then not being able to see anything. I’ve run into this case a couple times, while at Disneyland at night time just wanting to use ambient light. At Universal Studio’s Halloween Horror Nights, again wanting to use just ambient light, which you can imagine is very low since the park is dark and lit very spooky.)

Top is from the built in video app with brightness set and locked on max. Bottom is from SnapChat with its little “tap for auto focus/exposure”. Light is from a 50” plasma TV that was paused and a small LED strip which backlights the TV. Again, yes quality sucks, but you can make out details in the glass lamp on the ceiling in the SnapChat one!

 

[Ploki]

i'M impressed that camera quality has gone up so far we need to start promoting actually skills again.

 

[christian_koehler]

In addition to shooting vertical many parents of young children take pictures and videos from a bad looking perspective:
They hold the camera higher than the child's head and point downwards.
The head appears very large and the feet look very small like a strange creature. Wide angle lenses common on phones exaggerate this effect.

Sometimes this may be desired, but usually it happens just for convenience.
A childs proportions will look much more natural if the picture is taken from his eye level and not the parents eye level. Action will look much more impressive.
Also a huge difference when taking pictures of dogs, cats etc.

 

[Julien]

Now show lost top and bottom in landscape.

The entire frame is shown for both Landscape/horizontal and portrait/vertical. This is about understanding absolute aspect ratios and not related to relative framing. Landscape/horizontal is the same aspect ratio as a TV at 1.78:1 (1.78 width times 1 hight) or 16/9 (16 by 9) and when you shoot in portrait/vertical the aspect ratio is 0.56:1 (0.56 [14/25 fraction] width times 1 hight) or 9/16 (9 by 16).

 

[Bacillus]

An oldie, but my favorite...

.

The entire frame is shown and it is about understanding absolute aspect ratios and not related to relative framing. Landscape/horizontal is the same aspect ratio as a TV at 1.78:1 (1.78 width times 1 hight) or 16/9 (16 by 9) and when you shoot in portrait/vertical the aspect ratio is 0.56:1 (0.56 [14/25 fraction] width times 1 hight) or 9/16 (9 by 16).


View attachment 753559

If you're a decent SW dev at Apple with a few minutes time left, implement
- doubletap to switch front/back camera's (as requested a kazillion times)
- autorotate to force landscape video's

 

[ConfusedChris]

We could compromise and use Clips which takes square videos. Then everyone will be unhappy!

 

[Bryan Bowler]

I disagree on this one. My videos are for me and my family, not for you on iTunes or youtube. If I'm taking a video of my baby walking, then a vertical video will get more of him in the frame and thus capture more of the moment. And by the way, the vast majority of views of this video will be family and friends on iPhones and iPads, so the vertical works quite well.

That's just one example and yes, people should consider portrait v. landscape each time they start recording, but this is far from the hard and fast rule so many people would have you believe.

Sorry man, but when you shoot video vertical, you are creating an eye-sore for your family and friends. They may not tell you that, but most of them will be feeling it.

We’re trying to help you not to be socially awkward.

 

[Freida]

I disagree on this one. My videos are for me and my family, not for you on iTunes or youtube. If I'm taking a video of my baby walking, then a vertical video will get more of him in the frame and thus capture more of the moment. And by the way, the vast majority of views of this video will be family and friends on iPhones and iPads, so the vertical works quite well.

That's just one example and yes, people should consider portrait v. landscape each time they start recording, but this is far from the hard and fast rule so many people would have you believe.

Please don't! Everytime I see vertical video I wanna remove it from the existance. Do you go to cinema and watch vertical movies? You don't and they shot babies walking too. Vertical videos are just awful and should not be allowed at all.
So please, make the step from uninformed mediocre noobs to a good artist with taste. We will all appreciate.

 

[mrbobdobolina]

How about how to compress the videos afterwards?

Export as 3GPP and embed inside a .docx file for easy distribution.

 

[62tele]

It still baffles me how Apple, a company so concerned with aesthetics and elegant, simple design, could have produced the "notch". Once the notch intruded into the screen the whole "bezel to bezel" display was disrupted.
I'm quite happy with the iPhone 8 although I really wish Apple would stabilize iOS and eliminate how flakey it behaves.

 

[citysnaps]

I disagree on this one. My videos are for me and my family, not for you on iTunes or youtube. If I'm taking a video of my baby walking, then a vertical video will get more of him in the frame and thus capture more of the moment. And by the way, the vast majority of views of this video will be family and friends on iPhones and iPads, so the vertical works quite well.

That's just one example and yes, people should consider portrait v. landscape each time they start recording, but this is far from the hard and fast rule so many people would have you believe.

Totally agree. Your camera, your pixels, and your decision on portrait vs landscape.

I've been making photographs for a long time. And over the years I've found that those who try to impose rules on others, typically have photographs/videos that are not very interesting.

Do what makes you happy and works for you. Simple as that.

 

[2010mini]

I disagree on this one. My videos are for me and my family, not for you on iTunes or youtube. If I'm taking a video of my baby walking, then a vertical video will get more of him in the frame and thus capture more of the moment. And by the way, the vast majority of views of this video will be family and friends on iPhones and iPads, so the vertical works quite well.

That's just one example and yes, people should consider portrait v. landscape each time they start recording, but this is far from the hard and fast rule so many people would have you believe.

Ummmm.... I captured a lot of first moments of my child and I didn’t need portrait mode to “capture more of the moment” You might believe you will only view these videos on your phones. But trust me one day you will watch them on a larger screen and cringe because your video will look way smaller the you thought.
[doublepost=1520437406][/doublepost]

Totally agree. Your camera, your pixels, and your decision on portrait vs landscape.

I've been making photographs for a long time. And over the years I've found that those who try to impose rules on others, typically have photographs/videos that are not very interesting.

Do what makes you happy and works for you. Simple as that.

Nope. There is actually an art to taking photos and videos. There are also actual rules of photography and videos. Tons of books have been written on this art. There is an entire industry who follow these rules and you enjoy their work everyday.
[doublepost=1520437677][/doublepost]

I am so bad at capturing photos and videos with my phones. No matter what I do they never turn out that great. I know it's me, my hands have a little shakiness to them. Even with stabilization they don't look amazing as others I've seen. Even with gimbals they still don't look right. I've posted this before on the photos section.. I hate you all for being able to capture such amazing works of art.. and by hate I mean, you guys are all amazing! Wish I could capture like a lot of you.

Stop trying to be great all at once. Those great photos you see are well planned out. And for every great shot, there are 100 bad ones.

 

[citysnaps]

Ummmm.... I captured a lot of first moments of my child and I didn’t need portrait mode to “capture more of the moment” You might believe you will only view these videos on your phones. But trust me one day you will watch them on a larger screen and cringe because your video will look way smaller the you thought.
[doublepost=1520437406][/doublepost]


Nope. There is actually an art to taking photos and videos. There are also actual rules of photography and videos. Tons of books have been written on this art. There is an entire industry who follow these rules and you enjoy their work everyday.
[doublepost=1520437677][/doublepost]

Stop trying to be great all at once. Those great photos you see are well planned out. And for every great shot, there are 100 bad ones.

Well... if you need rules and rule-makers to follow in making your photographs/videos, by all means, follow them if you need that guidance and that makes you happy. Stay safe with that rule of thirds and protecting highlights, if you’re unwilling to flex your imagination a bit.

Thank god there are artists out there who don’t need rule books in making their art. The development of artistic expression over thousands of years, in many different genre, relied on those not willing to follow the norms and rules at the time.

Hopefully you’ll understand that, someday.

 

[gaximus]

I disagree on this one. My videos are for me and my family, not for you on iTunes or youtube. If I'm taking a video of my baby walking, then a vertical video will get more of him in the frame and thus capture more of the moment. And by the way, the vast majority of views of this video will be family and friends on iPhones and iPads, so the vertical works quite well.

That's just one example and yes, people should consider portrait v. landscape each time they start recording, but this is far from the hard and fast rule so many people would have you believe.

While everyone else has commented on this and why you should not shoot in vertical (and the are all right for many different reasons). My thought is, when I'm watching old videos, I don't just like to see the subject in the video, its nice to have context of what else was going on in my life. So many times my wife and I would be watching a video of our sons first steps and been like "Wow do you remember that tv we had" or "look at that old picture on the wall". So much of family videos aren't just about who your recording but what else is going on in your life at that time. In 30 years you might be watching your sons first steps and be like wow, look how messy our living room was, remember how crazy our life was back then.

 

[Applemaniac7]

Totally agree. Your camera, your pixels, and your decision on portrait vs landscape.

I've been making photographs for a long time. And over the years I've found that those who try to impose rules on others, typically have photographs/videos that are not very interesting.

Do what makes you happy and works for you. Simple as that.

Wrong!!!!!! We are not talking about photos.. But videos.. that look soooooooooooo bad on any device that doesn' have the ability to be flipped 90 degrees. Theres rules about video making, and vertical shooting is deffo in the do not do section!!

 

[citysnaps]

Wrong!!!!!! We are not talking about photos.. But videos.. that look soooooooooooo bad on any device that doesn' have the ability to be flipped 90 degrees. Theres rules about video making, and vertical shooting is deffo in the do not do section!!

If you feel the need to be governed by rules, be my guest.

Just don't impose them on others.

 

[Khedron]

Well... if you need rules and rule-makers to follow in making your photographs/videos, by all means, follow them if you need that guidance and that makes you happy. Stay safe with that rule of thirds and protecting highlights, if you’re unwilling to flex your imagination a bit.

Thank god there are artists out there who don’t need rule books in making their art. The development of artistic expression over thousands of years, in many different genre, relied on those not willing to follow the norms and rules at the time.

Hopefully you’ll understand that, someday.

Vertical video isn't a deliberate artistic expression it's just laziness. Horizontal video isn't a rule it's just better.

 

[TwoBytes]

The shots in this video were not as good as the other guy who did the videos and left.. What happened to him? His videos were really sharp..

EDIT: Matt Gonzalez was his name! He has his own youtube channel. I'm subbing to it, great quality videos and good tech topics.