9 Tips for Recording Better Videos with Your Phone

Gone are the days of recording the moment on your dad’s special camcorder. We record everything on our phones — from photos to videos and those trendy TikTok dances. When you want to look back on a special moment, you don’t want a blurry video where you can barely hear or see anyone talking. You don’t need to be a professional videographer to capture better videos on your phone. From making sure your phone is protected in a phone case you’re taking videos on the go-to learning how to frame the scene, here are our nine tips for recording better videos with your phone.

1. It’s All About Lighting— When taking videos, it’s all about the lighting. As much as possible, you don’t want to use harsh artificial lighting. You don’t want to film in dark, poorly lit rooms. Take advantage of natural lighting. Film your videos in brightly lit areas to avoid grainy areas and shadows. Also, avoid pointing your camera directly at any bright light sources, which can lead to overexposed footage.

2. Use Landscape Mode — Don’t be that person who takes a video in portrait mode. When you replay the video later on, it’ll be stuck in that awkward vertical position. Turn your phone horizontally and film your video in landscape mode. You’ll capture the moment more professionally just by turning your phone in the other direction.

3. Frame the Scene — There are a couple of different methods you can do to frame the subject of your scene. Try completely framing the scene with your subject. If you’re capturing your child on video, you’ll want to fill the frame with their face or body. If you want to make it visually more interesting, try having them just slightly off-center to the left or right of the frame. Your smartphone will have gridlines you can enable to go for the “rule of thirds,” where you line up the subject of your video with the vertical or horizontal third line.

4. Zoom In — When zooming in, most smartphones today thankfully have advanced optical zoom. According to Apple, the iPhone 13 Pro has 3x optical zoom-in. Meanwhile, Samsung’s Galaxy S20 Ultra has 100x space zoom, combining 10x hybrid optical zoom and 100x super-resolution zoom. That means even when you zoom in on the action while filming, you don’t have to worry as much about grainy video quality.

5. Use a Ring Light Instead of Flash — We mentioned earlier that it’s best to avoid harsh artificial lighting. That includes the flash feature that comes with your smartphone. Instead of turning on the flash when you’re filming, get a separate ring light instead. You can get a portable ring light to use when you’re filming. You can go all out and even get one of those vlogger-worthy ring lights that comes on a stand.

6. Avoid Backlight — Now that you have a better understanding of lighting, you’ll also want to avoid backlight with your subject. While you may be able to see your subject just fine with your own eyes, your smartphone won’t be able to capture your subject in the same way. Instead, you’ll just see a bright halo over a dark figure of some sort. To avoid this from happening, move your subject so that they’re facing the light.

7. Think About POV — When recording videos of someone else, such as your dog or your child, think about their point of view (POV). How do they see the world? Make your video more interesting by getting down to their POV and filming from their angle. Get low to the ground and play along with them.

8. Clean Your Lens — If any photos or videos you’ve been taking lately seem a bit blurry, check your lenses to make sure they’re clean. Another way to make sure the lenses and phone, in general, stay clean and protected are with iPhone 13 cases. Without a phone case, your phone is exposed to all the elements, including heat, cold, humidity and more dirt and debris. All of these factors can lead to dirtier lenses and lesser quality videos. Keep your lenses clean, and you’ll have better-looking videos.

9. Protect Your Phone — Let’s say you want to take videos of an afternoon hike this fall with your partner or a morning ski run with the family this winter. You don’t want to be that person who accidentally drops their phone on the muddy trail or on the cold, snowy ground. Make sure your phone is protected through all the seasons with a handy phone case. And don’t stop at protecting the back of your phone. The screen needs protection, too. If you’ve ever given your phone to a handsy toddler, you’ll know the benefits of having a liquid screen protector to protect your phone from accidental spills. You don’t have to wait for your next big adventure to see why protecting your phone pays off.