Whether you're a seasoned content creator or just starting on your creative journey, a successful content shoot can make all the difference in delivering compelling and engaging visuals to your audience.
From photoshoots to video shoots, there are numerous elements to consider to ensure a smooth and productive process. In this article, we will unveil essential tips and tricks to help you optimise your content shoot and capture the essence of your ideas effectively. Let's dive in and discover how you can take your content creation to the next level!
1. Have a Clear Goal One of the first steps in the planning process is to define your objectives and aspirations. By doing so, you set a definitive direction for the entire project, ensuring that all team members and stakeholders are aligned and understand the creative vision.
2. Shoot Both Video and Stills This one is pretty straightforward. With the amount of content flooding the web, it’s important to make sure you’ve got all your bases covered. Shooting both gives you the option to create mountains of content and chop and change to your hearts content.
3. Shoot With Social Dimensions in Mind Taking the time to shoot with social dimensions in mind will ultimately pay off in the end. It’s something that separates good content from great content. The best part? It’s simple to do - just make sure to shoot landscape and portrait. Very little work will be needed in post-production to optimise for social formats.
4. Turn on Grid to Follow the Rule of Thirds Instead of positioning the focal point in the centre of your shot, it can make for a more interesting composition if you follow the rule of thirds. This rule states that you should place the most important elements in your photos off centre. Using the grid on the phone, divide your frame into thirds vertically, and two lines divide it into thirds horizontally. You should place the subject and other important elements in your shot along these lines or at one of the four points where they intersect.
It’s one of the easiest ways to learn how to take professional photos. Instead of having all your images look like mugshots, this guideline can help you find a better balance between the main subject and background.
Tip - if you don’t have grid activated currently, go to the Camera section of your phone settings and toggling the Grid switch to on.
5. Shift Your Perspectives To step up your photography game, try taking photos from outside your regular sitting or standing position. You can do this by shooting your subject from high or low angles.
6. Create a Sense of Depth Try including distinct visual elements at different depths for a multi-levelled sense of depth. This technique works especially well in outdoor or landscape photography. Placing a close-up subject against an out-of-focus background is a simple way to create a sense of depth.
You can also do the opposite. Try framing a photo’s main subject behind a slightly out-of- focus object in the foreground.
7. Use ‘Portrait Mode’ for Portrait Photos In iPhone photography, ‘Portrait’ refers to one of the iPhone camera app’s settings. Selecting portrait mode will make your portraits more striking, you can find the setting just next to photo mode, above the shutter button.
This setting also automatically adds blur to the background so that the photo’s subject will stand out even more.
8. Adjust Focus and Exposure Settings Your iPhone’s automatic camera settings make your life a lot easier, but sometimes you need to take matters into your own hands. Two settings that are easy to adjust yourself are exposure (how much light the camera lets in) and focus.
The iPhone will guess what the subject of your photo is and focus on it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always guess right. To focus on something else, tap the screen where you want to focus to override your phone’s guess.
You can do the same thing for the exposure settings. Once you’ve tapped where you want to focus, swipe up or down to create a brighter or darker exposure.
9. Hold the Camera Steady Ok this one sounds obvious but it’s extremely important! The iPhone can take amazing HD footage if it is perfectly still, but if you move or shake the phone too much, the image quality begins to degrade.
If you don’t have a tripod, one stabilisation trick is resting the phone on something soft while you hold it on a flat surface. Holding your breath during shots can also help minimise shakiness if you are hand-holding the phone. If you can prop it on a surface without holding it, that also works.
10. Some Extra iPhone Video tips:
Use the tap to focus feature: the iPhone does a great job of focusing on near or far objects. Make sure you’re focusing on the right one.
Use Cinema Mode: iPhone has another setting called Cinema mode which shoots with image stabilising, auto focus and more.
Get B-roll: If you’re going to edit it later, get a diversity of shots. Close ups, wides, the works.
Get Close: The bigger your subject in the shot the better. Most iPhone videos are seen on tiny screens. To get the detail you have to get close.
Hopefully now you're equipped with ten useful tips to maximise the potential of your future content shoots.
By implementing these strategies, you can confidently approach your next project with a clear vision and an organised plan. Remember to always prepare meticulously, collaborate effectively with your team, and maintain a positive and adaptable attitude throughout the process.
Capturing outstanding content takes time, practice, and dedication, but with the right approach, you can create visuals that resonate with your audience and elevate your brand. Embrace creativity, stay open to new ideas, and continuously improve your skills to stay ahead in the ever-evolving world of content creation.
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