1.
Carry the camera.
Renowned photographer Jay Maisel says, carry the camera.
Sounds obvious, doesn't it? Not so.
How many shots have we missed because we left the camera home, or forgot to charge the battery? Here's a scene I think we can all recognize.
It's late afternoon just after a rainy day.
The clouds have lifted a bit.
Suddenly the setting sun drops down between the clouds and the horizon, creating a brilliant sunset.
Light spills everywhere.
The sky lights up in red and purple and pink.
A great picture...
oops, we left the camera home.
Shot missed.
The same holds true for family shots.
You're at a casual dinner at your mom's house, perhaps, and your sister, whom you haven't seen in a year, suddenly drops in.
Where's the camera? Home? Carry the digital camera.
Always.
You won't get the shot without it.
2.
Use a tripod.
Now that you've gotten in the habit of carrying the camera, go for a steadier shot.
You won't need the tripod for all your shots.
Maintain the spontaneity with lots of hand held shots.
But when you need a steady shot, nothing works better than the tripod.
The sunset shot described in #1 would almost certainly need the tripod.
Especially if you want a close-up.
Zooming in with a camcorder causes camera shake.
Even an image stabilizer function won't eliminate all the shake.
Let's say you're shooting your dog romping around in the yard.
You'll want to include some close-ups of his playful face.
Use the tripod.
Bottom line - you want your movies to look good.
A series of bouncing shots won't impress your viewers.
3.
Watch your lighting.
Good lighting always improves your shot.
It's not necessary to carry a lighting kit around with you.
Just learn to control your environment.
One key step is to avoid backlighting your subject.
Your family is throwing a surprise party for your grandmother's 80th birthday.
You want a shot of her face as she comes in the door.
You don't want all the backlight from the open doorway putting grandma's face in shadow.
Try standing to the side to avoid some of the backlight.
Or arrange with the relatives who are bringing grandma to the party to stand behind her, blocking some of the light.
You get the idea.
Avoid shooting your subject in front of windows and doors.
If you're outdoors on a bright day, move around so you can get your subject in full light, while also avoiding having them backlit by the direct sun.
Being alert to this will help you prevent getting faces in shadow.
4.
Get good sound.
Microphones on consumer camcorders generally aren't very good.
Don't rely on them when sound is critical.
If you're shooting the kids at a ballgame, all the crowd noises and excitement add to the interest of your movie.
But after the game, before the kids leave the field, move in and get some close-ups of them.
Ask them about the game and record their comments.
Later when you're editing, you can intercut their comments with the game footage for a more interesting movie.
If you want to interview someone and need a wider shot, buy a microphone with a mini plug cable from a retail store such as RadioShack.
It's not expensive, and won't be the best mic, but it will be better than the built in camera mic.
If you have some budget and good sound is critical, buy a professional mic and an XLR mic cable, and get an adapter from BeachTek so you can connect it to your camcorder.
Your viewers will tolerate bad footage but they won't endure bad sound.
5.
Shoot B-roll.
B-roll is the secondary footage used to fill in the gaps between cuts and to create visual detail.
Say you're shooting a graduation video.
Get wide shots of the campus, and then look for close-ups.
Get shots of campus banners, the program cover, close-in shots of people shaking hands and hugging.
Look for all the creative decorations that college grads put on their mortarboards and robes, and shoot some close-ups.
In the edit you can use the B-roll between shots and scenes to hide zooms, to show what an interviewee might be speaking about, to add some color to the movie.
Follow these tips and your videos will impress family and friends.