Part five: lighting

Whether indoors or outdoors, great lighting will help set a tone for your content.

Fast facts Manual control A smartphone will automatically adjust exposure levels as a reaction to changes in light. This often results in unwanted effects. Subsequently, it is desirable to have as much manual control as possible.

Shooting in bright natural light is ideal when using a smartphone. Filming in low light often results in grainy, noisy footage. Additionally, try to avoid pointing your camera at bright light sources (this not only impacts your video quality, but may also cause damage to your camera sensor). A subject shot in front a bright window will result in a darkened silhouette, which will generally make your shot unusable.

Natural light is great, and you can use domestic lights to help illuminate your scene, but a better alternative would be one of the many inexpensive camera lights on the market. We have several available that can be loaned out on request.