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5 Great Ways to drastically Improve Your Video Quality

Writer's picture: MLC PhotographyMLC Photography

Updated: Feb 20, 2021

Picture this:


You take some pictures and can use all the camera settings they way you want and then you throw the camera over to video and use the same methods. Then when it comes time to review and edit the video you notice that the video doesn’t look quite right. But why? Could be a number of reasons and we will discuss a few of those here.


1. Pay attention to frame rate and shutter speed (Seriously, it will make or break your footage)



This is the most common mistake that new videographers make. When shooting video it is important that shutter speed is always as close to double the frame rate as possible. Failing to adhere to this rule will cause the footage to look one of two ways:

if frame rate is set to 24 FPS and shutter speed is set to 30 the captured footage can come out looking skippy for lack of a better word.

If frame rate is set at 24 FPS and the shutter speed is set at 100 the footage won't have enough motion blur to look natural.

The more camera motion the more noticeable this effect.


at this point you may be asking “how can I maintaining proper exposure without changing shutter speed?” read on to my next tip..


2. Make use of filters


camera filter nd 1000

If you haven’t discovered filters yet I invite you to step up your game. No, we aren’t talking social media filters. There are physical filters that can be affixed to camera lenses of all different sizes. For videography, these little gems are used to maintain proper exposure while also maintaining the proper FPS to shutter speed ratio while also allowing extra creativity by putting interesting effects on the look of your video. The filter pictured above is too dark to be much use for video. ND 1000 filters are typically used more for photography which you can learn more about in another blog post linked here. Filters are an inexpensive accessory that almost every photographer and videographer can benefit from using.


3. Stabilize video


camera tripod bokeh

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that a little shakiness is ok. Sometimes it is but high quality productions make use of various types of stabilizing equipment and software. There are numerous ways to smooth out the bumps in your footage but the perfect option will vary based on your specific needs and shooting style. Gimbals have been gaining in popularity but more traditional shooters prefer manual mechanical stabilizers. Most video editing software will include some kind of stabilizing tool that will analyze and smooth out bumpy footage. The major drawback of this software is that it is only so effective. Over-use of software stabilization can cause unnatural looking motion in footage. This means that in some cases software stabilization will be a limited option or not an option at all. This means that it is important to always pay special attention to the shakiness of the camera as you shoot your footage.


4. Use gentle motion combined with slow motion



Ok, this tip and the last one are going to seem a bit contradictory but this is the beauty of the creativity of videography. There are certain times when a bit of smooth motion will make for beautiful footage, just don’t over-use it. In this case we are mostly talking about b-roll. Think recording your subject against the sunlight as they walk on a dock at sunset. This footage will look much better if shot with a bit of motion while keeping the camera low to the ground to include as much foreground as possible. This may sound a little complicated but start experimenting with camera placement and gentle deliberate motion that proceeds in one direction for the duration of the shot. One thing you must make sure of when doing slow motion video is to adjust frame rate and shutter speed accordingly. when you want to shoot slow motion video you need to use a frame rate at or above 60 FPS with shutter speed set at 120. This is because you will need to slow down the video in post production and shooting at a low frame rate will produce low quality video if slowed down because there aren't enough frames with which to work. 60 FPS is the starting point for slow motion video but FPS and shutter speed can be adjusted even higher for super slow-motion video. Play around with these settings and see what it does for the quality of the footage then adapt and improve from there.


5. Realize that more than what is happening in camera is effecting the final results


This is probably obvious to more experienced creators and editors but there are a handful of different editing softwares and they all have their strengths, weaknesses and unique workflows. There is a learning curve to this part of the video creation process and one should spend a sufficient amount of time learning video editing software. This is the part of the process where the rough Diamond is polished to a shine. This is also the part of the process (if done incorrectly) that can greatly diminish the quality of the end product. Most cameras will automatically edit video by increasing or decreasing contrast, color saturation, brightness and sharpness but cameras typically do a poor job of this in comparison to post production video editing software. at this point it is worth mentioning that if you desire ready out-of-camera results you can still achieve some satisfying results by adjusting these settings in-camera as close to the desired end result as possible. If using the in-cam method take special care not to over sharpen. I have seen so much footage degraded by this specific mistake. ok, back to the post production method. If using the post production method you will still need to access and adjust the contrast, color saturation, brightness and sharpness settings. Find these settings and turn them all down so the camera is not placing any adjustments on the video. changing to these settings will produce a flat and unappealing image which is what we want. All the data that we need to polish up the quality of the image is there and in the editing software we can add back all the effects we turned down in the camera. The end result of the post production method will almost certainly look more professional than the in-camera method.


Well I could go on and on about any of the discussed tips but where is the fun in that? Go use these simple tips in your own footage and find exactly what you like! The world is your playground and the most important part of creating art is to express yourself and explore your creativity. Videography offers a limitless amount of creativity once the videographer masters the basics. Practice makes perfect! Now get out there and capture some beautiful footage!


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