Family Videos 101

Are you the main photographer and videographer of your family? Follow these Simple TIPS for taking great video of your loved ones.

1. Using your smartphone to take video? Great! Now hold it sideways. While upright filming and portrait (vertical) footage work great for a social media reel, it limits how much of the scene you can capture. Hold your phone sideways and you’ll capture beautiful content that will fill the screen when you watch it later on your computer or TV (as well as on your phone or tablet).

2. Steady hands! And if you move the camera while filming, like for a pan or tilt shot, try to move slowly.

3. Get in the shot! Selfie videos work great if you’re the only person taking video. Or prop your phone up, press record, and get yourself in the scene. (The extra bit where you are pressing record can be edited out later.) When you look back on these moments, you’re going to want to see your loved ones but you’re also going to want to see you too. And you know your kids will want to see you too!

4. If you’re taking a photo, take a video too! Before or after you take a photo, consider taking a few seconds of video. This works well for almost everything, including group shots. On iPhones you can take video and snap photos at the same time - check out our Instagram page’s Tips highlight to get the details on how to do this.

5. If you need to zoom in, try to do so before you hit record. Zooming in when using a smartphone inevitably results in bumpy footage. If you need to zoom in while you’re already filming, then make sure to get a few seconds of steady video once zoomed in because the part of the video where you are in the process of zooming will likely be edited out.