Wow. I wanted to write a post around the video I shot this week for my YouTube. It’s been grinding on me since my Sharing Your Story on YouTube post – how bad my video image really is.
So I went about reading online about setups, and the following three themes were mentioned in almost every video I watched (and in this order)
- Audio – get good audio. A not great video can maybe be excused but crumby audio can not.
- Lighting – get the shot lit properly.
- Camera Gear – finally, switch up the gear (or, just use what’s in your pocket).
So, I did just that. Here’s the result
Wow. What a change. In this video I cover what I’ve been tinkering with this past week and how my video is looking by the end of it. It’s nothing fancy and using kit under $250 (the majority of this is the mic) assuming you already have a smart phone in your pocket.
Audio
I’ve already got a good mic with the Rode which I bought for when I started doing Webinars for my product. I think the sound is damn good when compared to the built in webcam mic.
I’m missing a boom arm for it, which might be my next investment after I sort out my office background and conditional on me sticking with producing content for YouTube.
Check out my channel where I’ll be posting future videos, it’d be great if you hit that subscribe button – My YouTube Channel is here.
Lighting
Here’s where I spent some $$. I bought a couple of LED panels and dusted off my LED lightstrip as an accent light. There’s still a little more I can do here to make the background a bit more interesting. I’m hoping to add a couple more practical lights (e.g. lamps, or something similar) and some additional things for the background which can be lit.
I have 2.60m of back wall space to play with, but the ceiling slopes down a little, so not much height. I’m thinking some low level kallax from IKEA with a lower still middle piece for the printer to sit. More on this in the future.
Camera Gear
I didn’t purchase any new gear for the video. I just used what’s in my pocket. I have a Macbook and my Google Pixel 6 phone is USB-C so I can just plug it directly in via the USB-C on the Macbook and I’ve instantly upgraded my image quality without purchasing a $4000 Camera.
Links I mentioned in the video:-
- Camo Studio: https://reincubate.com/camo/
- OBS: https://obsproject.com/
- LED panel light: https://amzn.to/3K8j36t (under $70 for two)
- Rode Mic ($170): https://amzn.to/320vFeQ
- Google Pixel 6: https://amzn.to/3fo5Ok3
What’s your setup. Do you like the before and after? Is there anything else I can do to make my shot even better? Things I have in mind are:-
- Make the background a bit more interesting with some office storage and put some of my favourite books and trinkets on there.
- Get a couple more practical lights (dimmable)
- Some plants to brighten up the space.
- Don’t go soooo blue with the lights.
Let me know in the comments. What would you do differently?
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