9 tips for setting up a selfie 'station' for photos and videos



After spending a ton of money on equipment with a plan to make promotional videos for my photography business I was frustrated when I could not get all the equipment to work together. I know my photography equipment inside and out but when it came to producing video not so much, actually not at all!
Out of frustration I did a search on line (of course) and found a simple, low cost option that includes what you already have. This hack is particularly for iPhone users but may also apply to other mobile phone cameras as well.
This link will take you to a quick video with the instructions as well that may give you a good visual way to implement the solution for yourself. I will outline here as well.

  1. Find something you can put the phone on that is stable. I have a mini-tripod which isn't very expensive and helps. You have a choice of many specifically to hold a mobile phone. Position the camera horizontally which is best for almost all uses.
  2. Take the headset provided when you got your phone and plug it in.
  3. Open your camera app.
  4. Select video or photo depending on what you're doing. This is also a great photo remote trigger so no more long arm selfies.
  5. Press the volume 'button' on the headset to start recording, press again to stop. It will give you about a second before it starts to record.
  6. To review the video, remove the plugged headset from the phone.
  7. Look in the upper right corner of the screen for the small volume control icon (circled in red on the photo above.) It will probably have a / (slash) through it. Turn it on. For whatever reason it is off when the headset is removed.
  8. Review. You'll be able to make minor edits including some trimming on the beginning and end of the video. 
  9. The editing software I used for the YouTube video is iMovie but there are plenty of products that you can use if you want more extensive changes.
    • If you are going to use the video for marketing purposes and post on YouTube in particular you'll want to have professional closed captioning translations embedded so that they are always on. The majority of online viewers do not turn the sound on so it's important that they have something they can read. I use financialpotion.com (nothing to do with taxes!) They're fast and cost effective. You'll be surprised.
Enjoy yourself. Hope this Tip Tuesday was interesting and fun. Linda K.

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