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The post Related appeared first on Wispeo.

So we thought we’d talk about how to best utilize the convenient camera, especially when shooting video. The folks over at Wistia posted a blog about the best ways to capture video on an iPhone, and we were so impressed by their tips, that we thought we’d share some of our favorites and talk a little bit more about how these tips can be adapted in the wild (outside of the office).

Keep scrolling to see a few ways that you can maximize the quality of your iPhone video:

First off,  people frequently make their first mistake before they even start filming: They don’t use a tripod. Instead, they opt for a simpler method like holding their hands really still.

Nobody can hold as still as a tripod (so don’t even try). The only time a tripod may not be better than just holding your iPhone is maybe if you’re on a boat and the ground the tripod is on is moving, but other than that, always shoot with a tripod.

Tripods are also great for shooting video on an iPhone, because they also allow for horizontal filming – a much better option than vertical. Vertical video will leave bars on the side when shown on TVs, computers, and most screens outside of a phone. So if you want your video to have life outside of a phone, make sure you shoot it horizontally.

The built in flash may also seem tempting, but only use it if studio light or natural light is unavailable. The exposure lock feature helps create constant lighting for the video. Make sure the exposure is locked. If it’s not, the iPhone will change focus and increase exposure throughout the filming process, which creates jumpy looking video.

When focusing your video, avoid the zoom feature. The zoom on the iPhone is digital – not optical. So zooming in will only result in a pixilated video. Any zooming or editing should be done after the video is shot. There are some great editing apps available for iOS, but for the best possible quality, a computer is your best bet.

After you’ve finished editing, you’re ready to share your awesome video with the world. And that’s where Wispeo comes in. Visit our site to send your high quality iPhone video for free.

Wispeo is now mobile! Get the easiest way to share videos and photos from your phone in the App Store or from Google Play.

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Here are two examples of the same video. The one on the left was sent from Android to iPhone via MMS, and the other was sent using Wispeo.

Wispeo enables full size videos up to 3GB to be shared quickly and easily for free, and with a paid subscription can share even larger files. To put that in perspective, the iPhone to iPhone iMessage service has a file size limit of 100 MB. Gmail has an attachment limit of 25MB, and MMS is even less.

HOW VIDEO COMPRESSION WORKS
Video compression is most easily understood when we realize that video is simply the playing of individual photos in succession. Compression happens in four main ways.

1. Changing the pixel format removes much of the color yet is almost unnoticeable to the human eye.
2. Cropping the whole video. Removing the sides or top of a video will simply make the file size smaller.
3. Combining the individual pixels into larger pixels with an average color value. This is called “spatial redundancy” and it creates a loss of detail and a blocky “pixelated” image.
4. Removing frames or backgrounds that are “unimportant.” With high frame rates, some of the frames have only few differences between them, and so by removing either the entire frames or removing all but the differences, the file size can be reduced significantly without too much quality loss. This is called “temporal redundancy.”

Internet applications receive great benefit from video compression, as large files take a lot of time to load, as well as using up a lot of data. Full 1080p HD streaming on Netflix can use up to 4.5GB of data in an hour. Compressing enables for users to stream video quicker and to use less data doing so.

These photos demonstrate how the individual frames of a compressed video are different from the unaltered version. The left two photos are consecutive frames of the video that was sent via MMS. During the standard MMS compression the aspect ratio was altered and the pixels were compressed. The photos on the right were shared through Wispeo and so no compression was necessary.

There’s clearly a big difference between the two, and we call that The Wisp Effect.

Try it yourself here.

Wispeo is now mobile! Get the easiest way to share videos and photos from your phone in the App Store or from Google Play.

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Pizza Hut recently released this video poking fun at the selfie stick trend. As you can see, the commercial’s selfie sticks keep getting longer and longer, lengthened in an effort to find the perfect shot to share with the “world…wide web.”

We might make fun them, but selfie sticks are here to stay. Although popular with the general public, videographers and photographers have found a way to use selfie sticks to create some pretty cool footage. Selfie sticks enable a much wider depth of frame, which helps create the “wow factor” in videos like this one:

When GoPro and other adventure cameras first added the helmet mount, adventurers like bikers, skydivers, and snowboarders were able to capture footage in a new way. This skiing video is an awesome example of the unique video that can be captured by a helmet mount:

While the helmet attachment for GoPro allows for a first-person view, selfie sticks give a view of the facial expressions and background. This “face to face” interaction allows for the synergy between viewer and subject that videographers strive for. This rope swing video lets us see the exhilaration on the jumper’s faces. It enables videographers and amateur video makers to capture footage from a unique vantage point, (and it gives viewers a better connection with video subjects.)

Would you use a selfie stick to capture video? If you decide to try it out, head to Wispeo to share your footage with your circle.

Wispeo is now mobile! Get the easiest way to share videos and photos from your phone in the App Store or from Google Play.

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