BY TJ Walker
When most people create a YouTube video from the road or attempt to do a TV interview via Skype, they look and sound awful. Here’s why.
- Poor lighting. They have lighting behind them or above them and it makes their face look dark.
- Bad audio. The built-in microphone in most laptops simply isn’t good enough. The result is a tinny, distant sound.
- Unflattering camera angles. With the laptop on a normal table it is looking up the person’s nose and is only 18-20 inches away from the face; this creates a distorted and unflattering image of the face.
The following simple steps will make your video look and sound much more professional when you are shooting YouTube videos, plus it will even be good enough for you to do broadcast TV interviews via Skype.
- Purchase a $12 clip on microphone that plugs into your laptop—your audio will sound 100’% better.
- Put a light in front of you and down have a light behind you. This will light your face properly.
- Put your laptop camera lens at your eye level. This means you either have to raise your laptop by putting it on a stack of books or you have to sit on the floor while the laptop sits on a desk. Now the camera angle won’t look like it is peering up your nose.
- Try to put the laptop camera three feet away from you rather than just a foot away. This will make your video look more like a professional TV program.
- Try not to have a plain white wall in the background. Something with a little color and texture will make you and the video look better.
With just a little effort and a $12 investment, you can create a TV studio for the road that will meet all your basic needs for creating acceptable YouTube videos and Skype TV interviews.