You don’t need an expensive camera to shoot a good video. In fact, most of the things that make a video look good have nothing to do with whether you’re using an iPhone, a professional camera, or anything in between.

Good lighting, good framing, clear audio, a stable camera, and enough room to edit can make a huge difference. Your iPhone can already do most of this really well, which makes it a great place to start, but most of these principles also apply to professional cameras.

Here are some simple things to keep in mind the next time you press record.

1. Start With the Right Resolution and Frame Rate

If you’re shooting on an iPhone, 4K at 24 FPS is a great starting point for talking videos and most standard content. 4K gives you more detail and gives your editor more room to crop or reframe the footage without losing too much quality, while 24 FPS gives you natural looking motion.

If you’re shooting something with more movement, 30 FPS can also work well. If you’re using a professional camera, the same principle applies: choose your resolution and frame rate based on what you’re shooting and where the final video will be used. For a standard talking video, 4K at 24 FPS is a great place to start.

2. Shoot With the Final Video in Mind

Before you start recording, think about where the video is going to be used. If you’re making an Instagram Reel, TikTok or YouTube Short, you’ll usually want to shoot vertically in a 9:16 frame. For a YouTube video, presentation or website video, you may want to shoot horizontally in a 16:9 frame.

This matters because changing the orientation later can limit what your editor can do. If you’re planning to use the same footage across different platforms, tell your editor beforehand, since you may need to frame the shot with enough room to crop into different formats.

3. Give Yourself More Space Than You Think You Need

This is one of the biggest mistakes people make when recording themselves: they get too close to the camera. Try shooting slightly wider. In editing, we can easily crop into a wider shot, but if you’ve already shot extremely close, we can’t simply create more space around you.

Think of it this way. It’s easy to zoom in, but it’s much harder to zoom out. So leave some room around your head, shoulders and body. This applies whether you’re shooting on an iPhone or a professional camera.

4. Leave Space for Text

This is especially important if your video is going to be edited for social media. Your editor may need to add headlines, captions, subtitles, logos, graphics or CTAs, so don’t frame yourself so tightly that there is nowhere to put them.

If you know that a headline will appear above your head, leave some space above you. If text will appear beside you, leave some empty space on that side. Don’t just ask yourself whether the frame looks good while you’re recording, think about whether there will still be enough space for the edit.

5. Keep Your Camera Stable

For talking videos, a tripod is one of the simplest things you can use to improve your footage. A stable camera makes the video easier to watch and much easier to edit. If you’re shooting on an iPhone, use a tripod or place your phone on a stable surface.

If you’re shooting on a professional camera, you can use a tripod, monopod, gimbal or other stabilisation depending on the type of shot. You don’t need camera movement just because you can move the camera, and if the shot doesn’t need movement, keeping it stable usually works best.

6. Get the Camera to the Right Height

For a simple talking video, try to keep the camera around eye level. You shouldn’t have to look dramatically up or down. The goal is to make the viewer feel like they’re having a conversation with you. This applies to your phone, DSLR, mirrorless camera or cinema camera, the camera matters less than where you put it.

7. Find Good Light Before You Press Record

You don’t need a complicated lighting setup, a window can be enough. For a simple setup, face the window so that the light falls naturally onto your face, and try not to put a bright window directly behind you.

Before recording, look at your face on the screen and check whether you can clearly see yourself. If your face is completely dark while the background is extremely bright, change your position. With professional cameras, you can create a more controlled setup using softboxes, LEDs, key lights and fill lights, but the basic principle remains the same: put good light on your subject.

8. Watch Your Background

Your background is part of the shot. Before recording, quickly look behind you and check for a messy table, random objects, bright lights, people walking around, or anything distracting directly behind your head.

You don’t need a beautiful background, you just need one that doesn’t compete with you. A simple background is often better than an overly decorated one.

9. Clean Your Lens

This sounds obvious, but it’s one of the easiest things to forget. Before you shoot, clean your camera lens, especially on a phone. Your phone spends most of its life in your hand, pocket or bag, so fingerprints on the lens are very common. A dirty lens can make your footage look hazy or soft, and it takes two seconds to fix.

10. Make Sure Your Subject Is in Focus

If you’re filming yourself, make sure your face is in focus before you start. On an iPhone, you can tap on your face to help the camera focus on you. On professional cameras, you may use autofocus, face and eye tracking or manual focus depending on your setup. The important thing is simple: your subject should be sharp.

11. Try to Keep Your Exposure Consistent

Have you ever watched a video where the screen suddenly becomes brighter and darker while someone is talking? That’s an exposure change, and it can be distracting. Before recording, check that your lighting is relatively consistent and, where possible, lock your exposure.

On an iPhone, you can use the focus and exposure lock. On professional cameras, you have much more control over shutter speed, aperture and ISO. You don’t need to understand every camera setting to start, just make sure your face isn’t suddenly going from bright to dark while you’re talking.

12. Audio Is Just as Important as Video

This is probably one of the most important things people forget: bad audio can ruin good video. You can have a beautiful 4K shot, but if we can barely hear you, the video becomes difficult to watch.

Try to record somewhere quiet and avoid fans, traffic, construction, loud air conditioners, echoey rooms and background conversations. If you have a microphone, use it, as a simple wireless microphone can make a huge difference. If you don’t have one, get your phone or camera reasonably close to you. Good video and good audio make footage much easier to work with.

13. Look Into the Camera

When you’re speaking directly to the audience, look at the camera lens rather than your own face on the screen. This can feel strange at first, but it makes the video feel much more personal. Think of the camera as a person, you’re talking to them.

14. Don’t Worry About Getting Every Take Perfect

You will make mistakes, and that’s completely fine. If you mess up a sentence, pause and say it again, you don’t need to restart the entire recording. For example, you might say “The biggest thing I learned was…”, pause, then continue with “The biggest thing I learned was to start before I felt ready.”

Those pauses and mistakes can be removed in editing. And if you can, don’t stop recording every time you make a tiny mistake, just keep going.

15. Leave a Little Space Before and After Your Take

This is a small thing that makes editing much easier. After you press record, wait a second or two before you start speaking, and when you finish your sentence, wait another second or two before stopping. That gives your editor room to make clean cuts and makes transitions, captions and other edits easier.

16. Shoot Multiple Takes

You don’t need to get everything right in one take. If something doesn’t sound natural, do another take and try saying the same thing with slightly different energy. You might be surprised by how different one take can feel from another. When you give your editor multiple good options, you give them more freedom to create a better final video.

17. Avoid Digital Zoom

If possible, don’t zoom in and out while you’re recording, especially on a phone. Instead, frame the shot slightly wider and let the editor crop in later. With professional cameras, optical zoom and different lenses give you more options, but the same basic idea still applies: capture a frame that gives you flexibility.

18. Shoot Extra Footage

If you’re filming a product, event, office, interview or anything other than a simple talking head video, don’t only shoot the main shot, get extra footage. For example, you could film someone’s hands typing, people walking, close ups of a product, someone laughing, the workspace, a coffee being poured, a laptop screen or a door opening.

This is called B roll. B roll gives your editor something to cut to and helps make the final video feel much more dynamic.

A Simple Setup for Your Next Talking Video

If you’re completely new to shooting video, don’t overcomplicate it. A simple, reliable setup looks like this:

• Start with your iPhone and shoot in 4K at 24 FPS

• Use a tripod and keep the camera around eye level

• Frame yourself slightly wider than you think you need

• Face a window for natural light and find a quiet place

• Use a microphone if you have one

• Keep your background simple

• Leave enough space for text and captions

• Record a few versions

That’s it. You don’t need a studio, a cinema camera or a complicated lighting setup. You just need to think about the shot before you press record.

The Edit Lobby Pre Shoot Checklist

Before you hit record, quickly run through this checklist:

• Correct orientation

• 4K selected

• 24 FPS for a standard talking video

• Camera is stable

• Camera is around eye level

• Lens is clean

• Subject is in focus

• Face is well lit

• Background isn’t distracting

• Audio is clear

• Enough headspace

• Enough space around the subject

• Space available for captions and text

• No unnecessary digital zoom

• A few seconds of space before and after the take

• Shoot multiple takes if needed

The One Thing to Remember

You don’t need the most expensive camera to shoot good footage. You need to give your editor good footage to work with. So before you press record, keep it stable, keep it well lit, keep the audio clear, frame a little wider, and leave space for the edit.

Whether you’re shooting on an iPhone or a professional camera, these basics will take you a long way. And if you’re ever unsure, shoot wider, you can always crop in.