In a concert? 6 tips to shoot great videos with phone

In this age of smartphone, the camera in your phone has most probably replaced your digital camera or your camcorder. One of the great pleasures of having a great smartphone camera is that you can shoot videos while at a concert, without lugging around heavy equipment. Honestly, everyone does it, but irrespective of which smartphone you are using, most of us aren't doing it right.

So what is the right way. Follow these six tips...

1. Always shoot in landscape mode. Yes, in a crowded concert it may be easier to shoot in portrait, but once you are done you will realise that video you shot has ungainly black bars on the YouTube and Facebook. Frankly, this will not please anyone. Hence, always shoot in landscape.

2. Use the default camera app that comes preloaded on your phone. Yes, third party apps may add some extra features, but largely they do not utilise the hardware that your phone packs in. This is unless you are using some specialised app that has some special features.

The stock camera app will enable you to access camera features with greater ease. So you can decide to shoot in 4K if your phone supports it. On a third party app, this function may not be supported.

3. Keep your hands steady, particularly the wrist and slowly move sideways if you want to pan across to get a wider field of view. The faster you move, the shakier your video gets. 

4. Apps like Vyclone can go a long way in adding a level of professional dimension to your videos. It's an interesting app because if you are in a big group and everyone is shooting the same concert, the app is able to take different camera angles from different users and perfectly sync the audio like a professional multi camera setup.

5. Don't zoom in. Digital zoom will induce even more camera shake, so it will be better if you could move physically closer to the action.

6. Audio is crucial to the quality of a great bootlegged video. Now, if your phone is equipped with poor microphones then the audio is bound to be bad. However, often while taking videos in a concert situation, you may accidentally cover the microphone with your fingers. Be mindful of that and avoid covering the microphones of your device.