6 essential tips for shooting videos outside

Whether to post on social media, or as a branding strategy, videos are viral and have become one of the most consumed types of media nowadays.

In this context, video quality has gained huge importance, since the idea is to be able to produce more attractive and aesthetically beautiful material.

With this in mind, in this article, we’ll talk about 6 tips for shooting videos outside with great quality. Check them out!

How to shoot your videos

Being able to record quality videos outside goes far beyond the power of your equipment; especially because outside lighting conditions, either during the day or at night, are extremely variable. Therefore, knowledge is much more important as to ensure quality videos.

Bearing this important fact in mind, check out our tips:

1. Pay attention to the time of day

Audiovisual productions, when done outside, need to take the availability of light into account. And when natural light is a necessity, as is the case of daytime shooting, it’s essential that you pay attention to the time of day. After all, we only have sunlight available during part of the day.

Periods such as early morning or late afternoon are usually better for video or photo productions. These times are known as Golden Hour and consist of a few minutes immediately after sunrise and right before sunset, ensuring warm and pleasant lighting.

However, since it lasts for only a few minutes, the golden hour might not be enough for shooting videos outside.

Therefore, taking the time of day into account means aligning the expectations with the idea of video production, in such a way that the light available is sufficient for the shoot.

2. Observe the lens filters

In order to shoot video outdoors, certain care with the equipment must be taken.

It’s usually necessary to rely on a few accessories, such as lens filters, in order to obtain the desired effects. You can choose from several options. Check out two of them!

Polarizing filter

Used to minimize the reflection from translucent surfaces, such as glass and water. Additionally, it helps enhance color saturation and adds natural contrast to the scene.

Neutral density (ND) filter

The neutral density filter is one of the most used for shooting videos outside, in addition to being one of the most used filters. It’s used to reduce the amount of light passing through the lens, allowing the use of low shutter speeds even under conditions of excessive light. It produces an effect similar to sunglasses.

3. Use accessories as light reflectors

Outside light conditions are usually harder to control. Therefore, a few accessories might come in handy.

When there’s harsh light, creating shadows on the subjects, you can use a light reflector to fill in these darker areas.

Thus, you can equalize your scene without having to spend a lot of money, since Styrofoam boards are excellent light reflectors. Just be careful so as not to bother people, since light reflectors reflect strong sunlight into the face of the person being recorded.

4. Pay attention to the scenery

The outdoors set is one of the most important aspects of a shoot. It should be carefully thought out in order to compose your set, so that it makes sense for the recording’s subject.

The set shouldn’t be chosen just “to be there”, because it will appear in most of your video. Therefore, be careful with your scenes’ background.

5. Be careful with your audio

When talking about audiovisual productions, the name itself makes it clear that there’s a fundamental aspect that requires a lot of attention: the audio.

If the idea is to capture audio during the recordings, have a quality microphone with noise-reduction accessories to reduce outside noise, such as the wind, traffic or vegetation movement.

Investing in lapel microphones is a good idea, when you need to capture audio from someone speaking.

6. Be aware of the impact that the weather can cause

Weather conditions can be one of your greatest allies when shooting videos outside, providing perfect lighting and mild weather. But it can also be your worst nightmare, making you lose an entire day trying to get out of the rain, for example.

Choosing to record videos outside means that you’re at the mercy of the weather. Therefore, it’s essential that you always have a backup plan in mind.

Alternatives for shooting videos outside

As we mentioned earlier in this article, video production nowadays is being increasingly used by several professionals. Social media is flooded with videos and their views on platforms, such as YouTube and Vimeo  are so huge that they even strongly compete with more traditional media, such as TV.

Companies are also more concerned about video production, since they need to attract their audience according to the use of the most accessed media. In this sense, the quality of commercial videos is also a very important issue.

Major producers currently find themselves competing with individuals capable of creating excellent independent productions, winning over an increasingly bigger audience online. And a good part of this success comes from the quality of the material posted.

However, as you saw earlier, recording conditions outside aren’t always ideal. And you usually have to deal with tight deadlines. Therefore, you have to find quick solutions.

Therefore, consider the possibility of investing in a studio, relying on Chroma key technology. To do so, all you need is a green background, which will be replaced, during post-production, with any scenario you wish.

Just be careful with the lighting of the people in the video, since they must match the background inserted digitally. If this isn’t observed, you risk having an artificial and unattractive final result.

Would you like to learn more about how this background works? Check out the tips from one of our video makers who will teach you how to create your own Chroma key.