Behind the Scenes: Unveiling the Best 9 Camera Additions for Mobile Films

Smartphone Camera Accessories Vloggers Should Try to Improve Recording

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

As smartphone camera technology is rapidly advancing, more and more people are using smartphones as their primary vlogging device. They’re convenient and they draw the least amount of attention. But since most smartphones weren’t made specifically for vlogging, there’s a lot of room to make them more suitable for that purpose. Here is a list of the nine best smartphone camera accessories for vloggers.

Table of Contents 1. PORTABLE CHARGER2. TRIPOD MOUNT3. ANTI-GRAVITY CASE4. SELFIE RING LIGHT5. DIRECTIONAL MICROPHONE6. LENS SET7. FILMMAKING RIG8. FILMMAKING RIG9. GIMBAL

1. RAVPower Portable Charger

Vlogging uses a lot more power. If you’re planning to vlog all throughout your day with your phone, you need a portable way to charge it back up. RAVPower has a great line up of portable chargers with multiple USB inputs that hold a total charge of more than 20,000 mAh. With that amount, you can fully charge your smartphone more than 6 times! I own one myself and it’s been great for me during my travels. A 22,000 mAh charger goes for about $42 USD.

2. Arkon Tripod Mount

The Arkon tripod mount is a great portable tripod option that you can get at the fair price of around $20 USD. Not only does it have bendable legs, like the more expensive Joby GorillaPod tripod, that you can wrap around all kinds of structures, but it also comes with the smartphone mount, which Joby sells separately. Another great thing about the Arkon tripod is that its smartphone mount can be rotated so that you can position your phone to film in either widescreen or portrait mode.

3. Mega Tiny Anti-Gravity Case

For all the flat surfaces that the bendable legs of the Arkon tripod mount can’t wrap around, Mega Tiny’s anti-gravity cases will do the job of holding your iPhone or Android phone in one fixed position. These cases can stick to glass, mirrors, metal, and more. They range from $20 to $30 USD.

4. FLII Selfie Ring Light

As much as smartphone camera technology has advanced, phone cameras still underperform when it comes to filming video in low-light. In low-light, your footage is very grainy because your phone is equipped with a small camera sensor, an engineering choice by the manufacturers to keep the size of the phone small. A handy accessory that you can use to get more light is the FLII selfie ring light. This ring light clamps onto your phone and emits a neutral white light. You can clamp this light to either side of your phone, depending on whether you want to use your rear-facing camera or your front-facing camera. This selfie ring light sells for around $16 USD.

5. RODE VideoMic Me

The mic that is already built into your phone is equally sensitive to the sounds that come from behind the phone as it is to the sounds that are in front of the phone. This can be problematic when you’re trying to vlog in selfie mode while there’s a loud concert on the other side. One smartphone accessory that can improve the sound that you record from your phone in these situations is the RODE VideoMic Me. This mini directional shotgun mic plugs right into your phone’s headphone jack and sells for around $60 USD. In windy conditions, the dead cat windshield that it comes with does a great job of minimizing noise from the wind. In quiet, indoor conditions where you are the only person speaking, this device performs no better than your phone’s internal microphone. Your phone will also have to be in airplane mode to prevent the Rode VideoMic Me from recording unwanted clicking noise caused by background processes performed by your phone. So you wouldn’t want to use this for livestreaming.

6. Aukey Optic 3-in-1 Smartphone Lens Set

Aukey makes a 3-in-1 lens set that you can clamp onto your smartphone so that you can vlog at different focal lengths. The 3-in-1 set comes with a wide-angle lens, a fisheye lens, and a macro lens. The clamp it comes with is long enough for these lenses to reach any camera on a smartphone, not just those of iPhones which are positioned close to the phone’s outer edge. To get the most out of these lenses, you’ll have to use them without your phone’s protective case on. Although you are free to use this lens set on either your phone’s rear-facing camera or front-facing camera, the metal housing of these lenses is likely to show up in your footage when you use them with your front-facing camera. So, instead of having your recorded image stretch to the ends of a 16:9 ratio rectangular frame, your recorded image will look as if it is contained inside a circle. This lens set sells for around $30 USD.

7. iOgrapher Go for Android and iPhone

There’s many more accessories that you can take advantage of if you don’t limit yourself to just smartphone camera accessories. Sound and lighting equipment made for stand-alone cameras perform much better too. Many of these accessories are meant to connect to the camera “shoe” (a bracket on top of the camera that accessories can be attached to). Smartphones don’t come with these kinds of shoes. So, to take advantage of these higher quality accessories, you’ll need some kind of camera rig for your smartphone that also comes with shoes. The iOgrapher Go offers this at around $60 USD. This accessory comes with three shoes.

8. Manfrotto TwistGrip System

Manfrotto’s TwistGrip System does a similar job to the above iOgrapher Go. This system also comes with three shoes. An advantage the TwistGrip System has over the iOgrapher Go is that it is much more portable. Its three connected parts can be detached to take up less space in your bag. This system sells for around $50 USD.

9. Zhiyun Smooth-Q 3-Axis Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer for Smartphones

My favorite smartphone camera accessory that I own is the Zhiyun Smooth-Q gimbal stabilizer. This gimbal is very effective in helping you record smooth video. Using the app that it comes with, you can even preset this gimbal to smoothly pan and rotate from a starting position to an ending position, giving you the opportunity to film beautiful time lapses. You can get this device at around $100 USD.

Polish Your YouTube Videos with Filmora

As one of the most widely used video editing software in YouTube video editing, Filmora provides lots of templates and effects with an intuitive interface, which saves much time. Download the free trial version and get started now.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

As smartphone camera technology is rapidly advancing, more and more people are using smartphones as their primary vlogging device. They’re convenient and they draw the least amount of attention. But since most smartphones weren’t made specifically for vlogging, there’s a lot of room to make them more suitable for that purpose. Here is a list of the nine best smartphone camera accessories for vloggers.

Table of Contents 1. PORTABLE CHARGER2. TRIPOD MOUNT3. ANTI-GRAVITY CASE4. SELFIE RING LIGHT5. DIRECTIONAL MICROPHONE6. LENS SET7. FILMMAKING RIG8. FILMMAKING RIG9. GIMBAL

1. RAVPower Portable Charger

Vlogging uses a lot more power. If you’re planning to vlog all throughout your day with your phone, you need a portable way to charge it back up. RAVPower has a great line up of portable chargers with multiple USB inputs that hold a total charge of more than 20,000 mAh. With that amount, you can fully charge your smartphone more than 6 times! I own one myself and it’s been great for me during my travels. A 22,000 mAh charger goes for about $42 USD.

2. Arkon Tripod Mount

The Arkon tripod mount is a great portable tripod option that you can get at the fair price of around $20 USD. Not only does it have bendable legs, like the more expensive Joby GorillaPod tripod, that you can wrap around all kinds of structures, but it also comes with the smartphone mount, which Joby sells separately. Another great thing about the Arkon tripod is that its smartphone mount can be rotated so that you can position your phone to film in either widescreen or portrait mode.

3. Mega Tiny Anti-Gravity Case

For all the flat surfaces that the bendable legs of the Arkon tripod mount can’t wrap around, Mega Tiny’s anti-gravity cases will do the job of holding your iPhone or Android phone in one fixed position. These cases can stick to glass, mirrors, metal, and more. They range from $20 to $30 USD.

4. FLII Selfie Ring Light

As much as smartphone camera technology has advanced, phone cameras still underperform when it comes to filming video in low-light. In low-light, your footage is very grainy because your phone is equipped with a small camera sensor, an engineering choice by the manufacturers to keep the size of the phone small. A handy accessory that you can use to get more light is the FLII selfie ring light. This ring light clamps onto your phone and emits a neutral white light. You can clamp this light to either side of your phone, depending on whether you want to use your rear-facing camera or your front-facing camera. This selfie ring light sells for around $16 USD.

5. RODE VideoMic Me

The mic that is already built into your phone is equally sensitive to the sounds that come from behind the phone as it is to the sounds that are in front of the phone. This can be problematic when you’re trying to vlog in selfie mode while there’s a loud concert on the other side. One smartphone accessory that can improve the sound that you record from your phone in these situations is the RODE VideoMic Me. This mini directional shotgun mic plugs right into your phone’s headphone jack and sells for around $60 USD. In windy conditions, the dead cat windshield that it comes with does a great job of minimizing noise from the wind. In quiet, indoor conditions where you are the only person speaking, this device performs no better than your phone’s internal microphone. Your phone will also have to be in airplane mode to prevent the Rode VideoMic Me from recording unwanted clicking noise caused by background processes performed by your phone. So you wouldn’t want to use this for livestreaming.

6. Aukey Optic 3-in-1 Smartphone Lens Set

Aukey makes a 3-in-1 lens set that you can clamp onto your smartphone so that you can vlog at different focal lengths. The 3-in-1 set comes with a wide-angle lens, a fisheye lens, and a macro lens. The clamp it comes with is long enough for these lenses to reach any camera on a smartphone, not just those of iPhones which are positioned close to the phone’s outer edge. To get the most out of these lenses, you’ll have to use them without your phone’s protective case on. Although you are free to use this lens set on either your phone’s rear-facing camera or front-facing camera, the metal housing of these lenses is likely to show up in your footage when you use them with your front-facing camera. So, instead of having your recorded image stretch to the ends of a 16:9 ratio rectangular frame, your recorded image will look as if it is contained inside a circle. This lens set sells for around $30 USD.

7. iOgrapher Go for Android and iPhone

There’s many more accessories that you can take advantage of if you don’t limit yourself to just smartphone camera accessories. Sound and lighting equipment made for stand-alone cameras perform much better too. Many of these accessories are meant to connect to the camera “shoe” (a bracket on top of the camera that accessories can be attached to). Smartphones don’t come with these kinds of shoes. So, to take advantage of these higher quality accessories, you’ll need some kind of camera rig for your smartphone that also comes with shoes. The iOgrapher Go offers this at around $60 USD. This accessory comes with three shoes.

8. Manfrotto TwistGrip System

Manfrotto’s TwistGrip System does a similar job to the above iOgrapher Go. This system also comes with three shoes. An advantage the TwistGrip System has over the iOgrapher Go is that it is much more portable. Its three connected parts can be detached to take up less space in your bag. This system sells for around $50 USD.

9. Zhiyun Smooth-Q 3-Axis Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer for Smartphones

My favorite smartphone camera accessory that I own is the Zhiyun Smooth-Q gimbal stabilizer. This gimbal is very effective in helping you record smooth video. Using the app that it comes with, you can even preset this gimbal to smoothly pan and rotate from a starting position to an ending position, giving you the opportunity to film beautiful time lapses. You can get this device at around $100 USD.

Polish Your YouTube Videos with Filmora

As one of the most widely used video editing software in YouTube video editing, Filmora provides lots of templates and effects with an intuitive interface, which saves much time. Download the free trial version and get started now.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

As smartphone camera technology is rapidly advancing, more and more people are using smartphones as their primary vlogging device. They’re convenient and they draw the least amount of attention. But since most smartphones weren’t made specifically for vlogging, there’s a lot of room to make them more suitable for that purpose. Here is a list of the nine best smartphone camera accessories for vloggers.

Table of Contents 1. PORTABLE CHARGER2. TRIPOD MOUNT3. ANTI-GRAVITY CASE4. SELFIE RING LIGHT5. DIRECTIONAL MICROPHONE6. LENS SET7. FILMMAKING RIG8. FILMMAKING RIG9. GIMBAL

1. RAVPower Portable Charger

Vlogging uses a lot more power. If you’re planning to vlog all throughout your day with your phone, you need a portable way to charge it back up. RAVPower has a great line up of portable chargers with multiple USB inputs that hold a total charge of more than 20,000 mAh. With that amount, you can fully charge your smartphone more than 6 times! I own one myself and it’s been great for me during my travels. A 22,000 mAh charger goes for about $42 USD.

2. Arkon Tripod Mount

The Arkon tripod mount is a great portable tripod option that you can get at the fair price of around $20 USD. Not only does it have bendable legs, like the more expensive Joby GorillaPod tripod, that you can wrap around all kinds of structures, but it also comes with the smartphone mount, which Joby sells separately. Another great thing about the Arkon tripod is that its smartphone mount can be rotated so that you can position your phone to film in either widescreen or portrait mode.

3. Mega Tiny Anti-Gravity Case

For all the flat surfaces that the bendable legs of the Arkon tripod mount can’t wrap around, Mega Tiny’s anti-gravity cases will do the job of holding your iPhone or Android phone in one fixed position. These cases can stick to glass, mirrors, metal, and more. They range from $20 to $30 USD.

4. FLII Selfie Ring Light

As much as smartphone camera technology has advanced, phone cameras still underperform when it comes to filming video in low-light. In low-light, your footage is very grainy because your phone is equipped with a small camera sensor, an engineering choice by the manufacturers to keep the size of the phone small. A handy accessory that you can use to get more light is the FLII selfie ring light. This ring light clamps onto your phone and emits a neutral white light. You can clamp this light to either side of your phone, depending on whether you want to use your rear-facing camera or your front-facing camera. This selfie ring light sells for around $16 USD.

5. RODE VideoMic Me

The mic that is already built into your phone is equally sensitive to the sounds that come from behind the phone as it is to the sounds that are in front of the phone. This can be problematic when you’re trying to vlog in selfie mode while there’s a loud concert on the other side. One smartphone accessory that can improve the sound that you record from your phone in these situations is the RODE VideoMic Me. This mini directional shotgun mic plugs right into your phone’s headphone jack and sells for around $60 USD. In windy conditions, the dead cat windshield that it comes with does a great job of minimizing noise from the wind. In quiet, indoor conditions where you are the only person speaking, this device performs no better than your phone’s internal microphone. Your phone will also have to be in airplane mode to prevent the Rode VideoMic Me from recording unwanted clicking noise caused by background processes performed by your phone. So you wouldn’t want to use this for livestreaming.

6. Aukey Optic 3-in-1 Smartphone Lens Set

Aukey makes a 3-in-1 lens set that you can clamp onto your smartphone so that you can vlog at different focal lengths. The 3-in-1 set comes with a wide-angle lens, a fisheye lens, and a macro lens. The clamp it comes with is long enough for these lenses to reach any camera on a smartphone, not just those of iPhones which are positioned close to the phone’s outer edge. To get the most out of these lenses, you’ll have to use them without your phone’s protective case on. Although you are free to use this lens set on either your phone’s rear-facing camera or front-facing camera, the metal housing of these lenses is likely to show up in your footage when you use them with your front-facing camera. So, instead of having your recorded image stretch to the ends of a 16:9 ratio rectangular frame, your recorded image will look as if it is contained inside a circle. This lens set sells for around $30 USD.

7. iOgrapher Go for Android and iPhone

There’s many more accessories that you can take advantage of if you don’t limit yourself to just smartphone camera accessories. Sound and lighting equipment made for stand-alone cameras perform much better too. Many of these accessories are meant to connect to the camera “shoe” (a bracket on top of the camera that accessories can be attached to). Smartphones don’t come with these kinds of shoes. So, to take advantage of these higher quality accessories, you’ll need some kind of camera rig for your smartphone that also comes with shoes. The iOgrapher Go offers this at around $60 USD. This accessory comes with three shoes.

8. Manfrotto TwistGrip System

Manfrotto’s TwistGrip System does a similar job to the above iOgrapher Go. This system also comes with three shoes. An advantage the TwistGrip System has over the iOgrapher Go is that it is much more portable. Its three connected parts can be detached to take up less space in your bag. This system sells for around $50 USD.

9. Zhiyun Smooth-Q 3-Axis Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer for Smartphones

My favorite smartphone camera accessory that I own is the Zhiyun Smooth-Q gimbal stabilizer. This gimbal is very effective in helping you record smooth video. Using the app that it comes with, you can even preset this gimbal to smoothly pan and rotate from a starting position to an ending position, giving you the opportunity to film beautiful time lapses. You can get this device at around $100 USD.

Polish Your YouTube Videos with Filmora

As one of the most widely used video editing software in YouTube video editing, Filmora provides lots of templates and effects with an intuitive interface, which saves much time. Download the free trial version and get started now.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

As smartphone camera technology is rapidly advancing, more and more people are using smartphones as their primary vlogging device. They’re convenient and they draw the least amount of attention. But since most smartphones weren’t made specifically for vlogging, there’s a lot of room to make them more suitable for that purpose. Here is a list of the nine best smartphone camera accessories for vloggers.

Table of Contents 1. PORTABLE CHARGER2. TRIPOD MOUNT3. ANTI-GRAVITY CASE4. SELFIE RING LIGHT5. DIRECTIONAL MICROPHONE6. LENS SET7. FILMMAKING RIG8. FILMMAKING RIG9. GIMBAL

1. RAVPower Portable Charger

Vlogging uses a lot more power. If you’re planning to vlog all throughout your day with your phone, you need a portable way to charge it back up. RAVPower has a great line up of portable chargers with multiple USB inputs that hold a total charge of more than 20,000 mAh. With that amount, you can fully charge your smartphone more than 6 times! I own one myself and it’s been great for me during my travels. A 22,000 mAh charger goes for about $42 USD.

2. Arkon Tripod Mount

The Arkon tripod mount is a great portable tripod option that you can get at the fair price of around $20 USD. Not only does it have bendable legs, like the more expensive Joby GorillaPod tripod, that you can wrap around all kinds of structures, but it also comes with the smartphone mount, which Joby sells separately. Another great thing about the Arkon tripod is that its smartphone mount can be rotated so that you can position your phone to film in either widescreen or portrait mode.

3. Mega Tiny Anti-Gravity Case

For all the flat surfaces that the bendable legs of the Arkon tripod mount can’t wrap around, Mega Tiny’s anti-gravity cases will do the job of holding your iPhone or Android phone in one fixed position. These cases can stick to glass, mirrors, metal, and more. They range from $20 to $30 USD.

4. FLII Selfie Ring Light

As much as smartphone camera technology has advanced, phone cameras still underperform when it comes to filming video in low-light. In low-light, your footage is very grainy because your phone is equipped with a small camera sensor, an engineering choice by the manufacturers to keep the size of the phone small. A handy accessory that you can use to get more light is the FLII selfie ring light. This ring light clamps onto your phone and emits a neutral white light. You can clamp this light to either side of your phone, depending on whether you want to use your rear-facing camera or your front-facing camera. This selfie ring light sells for around $16 USD.

5. RODE VideoMic Me

The mic that is already built into your phone is equally sensitive to the sounds that come from behind the phone as it is to the sounds that are in front of the phone. This can be problematic when you’re trying to vlog in selfie mode while there’s a loud concert on the other side. One smartphone accessory that can improve the sound that you record from your phone in these situations is the RODE VideoMic Me. This mini directional shotgun mic plugs right into your phone’s headphone jack and sells for around $60 USD. In windy conditions, the dead cat windshield that it comes with does a great job of minimizing noise from the wind. In quiet, indoor conditions where you are the only person speaking, this device performs no better than your phone’s internal microphone. Your phone will also have to be in airplane mode to prevent the Rode VideoMic Me from recording unwanted clicking noise caused by background processes performed by your phone. So you wouldn’t want to use this for livestreaming.

6. Aukey Optic 3-in-1 Smartphone Lens Set

Aukey makes a 3-in-1 lens set that you can clamp onto your smartphone so that you can vlog at different focal lengths. The 3-in-1 set comes with a wide-angle lens, a fisheye lens, and a macro lens. The clamp it comes with is long enough for these lenses to reach any camera on a smartphone, not just those of iPhones which are positioned close to the phone’s outer edge. To get the most out of these lenses, you’ll have to use them without your phone’s protective case on. Although you are free to use this lens set on either your phone’s rear-facing camera or front-facing camera, the metal housing of these lenses is likely to show up in your footage when you use them with your front-facing camera. So, instead of having your recorded image stretch to the ends of a 16:9 ratio rectangular frame, your recorded image will look as if it is contained inside a circle. This lens set sells for around $30 USD.

7. iOgrapher Go for Android and iPhone

There’s many more accessories that you can take advantage of if you don’t limit yourself to just smartphone camera accessories. Sound and lighting equipment made for stand-alone cameras perform much better too. Many of these accessories are meant to connect to the camera “shoe” (a bracket on top of the camera that accessories can be attached to). Smartphones don’t come with these kinds of shoes. So, to take advantage of these higher quality accessories, you’ll need some kind of camera rig for your smartphone that also comes with shoes. The iOgrapher Go offers this at around $60 USD. This accessory comes with three shoes.

8. Manfrotto TwistGrip System

Manfrotto’s TwistGrip System does a similar job to the above iOgrapher Go. This system also comes with three shoes. An advantage the TwistGrip System has over the iOgrapher Go is that it is much more portable. Its three connected parts can be detached to take up less space in your bag. This system sells for around $50 USD.

9. Zhiyun Smooth-Q 3-Axis Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer for Smartphones

My favorite smartphone camera accessory that I own is the Zhiyun Smooth-Q gimbal stabilizer. This gimbal is very effective in helping you record smooth video. Using the app that it comes with, you can even preset this gimbal to smoothly pan and rotate from a starting position to an ending position, giving you the opportunity to film beautiful time lapses. You can get this device at around $100 USD.

Polish Your YouTube Videos with Filmora

As one of the most widely used video editing software in YouTube video editing, Filmora provides lots of templates and effects with an intuitive interface, which saves much time. Download the free trial version and get started now.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Aesthetic Ambitions: Launching a YouTube Channel for Makeup Maven

How To Be A Beauty Guru on YouTube: Beauty Vlogger Set Up

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Beauty Vlogs are some of the most popular channels on YouTube. These vlogs are all about aesthetics, so it is important that the videos themselves are beautiful. When you are giving out tips on makeup or hair you want to use a setup that will make your results look their very best.

YouTube Beauty Vlogger Set Up

It’s easy to put together your own Beauty Vlog setup. There are four main elements; lighting, beauty supplies, backgrounds, and audio. Here are some tips on building your beauty guru set:

1. Light It Up

Beauty Vlogs need to have great lighting so that everyone can clearly see what you are doing and how amazing it looks. Make sure you have even light over your whole face by ‘front lighting’ your vlog. Front lighting means having a light source right in front of you.

Depending on your budget, you can either use a window as a front light or buy a diva ring light.

Using a Window: Face the window while you vlog and be careful that the camera’s shadow is not visible in your shot. Avoid using a window the sun is shining directly into. You want softer, more diffused, light for a beauty vlog.

Using a Ring Light: Mount your camera either inside the ring or right behind it on a tripod. Ring lights are powerful options for illuminating your entire face, and they are very popular with makeup vloggers.

Front lighting can make you appear flat against your background, so it is also a good idea to set up a backlight behind you to make you pop out. Setting up lights on either side of you can also help add dimension to your shot.

Check this tutorial to know more details:

2. Organize Your Makeup

Having to search for makeup or reach across to where you are storing your curling iron will kill your vlogging momentum. Creating a great look is the fun part of beauty vlogging, and probably the part you want to focus on. Not looking for your missing brush. The best way to set yourself up for a beauty vlog is at a desk or table where you can lay everything out neatly right in front of you.

3. Alter Your Background

Making your vlog look more professional can be as easy as dressing up your background. You do not want there to be a lot of clutter behind you, but you don’t want to shoot with your back to a plain beige wall either. One simple way to keep your background beautiful, but not distracting, is to use a backdrop. Just hang a sheet or other piece of fabric behind you. You can even use patterns and change your backdrop to match your makeup in different videos.

Another great way to disguise the room you are vlogging in, and make sure nothing behind you distracts your viewers, is to blur your background. You really stand out when your background is blurry and you are in perfect focus.

4. Be Audible

You have a lot to say, so make sure people can hear you. Most cameras do not have great microphones, so you will need to use an external mic. To see what kinds of options you have make sure to read and watch “Best Microphone for YouTube - Top 5 Mics for YouTube Videos ”.

If you do not have access to an external mic then you may be able to get by without one for a while using software. Make sure there is no background noise competing with your voice, and download a free audio editing program called Audacity from Audacityteam.org. Using Audacity you will be able to improve a mediocre audio recording from your camera and make it usable. This is a popular option among YouTube gamers who record both video and audio from their webcams, but there is no reason it should not be useful for beauty gurus too.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Beauty Vlogs are some of the most popular channels on YouTube. These vlogs are all about aesthetics, so it is important that the videos themselves are beautiful. When you are giving out tips on makeup or hair you want to use a setup that will make your results look their very best.

YouTube Beauty Vlogger Set Up

It’s easy to put together your own Beauty Vlog setup. There are four main elements; lighting, beauty supplies, backgrounds, and audio. Here are some tips on building your beauty guru set:

1. Light It Up

Beauty Vlogs need to have great lighting so that everyone can clearly see what you are doing and how amazing it looks. Make sure you have even light over your whole face by ‘front lighting’ your vlog. Front lighting means having a light source right in front of you.

Depending on your budget, you can either use a window as a front light or buy a diva ring light.

Using a Window: Face the window while you vlog and be careful that the camera’s shadow is not visible in your shot. Avoid using a window the sun is shining directly into. You want softer, more diffused, light for a beauty vlog.

Using a Ring Light: Mount your camera either inside the ring or right behind it on a tripod. Ring lights are powerful options for illuminating your entire face, and they are very popular with makeup vloggers.

Front lighting can make you appear flat against your background, so it is also a good idea to set up a backlight behind you to make you pop out. Setting up lights on either side of you can also help add dimension to your shot.

Check this tutorial to know more details:

2. Organize Your Makeup

Having to search for makeup or reach across to where you are storing your curling iron will kill your vlogging momentum. Creating a great look is the fun part of beauty vlogging, and probably the part you want to focus on. Not looking for your missing brush. The best way to set yourself up for a beauty vlog is at a desk or table where you can lay everything out neatly right in front of you.

3. Alter Your Background

Making your vlog look more professional can be as easy as dressing up your background. You do not want there to be a lot of clutter behind you, but you don’t want to shoot with your back to a plain beige wall either. One simple way to keep your background beautiful, but not distracting, is to use a backdrop. Just hang a sheet or other piece of fabric behind you. You can even use patterns and change your backdrop to match your makeup in different videos.

Another great way to disguise the room you are vlogging in, and make sure nothing behind you distracts your viewers, is to blur your background. You really stand out when your background is blurry and you are in perfect focus.

4. Be Audible

You have a lot to say, so make sure people can hear you. Most cameras do not have great microphones, so you will need to use an external mic. To see what kinds of options you have make sure to read and watch “Best Microphone for YouTube - Top 5 Mics for YouTube Videos ”.

If you do not have access to an external mic then you may be able to get by without one for a while using software. Make sure there is no background noise competing with your voice, and download a free audio editing program called Audacity from Audacityteam.org. Using Audacity you will be able to improve a mediocre audio recording from your camera and make it usable. This is a popular option among YouTube gamers who record both video and audio from their webcams, but there is no reason it should not be useful for beauty gurus too.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Beauty Vlogs are some of the most popular channels on YouTube. These vlogs are all about aesthetics, so it is important that the videos themselves are beautiful. When you are giving out tips on makeup or hair you want to use a setup that will make your results look their very best.

YouTube Beauty Vlogger Set Up

It’s easy to put together your own Beauty Vlog setup. There are four main elements; lighting, beauty supplies, backgrounds, and audio. Here are some tips on building your beauty guru set:

1. Light It Up

Beauty Vlogs need to have great lighting so that everyone can clearly see what you are doing and how amazing it looks. Make sure you have even light over your whole face by ‘front lighting’ your vlog. Front lighting means having a light source right in front of you.

Depending on your budget, you can either use a window as a front light or buy a diva ring light.

Using a Window: Face the window while you vlog and be careful that the camera’s shadow is not visible in your shot. Avoid using a window the sun is shining directly into. You want softer, more diffused, light for a beauty vlog.

Using a Ring Light: Mount your camera either inside the ring or right behind it on a tripod. Ring lights are powerful options for illuminating your entire face, and they are very popular with makeup vloggers.

Front lighting can make you appear flat against your background, so it is also a good idea to set up a backlight behind you to make you pop out. Setting up lights on either side of you can also help add dimension to your shot.

Check this tutorial to know more details:

2. Organize Your Makeup

Having to search for makeup or reach across to where you are storing your curling iron will kill your vlogging momentum. Creating a great look is the fun part of beauty vlogging, and probably the part you want to focus on. Not looking for your missing brush. The best way to set yourself up for a beauty vlog is at a desk or table where you can lay everything out neatly right in front of you.

3. Alter Your Background

Making your vlog look more professional can be as easy as dressing up your background. You do not want there to be a lot of clutter behind you, but you don’t want to shoot with your back to a plain beige wall either. One simple way to keep your background beautiful, but not distracting, is to use a backdrop. Just hang a sheet or other piece of fabric behind you. You can even use patterns and change your backdrop to match your makeup in different videos.

Another great way to disguise the room you are vlogging in, and make sure nothing behind you distracts your viewers, is to blur your background. You really stand out when your background is blurry and you are in perfect focus.

4. Be Audible

You have a lot to say, so make sure people can hear you. Most cameras do not have great microphones, so you will need to use an external mic. To see what kinds of options you have make sure to read and watch “Best Microphone for YouTube - Top 5 Mics for YouTube Videos ”.

If you do not have access to an external mic then you may be able to get by without one for a while using software. Make sure there is no background noise competing with your voice, and download a free audio editing program called Audacity from Audacityteam.org. Using Audacity you will be able to improve a mediocre audio recording from your camera and make it usable. This is a popular option among YouTube gamers who record both video and audio from their webcams, but there is no reason it should not be useful for beauty gurus too.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Beauty Vlogs are some of the most popular channels on YouTube. These vlogs are all about aesthetics, so it is important that the videos themselves are beautiful. When you are giving out tips on makeup or hair you want to use a setup that will make your results look their very best.

YouTube Beauty Vlogger Set Up

It’s easy to put together your own Beauty Vlog setup. There are four main elements; lighting, beauty supplies, backgrounds, and audio. Here are some tips on building your beauty guru set:

1. Light It Up

Beauty Vlogs need to have great lighting so that everyone can clearly see what you are doing and how amazing it looks. Make sure you have even light over your whole face by ‘front lighting’ your vlog. Front lighting means having a light source right in front of you.

Depending on your budget, you can either use a window as a front light or buy a diva ring light.

Using a Window: Face the window while you vlog and be careful that the camera’s shadow is not visible in your shot. Avoid using a window the sun is shining directly into. You want softer, more diffused, light for a beauty vlog.

Using a Ring Light: Mount your camera either inside the ring or right behind it on a tripod. Ring lights are powerful options for illuminating your entire face, and they are very popular with makeup vloggers.

Front lighting can make you appear flat against your background, so it is also a good idea to set up a backlight behind you to make you pop out. Setting up lights on either side of you can also help add dimension to your shot.

Check this tutorial to know more details:

2. Organize Your Makeup

Having to search for makeup or reach across to where you are storing your curling iron will kill your vlogging momentum. Creating a great look is the fun part of beauty vlogging, and probably the part you want to focus on. Not looking for your missing brush. The best way to set yourself up for a beauty vlog is at a desk or table where you can lay everything out neatly right in front of you.

3. Alter Your Background

Making your vlog look more professional can be as easy as dressing up your background. You do not want there to be a lot of clutter behind you, but you don’t want to shoot with your back to a plain beige wall either. One simple way to keep your background beautiful, but not distracting, is to use a backdrop. Just hang a sheet or other piece of fabric behind you. You can even use patterns and change your backdrop to match your makeup in different videos.

Another great way to disguise the room you are vlogging in, and make sure nothing behind you distracts your viewers, is to blur your background. You really stand out when your background is blurry and you are in perfect focus.

4. Be Audible

You have a lot to say, so make sure people can hear you. Most cameras do not have great microphones, so you will need to use an external mic. To see what kinds of options you have make sure to read and watch “Best Microphone for YouTube - Top 5 Mics for YouTube Videos ”.

If you do not have access to an external mic then you may be able to get by without one for a while using software. Make sure there is no background noise competing with your voice, and download a free audio editing program called Audacity from Audacityteam.org. Using Audacity you will be able to improve a mediocre audio recording from your camera and make it usable. This is a popular option among YouTube gamers who record both video and audio from their webcams, but there is no reason it should not be useful for beauty gurus too.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

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