You may have noticed we share the occasional video—or about 80 if you count everything on our video page. Over the years we’ve learned a few practical tips for shooting and editing simple, engaging clips, and since readers and fellow bloggers asked, here’s a clear, down-to-earth guide to how we make ours.
Like our photography and Photoshop posts, this isn’t a professional tutorial. We’re hobbyists who’ve practiced a lot, and our goal is to make useful advice that helps you capture better home videos or add short clips to your blog without needing expensive gear or advanced software.
Quick summary of the main points you’ll see below:
- We’ve been casually shooting video for many years, so our experience is practical and informal.
- You don’t need high-end cameras. Many of our clips were shot on an inexpensive Flip camera or on a smartphone.
- Treat video like photography: light and stability matter most.
- We use iMovie because it’s simple and comes with Macs; for heavier work we use Final Cut Pro.
- We often find music with Creative Commons licenses, which avoids copyright issues.
- Keep editing simple—avoid flashy effects and be consistent with your style.
- Organize and prune footage regularly so storage stays manageable.
My background: I’ve been making home videos since high school. I took a few classes that taught reel-to-reel shooting and editing, and later studied media in college, so I’ve had plenty of hands-on practice. Sherry pitches in creatively on every video, but she didn’t have that same early experience—so we approach video as a team of nonprofessionals who learn as we go.
Our equipment: Most of our older videos were shot on a Flip video camera, and more recent clips use FlipHD, phones, or the built-in MacBook camera for quick takes. The main point: good results don’t require expensive gear. Modern phones and consumer cameras record solid video, and with attention to light and steadiness, you can get very watchable footage.
For example, our timelapse in this bedroom painting post was recorded and edited directly in iMovie, where we sped it up and added music.
YouTube has made viewers tolerant of a range of quality, so don’t feel you must splurge on a pro camera. Instead focus on a few controllable factors to improve footage.
Shooting better video: When your camera is a smartphone or a simple consumer device, you have limited manual controls. Here are three practical tips we use every time we shoot:
- Find good lighting: Natural, diffused light usually produces the cleanest image. Avoid harsh backlight that silhouettes subjects. If overhead lights produce unflattering shadows, add lamps or move subjects closer to a window. Good light reduces grain and improves color.
- Keep it steady: Slow, smooth movements look far better than quick pans. If you can, use a tripod or brace the camera against a stable surface. Avoid sudden zooms or abrupt shifts unless you want a shaky, energetic effect on purpose.
- Be mindful of sound: Built-in mics are fine for many clips, but ambient noise can ruin a take. Do a quick sound check before recording: silence phones, pause noisy appliances, and watch for barking dogs or loud traffic. If dialogue matters, move closer to the subject or consider a simple external mic later on.
Our editing software: For most simple edits we use iMovie because it’s user-friendly and readily available on Macs. It makes importing, trimming, arranging clips, adding titles and music, and exporting straightforward. For more advanced needs—like the video work we did for our book—we upgraded to Final Cut Pro. Final Cut offers professional features for sound, color correction, and effects, but it has a steeper learning curve, so it’s worth starting with beginner-friendly tools first.
Editing philosophy: Keep it simple. Too many transitions, effects, or title animations can make a short clip feel cluttered and amateur. Most cinematic edits rely on cuts, dissolves, and occasional cross-blurs. Choose one or two consistent visual touches rather than testing every effect your software offers. Simple, clean edits highlight content instead of drawing attention to the editing itself.
Finding music: One frequent question is where we find music. We often use Jamendo and other sources that offer tracks under Creative Commons licenses. These tracks typically allow free use with proper attribution for non-commercial projects, which helps avoid copyright claims on platforms like YouTube. Finding the right track can take longer than picking a familiar song, but you’ll avoid takedowns and discover new artists whose work complements your clips.
When a project becomes commercial or promotional, we pay for licensing as required. For everyday family clips or DIY tutorials, Creative Commons music paired with a simple credit line has been a reliable solution.
Organizing our videos: We shoot a lot of footage, especially since our daughter Clara arrived. Organizing and pruning are essential to avoid being overwhelmed. Our approach:
- Be selective and delete obvious duds immediately on the camera.
- Upload footage to your preferred app (iPhoto, FlipShare, or similar) and review clips promptly.
- Decide an end use: Will this go on the blog, social media, a year-end montage, or just the archive? Keep what has a purpose and remove what won’t be used.
We store “save-worthy” clips in a dedicated videos folder that’s included in our regular backups and occasionally upload important clips to platforms like YouTube or Vimeo with privacy settings for additional redundancy. That way, if a hard drive fails, we still keep copies of meaningful moments.
There’s more to learn about specific techniques and deeper editing tools, but these basics—good light, steady camera work, clear sound, restrained editing, licensed music, and organized storage—will help you produce better, more enjoyable home videos and short blog clips. If you have specific questions about gear, editing steps, or music choices, leave a comment and we’ll try to help.