DSLR settings

To be honest, there isn't much wrong with what you're doing, but there are a few tips that might improve the look of your videos. Firstly, to make it look more like the first video you linked, have a background that is further away from you so that there is a greater perspective and perception of space that will also have an increased shallow depth of field look. She seemed to have quite a dark background, so focus the light of your softboxes on you rather than both you and the background. While that might help, an LED video light could help immensely in directing the light on your face instead of the background. You can experiment as you wish with the camera angles, but perhaps move the camera a bit further away, but try not to zoom in as that kit lens decreases its aperture the further you zoom in. Also, after the footage is taken, put it into iMovie, and adjust the filter a little. Perhaps meddle with the saturation, exposure, contrast, hues ect. And after that, you should be fine. However, I'm not sure what microphone you are using, but if it is the inbuilt one, you might want to invest in an external variety. Rode makes good DSLR microphones.
Although I have quite a bit of experience in cameras, even I struggle to do the camerawork myself (my camera doesn't have a flippy screen or autofocus), so maybe have a friend to do it for you to begin with. Other than that, good luck :D
 
I started with the same set up. Sorry any of this has already been said. I found that lens to be very basic. It's not very sharp and the loses a lot of detail. Basic lens to get the camera out of the box. I also use the Canon 50mm, still cheap but better than the 18mm, Also faster so you can get more light in it. It has a smaller depth of field. So you can get crisper images from blurred backgrounds (if you don't move too much). Keep in mind the a 35mm closest to a 'Natural' perspective.

With lighting you need to think of three things. Your Key Light, Fill Light and Back/Hair light. The Key light will highlight and form the subject. The Fill light will bring the contrast down. and the back/hair light will separate you from your back ground. Now, don't feel you need three different lights. You said you had two soft boxes. Have one close to you (Key Light), one a little further from you (fill light) and have something reflecting the light back onto you (back/hair light).

As with camera settings, Try using a 25 fps. Your 50/1 shutter speed is good. Rule of thumb is twice your frame rate. Set your ISO to 100 and work you Iris/aperture until you have the lighting right. Boost your ISO if you're on your largest f/stop and can't do much more. And don't forget to focus! Your camera comes with a great piece of software which allows you to plug it into a computer and set your focus and settings while you're sitting in place. Look into it. Hope this helps.
 
DariaK said:
iMovie :D Cannot afford anything better yet
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This may be your problem.

iMovie is a fantastic editor - I used it for several years. However the output process is horrible. Artifacts etc especially in shaded and darker areas. iMovie's codec - AIC - just isn't good enough for shaded areas. Although you have lighting, even shadows etc can artefact when exporting with iMovie.

However, the best results come with more pro software.
I moved to Final Cut Pro X, which uses ProRes422 codec, and the picture quality of my final output video increased tenfold.

If you need to stick with iMovie, take a look in my channel for a video titled 'iMovie 11 - Exporting video for best YouTube results'. It'll give you a better way of achieving a higher quality output - or will at least give you a basis for further experimentation.
 
DariaK said:
Hi. I feel like like a total tit. I cannot figure out the best setting for my Canon Rebel T3i. The video is crisp but i doesn't look as good as I want it to be. Maybe the problem is with my SD card? ( SanDisk Ultra 10, 16GB) I shoot with 1080p24 with shutter sped 50 and ISO not higher than 400 plus aperture around 4. Plus I own soft boxes. I am using the standard lens kit 18-55 mm. I was thinking maybe that is the problem but I found video ( I have no idea how to post links here)where girl is using the basic kit lens as well and
this girl looks exactly like I have it in my head ( like every youtuber lol) They all look like their faces have been photoshopped, so smooth and mine doesn't. You can see the redness and all the bumps, it's like too crisp if that's a thing :D. I don't know if you get what I'm saying :) Please help because I'm going nuts over this.
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Hey I had this problem too, maybe it is ever so slightly out of focus?? I've filmed a few videos and then realised after it looks a tad blurry, also lighting makes a huuuuuge difference, in my videos where the sun is shining directly in through the window, and then I close the curtains, those are the ones that come out the clearest. I think it just takes alot of fiddling about, it's a bit hit and miss really with what works. Also, I'm sure alot of YouTubers edit their videos after to make the picture clearler/more flattering. :)
 
Oh my god guys, you are the best. Thank you so much!! I played around with the settings and lights over weekend and I think it looks a little better now. Still not what I want exactly, but hey I don't have to make the best videos in the world right away :) And the iMovie wasn't the problem in that case because the video I showed you was straight from the camera, but I've noticed the quality drop while exporting and I think I'm just gonna download the trial of Final Cut ProX .It would be pointless to make a good quality video and then let iMovie f**k it in the a**.
 
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