It’s no secret that cuteness has become a trend on the internet: whether there are kitten, puppies, babies or even little fluffy spiders, people just love aw-ing all the way. And although you may not intend to make a viral video, it can turn into one as long as you capture a cute, funny moment. Capturing a moment is easier with human babies since they have clumsy, spontaneous actions every day.
But beyond intending to turn your baby into a famous character online, some people just love to capture these memories for themselves. However, controlling movement, poses or actions of our little ones can get extremely difficult because they are indeed faster than they look! Putting the spontaneous factor aside, there are some things we can control to achieve a wonderful baby video. Here are 6 tips to make your baby videos even cuter.
Use your camera (or phone camera) in silent mode
One of the things that may distract babies – or anyone at that – is the clicking sound or the light of the camera while it records. Since we are assuming you want to keep your baby video as candid as possible, we recommend you to put your device on silent. In a DSLR camera, you may find this in a settings option and in a phone camera, it can get way easier to set but it depends on the operating system of the device. Make sure to take a look at your manual!
Record when there is a potential, memorable action
If you are dealing with a toddler (3yo or more), you can mostly predict its behavior and go ahead and film it with your camera. However, since we are assuming you are dealing with a non-speaking baby, this gets a bit trickier. Babies sometimes do funny and cute things without warning…just think about the first time your baby mumbled the word “mom” or “dada”.
Whenever the baby is up, there is a potential action that will be worth to record. And if you have spent time with this little human – we really hope you have – then it can get easier to predict whether the baby will cry, laugh or just be in a bad mood all the way. By the way, a bad mood – not caused by something serious – can be pretty cute on camera too!
Stability will allow details to flow into the recording
We have said it before and we’ll say it again: stability is a very important factor at the moment of recording. Not only it provides a more solid, professional finish to the video but it also allows details to be admired. In shaky videos, it’s harder to keep up on what’s going on in the picture since the lack of stability also produces a blur.
© fairuz Othman – Flickr.com
In order to avoid it, try to use a tripod (in the most ideal scenario), but since it will probably be a spontaneous video, you can use any solid base that allows you to set up your camera or your phone.
Make sure there is a good lightning
Light is probably the most important factor for a good photograph or a good video. In this particular case, light – if used properly – tends to create a great effect on people’s faces, so your baby will probably look its clear eyes. In any case, lightning also avoids the grainy effect in videos since the ISO sensitivity will probably be in its lower value – if you have it automatically set. If not, you can you adjust it yourself in your phone or camera.
Negotiate with them
Although kids are unpredictable, one of the things that can relax them about the video is negotiating. Of course, we don’t need to blackmail a baby with money – it would be easier, to be honest – …but if you want it to look into the camera or on to another subject, simply move an object of interest – such as a toy or a treat – to that particular direction.
© mulan – Flickr.com
The child must have fun!
An essential component of a cute baby video is that the kid has fun! Although you can capture its grump or its crying due to a silly tantrum, it’s always better when they laugh or smile. I can assure you their faces will always be honest, so no need to worry about fake grins.
It’s also important that you have fun yourself, as well. Making sure that the infant has its way and space to do what he/she wants to do is important to achieve 1) excitement 2) spontaneity and 3) development of actions.
So when are you recording your baby?
