Useful Tools For Working With Video

Today you don’t need an expensive video camera to take videos. You can use either your phone or tablet.
Phones and tablets have built in cameras with a video option where you can either have someone video you or you can put it on selfie mode and video yourself.
For use on the internet and YouTube it is best to take the videos so that they are wider than tall.
However, when using the camera or tablet turned to the side, the camera, which is on the top, also moves to the side. I find that if I am taking the picture myself and am looking at the tablet, it looks like I am looking to the side. I still haven’t found a solution to this problem and would be grateful to someone who has. Please let me know in the comments.

The other option, which solves this problem is to use your computer. Today laptops come with a built in microphone and camera in the center top of the screen. Find a place where there is good light and a background that is professional looking and not too busy so that you don’t distract from yourself.

If you use the phone or tablet to take the pictures, you can edit the them and upload them directly to the internet or send them by email or Bluetooth to your computer. You can even upload directly to YouTube.
I have a Samsung phone and tablet and use the video editor that they provide and am happy with it. It is basic but does the job.
The main things I want to be able to do are crop the beginning and end and splice two videos or more together.
Below is a picture of the app.

Until now, I have downloaded the videos I put online to YouTube and embed them in my blogs. There is also an option to put them on Facebook but I haven’t used that yet.
You can actually do some editing right on YouTube. You can crop the beginning and end and stablize the video to correct for an unstable hands when you were shooting it. There is also an auto fix which makes the colors look better. You can test and see if you like it better with or without the fix.

This is the option I use the least. I tool I am currently using is Handbrake by the Handbrake Team. It was recommended to me and it can be used to crop, merge and change the file size and format of the video to fit the standard you need. I haven’t used it much, but it worked fine when I did.
Click Here to learn more and download Handbrake for free

If you want something more professional, there is Camtasia which enables you more editing options including adding subtitles, cropping and merging. It also enables screen recording.
It includes a one month demo that I used, but decided that for now I can manage with the free options.

I am using a program called Debut by NCH Software to record webinars that I don’t have time to listen to in real time and want to listen to later. I use the free version for non commercial use since the webinars are for my personal use to learn information and I am not sharing the videos themselves. There is also a paid version if I was sharing them. They also have a video editing tool, but I haven’t used it yet.
The features I like best about it are that you can tape for an unlimited time, which is great since some of the webinars I tape are over an hour. It also has an option to schedule when the video with start and stop. I usually start the video and then, according to how long I think it will take, tell it when to stop. I always add extra time in care it goes over or starts late. Often I am either going out or going to sleep. Technically the program can also start itself but most webinars need to be started close to the starting time.
You have to make sure the program is opened before you open the program you are recording from if you want to record the audio from the computer speakers. Another option is to record from the microphone.