When you are out in the field shooting footage, you won't always be able to have a tripod to make sure your footage is stable, and you may be left with no other options then to shoot freehand. However, freehand shooting often leads to shaky footage, which can ruin an otherwise perfect shot. Thankfully, there are some tips that you can use to try and avoid this shakiness in a shot, and be able to carry on filming.
The first tip is to hold your camera with both hands. This may seem like a no brainer, however, some people try to shoot with just one hand on the camera. This leads to a balance issue, as there isn't something stabilizing the front of the camera, and leads to shakiness. On top of this, your wrist will move due to the camera not being supported properly, and create even more shaking. Shooting with two hands, one on the lens area and one on the body of the camera, offers some stabilization in the absence of a tripod.
To go along with using two hands, you may notice you still have some shaking in your footage, and may need another way to stabilize. This is where holding the camera to your chest comes in handy. Holding the camera to your chest allows the camera a new stabilizing point from behind, and as a result, reduces shakiness even more then having just your hands. This fits into the third tip about maximizing your contact points, which mentions using your chest as a contact point, as well as using your face or the camera strap as stabilizing points. Combine this with a lens that has image stabilization and you can save yourself some time.
Sometimes, these techniques still aren't enough to fully prevent shakiness, so you need to fix it in editing with Premiere Pro. When you see a spot that has shakiness in the footage, you go into effects, and apply Warp Stabilizer. This normally can fix most of the issue and make it close to unnoticeable.
Sometimes, you may want to do a zoom in, but don't want to risk the shakiness that would come with doing. This tip, the the "PM Rock and Tilt", helps with that issue. What you basically do is fall forward or back, depending on what kind of zoom you want, and then catch yourself after about two seconds. The jerk the camera does also serves as a good editing definer, and then you just make whatever edits necessary.
Other tips are mostly to hide some of the unavoidable shakiness. Panning or tilting as you move the camera makes any shakiness seem intentional or just unnoticeable. This also helps when you shoot wide shots, seeing as little movements are less noticeable in a wide shot then a zoomed in shot. Finally, avoid changing setting while you shoot, as this will cause a shake.
Shakiness is one of those errors that are really noticeable to a viewing audience, and draws their attention from your film, to the errors that can be found in it. However, if your point is for your shots to look raw, shakiness can actually help with that effect. These tips will help make your film look smooth and make the footage look like it was shot on a tripod instead of freehand.
This video was actually very helpful, maybe one of the most helpful blog subjects we've done, and really gives these amazing tips. Seeing as shooting freehand is sometimes the only option in certain situations, it's helpful to know how to improve the steadiness of these types of shots. I'll will keep this in mind if I need to shot without a tripod.
The person in the video was also very helpful. He provided visual examples for each tip, as well as explains what situation each tip could work, and that makes it easier to learn the tips. He also talks about what your editing software can do to fix issues, which I didn't expect, and it was a pleasant surprise.
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