7 low camera angle tips to spice up your video

Low camera angles give new, intriguing ways to look at a scene that may otherwise be boring. However, using low angles effectively in a story can be challenging. So, we’ve put together 7 tips to help you with shooting low camera angles. These 7 tips aren’t the only ways to use low camera angles. However, we do hope that they help get the ball rolling for you and help you to start thinking creatively about shooting low angles.

Let’s get into the tips:

Emotional composition

To create the feeling that your audience is small and is looking at a powerful subject on screen, keep the camera low and point it upwards. Have the subject take up the majority of the frame to really emphasize this effect.

Stability

Your camera’s center of gravity is the focus of camera stabilizers across the board. Anything with a low center of gravity is going to be hard to move. Give your camera a good foundation and get your camera low. Many cameras have a handle on top that will help make this happen.

Animal or object perspective

This tip will make any ordinary object look very interesting. Give objects like LEGOs, Hot Wheels or any other toy a perspective in your videos.

Try shooting perspective of objects like toys
Try shooting perspective of objects like toys. Image courtesy Unsplash.

No more eyes in the skies

Focus on what’s on the ground. See from the perspective of things that hit the ground, like a dropped fork, or a pair of shoes. For instance, if your character is hiding from an intruder, you can focus on their shoes from underneath a bedroom door to build suspense and tension.

Leave foreground objects out of focus

To show depth of field you can place objects in the foreground, sometimes closer to the camera than the focal point. Getting low to a surface, like a counter, can guarantee that you have a great reference for viewers while drawing attention to what is in focus.

Impact

You can capture the impact of a shot with low camera angles. Imagine people walking on the stairs. The stairs feel the impact of those footsteps every day, multiple times a day. Getting low can capture that impact and really convey the emotion of the impact. Going back to the intruder example, you can build suspense by highlighting the impact of the intruder’s footsteps.

Capture the nasty

Not everything has to be nice with low angles. There’s a lot of gross things on the ground. This nastiness can really give your audience a strong reaction, so capture those gross angles when it fits with your story.

Having good camera angles going into post really can make editing easier. The next time you are out shooting, try some low angle shots. You may be surprised by what you end up with.

Read “7 Tips for Shooting Low Camera Angles” for more about low camera angle tips.

Image courtesy Unsplash

Sean Berry
Sean Berry
Sean Berry is Videomaker's Managing Editor.

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