You need to vlog to remember your summer. Here’s how

0:00So, I heard you want your vlogs to feel like summer.

0:08Summer to me is the season of nostalgia. It flies by so fast that sometimes it feels like it only exists in memories. Documenting it is one way [music] to capture that feeling and it might just challenge you to be more present in the moment, too. I feel like it's so easy as an adult to just go about business as usual in the summer, which is so sad to me cuz it's such a fleeting season. I personally find that vlogging actually kind of motivates me to get out there and try new things that I might not have otherwise done. It really brings more whimsy into my life. So, to help on your

0:40summer documentation journey, I wanted to share some of my best tips. And thanks to Insta360 for sponsoring a portion of today's video. A lot of beginner vloggers feel this pressure to capture the entire scene in one [music] shot. You might find yourself backing up a bunch or switching over to the .5 [music] lens. Well, while establishing shots can be effective for storytelling, especially in a more direct, like explanatory way, if you want your vlogs to feel how the real moment felt, you want to capture some more small, up-close moments, as well. To break down the psychology of this, basically, wide shots make the viewer feel like an

1:18outside observer and close-ups put them more in the position of a participant. For every wide establishing shot you get, you're going to want to get three to four close-ups. Try to find those little details we almost subconsciously notice. Condensation on a cold drink, the spray of juice when you peel an orange, or the way your friend's eyes crinkle when they laugh. These moments feel so intimate and they immediately bring you back to that time and place. I like to call this detail hunting and it's a little bit of a mindfulness exercise, as well. If you find yourself in a new space or maybe you're standing around waiting on something instead of

1:49picking up your phone and starting to scroll to fill the time, take a couple minutes to look around and observe the small details in your surroundings. Capture those textures or small intimate moments. After you've done that, then you can allow yourself a wide shot. [music] Okay, this next one is such a hack for instantly making your videos feel so nostalgic. [music] And that is capturing slow shutter speed shots. Now, if you're going to do this, it needs to be at dusk. It needs to be pretty dark out or you're going to need to use an ND filter to limit the amount of light getting into your camera. However, you can do

2:24this on a camera. You can also do it on your phone if that's what you have. If you're shooting with something like this Sony camera, it's easy to just change your shutter speed to be 1/15 or even a bit less. You'll want to adjust your other settings though to compensate for that depending on the lighting condition. So, you might need to close down your aperture a bit more and make sure that you're shooting at a lower ISO. Otherwise, you're going to have a very overexposed bright image. If you're shooting on your phone, you could use

2:48something like this free Blackmagic app. This allows you to have a bit more control over the settings on your iPhone camera including manually adjusting your shutter speed. This effect really shines when you capture chaotic movement like running or spinning around or dancing [music] or even something fun with light like using a sparkler for example. This is honestly a really common effect used in movies and music videos to make something feel like a memory because time and movement isn't behaving like you expect it to which just gives it this kind of ethereal feel. So, when you want your vlogs to feel like that, you

3:27can try it out for yourself. When it comes to your vlogs A-roll, try not to get stuck [music] in the report trap. So, today we're at the beach. We just got here, sat down, put [music] our towels down, and a little bit we're going to go take a swim, and I think we're going to go find some snacks later. This is just narrating the obvious. Your footage already shows that stuff, so you don't have to explain it again. You're going to want to reframe the question that you're [music] trying to with your A-roll from what am I doing

3:54to how am I feeling right now? It feels so good to be here right now, especially after a long Canadian winter, and nothing feels better than spending an afternoon at the beach. And this beach especially is so nostalgic cuz we always came here as kids. It's just like fun to come back as an adult. [music] Quick tip for when you're actually filming, I feel like the best A-roll doesn't come in the moment. It usually comes a little bit afterwards when

4:17[music] you've had some time to reflect. So, don't pressure yourself to like immediately pull out your camera and start talking to it as soon as you're in the midst of an experience. It's okay to do it as a retrospective. If you want to make it feel more immediate in the edit, you can take a page out of reality TV's book. If you've ever noticed like when people do confessionals on reality TV [music] shows, they're always speaking in the present tense even though they

4:37definitely film those after it happened. So, if you want it to feel like you're in the moment, you can just change it to speaking in the present instead of in the past. But, I do recommend talking about your experiences after you've had a little bit of time to process them. Also, your videos don't have to include constant narration. This is something that I'm trying to challenge myself with because I always feel this pressure to have this constant dialogue to keep the video engaging. But, I think it's a real artistic feat to be able to move the story along purely with visuals or even just ambient audio or music. Montages

5:09can get boring really easily, but if you make sure that the visuals in the montage actually tie into the progress of your story, it can be a really dynamic way to break up the video and not just feel like you're constantly [music] talking at your viewer.

5:31Okay, tell me if you can relate to this. You're always the friend at the function carrying the camera, capturing all of the best moments, but you never end up in any of the photos or videos yourself. I have a feeling if you're watching this video, you can probably relate to that, which is really too bad because I'm a huge proponent of including yourself in your vlog. If you're trying to build an audience, it's pretty essential that that audience actually [music] gets to see you and get to know you so that they can actually build that connection. But even if you're just documenting your summer for the sake of your own

5:59memories, you deserve to be a part of that, too. One of my favorite ways for including myself in vlogs, even if I'm filming all by myself, is by using a 360 camera. I bought my first camera from Insta360 back in 2022 in advance of a big euro trip. It comes in so clutch to get these unique, almost impossible-looking angles. I've put this thing out castle windows, outside of moving vehicle. You can fake drone shots. I filmed myself jumping off boats. You can do like everything [music] with this. Since then, I have taken a 360 camera with me on every trip. So, the camera's actually filming all directions at once, which means

6:33later, when you're editing, you can adjust the framing to be however you want. And it automatically edits out the selfie stick, so it looks like the camera's floating in midair. Insta360 has just come out with their [music] latest 360 camera, the X6. And it's got some pretty cool upgrades. First, there's a new custom Sony sensor for improved [music] image quality, so you can film in 360 at 8K 50 frames per second. Like, what? And you can capture 120 megapixel 360 photos. You can also film in single lens mode at 5K [music] 60 frames per second. This mode basically turns the X6 into a really high-quality action camera. The X6 also

7:10has a new battery for longer battery life, and the camera body is smaller for even more portability. My personal favorite feature, though, InstaFrame [music] 2.0. It automatically frames for you, which cuts out the most intimidating part of using a 360 camera, which is the editing workflow. Now, a lot of people get turned off by the editing process for 360 footage because you do need to adjust the framing and export it separately if you want to include these clips in your YouTube [music] videos or your reels. But not anymore with InstaFrame 2.0, you can select the subject that you want to track in the camera, and the X6 will

7:42automatically create a flat video that keeps the subject that you selected in frame. You can even vlog with this. For better audio, you can connect the Insta360 mic Pro directly to the camera, no receiver needed. And then if you want to do a typical shot, you can film in single lens mode, and then just hold the camera up [music] like this. And of

7:59course, it's waterproof. You don't even need a case, and it's safe in up to [music] 20 m of depth. With all the new upgrades, the X6 really is such a versatile camera for capturing your summer memories. If you want to try it out for yourself, you can head to the link in my description, and thanks again to Insta360 for sponsoring this part of

8:17the video. So, I feel like we've all heard about how smell is famously tied to memory. Well, in the case of video, sound is going to be your smell. Certain sounds have so much power to bring us back to a certain moment in our lives. For me, the sound of tree frogs chirping will always bring me back to summer nights in my childhood bedroom. We didn't have AC, so we'd always sleep with the windows open, and there was a pond next door, so I would always fall asleep to the sound of the tree frogs. Using ambient or natural sounds in your vlogs is such an underrated and yet powerful storytelling

8:53strategy. Try leaving 3 to 5 [music] seconds of dead air at the beginning of each clip, whether you're recording A-roll or B-roll, so that you can capture the ambient sounds of your environment, and then use that in your vlog later. A lot of us tend to cut out everything that's not dialogue strictly intended for the A-roll, but you'd be surprised how many great sounds you can capture in your day-to-day life that just make your video feel more textured and alive. When it comes to editing, try mixing your ambient audio under the background music. You don't have to pick one or the other, and when you layer the

9:26two, you're going to end up with a really rich textured soundtrack to your video. And to find the right music for your story, you can try searching Epidemic Sound by mood or activity rather than by like genre. So, instead of looking up like acoustic guitar or something like that, you could try searching golden hour, sunset drive, beach day. And you'll be surprised just how many playlists on there are already like curated by vibe that way. And you might just get introduced to tracks that you wouldn't have thought of using otherwise. I also like to grab sound effects from Epidemic Sound as well, and they have some playlists in there which

10:00are helpful. And of course, you can also just search for like wind in trees or ice cubes in glass or whatever you want. This isn't sponsored by them or anything. I'm just genuinely a huge fan of Epidemic Sound, and I'll leave my affiliate link in the description if you want to check it out. Okay, so I want you to reframe what bad footage even really means to you. Shaky, unglamorous, unplanned, maybe the wrong things in focus. That doesn't necessarily equal bad footage, especially in the case of a vlog for documenting your summer. I feel like those moments can actually be some of the best. It feels authentic, raw, like

10:35a home video. It's those kind of things that really make your vlog feel like a memory, rather than like a documentary about what, you know, factually happened. We can admit some of these clips might not be the most aesthetically pleasing, but I feel like if you throw like an 8-mm like film filter overlay, then it can really come together. Including some of your outtakes in your vlog can make it feel so much more nostalgic because it really

10:59does feel like a home video, you know? Like all these tape recordings of our childhoods, they don't have the bad moments edited out because, you know, people weren't really editing stuff like that back then. And I think those weird or funny or awkward moments, like that's all a part of the memory. So, don't be afraid to include that, too. Okay, my friend. Now you know everything that you need to know to capture your summer memories. All that's left to do is go out there and live them. If you think it would help your creative process, you can check out the Insta360 X6. It's linked in the description below. I

11:28always love working with Insta360. They're great supporters of the channel, and I think their cameras are great. So, go ahead and check that out if you're interested. Otherwise, I hope that you're having an amazing summer. As always, [music] thank you for watching. Hope you're having adventures and following your dreams and I'll see you

11:42in the next video. Bye.