September Recap
Well! September certainly was exciting. I reached 10k followers on September 22nd, woot woot! I felt thrilled, overwhelmed, it was almost surreal to pass that landmark.
And! We completed my first nail art challenge - #ManiFunChallenge was a big success in my eyes. There were a bunch of dedicated women who got right in the spirit of things and participated enthusiastically, it was lovely. I got to connect with new people I wouldn't have otherwise. And it was a joy to see how creative everyone got with the prompts. Wonderful!
Making Nail Art Videos
*Product links at the end of this email.
I've been getting a lot of DMs asking how to make nail art videos, so I will give you an overview of what I use.
I don't have a swanky camera, fancy lighting system or expensive/complicated editing software. But I think that's cool, because I manage to make pretty nice videos (if I do say so myself) without a large investment.
Camera
I just use an old iPhone, iPhone 6 I think. To record in square format, I use the iPhone app Clips. I'm sorry I don't know any equivalent Android apps, but if you search on google for 'square video app android' you can try out a few and see what works. If you find a good one, let me know!You could make it in 16:9 format and crop it to square using the editing app below, although I've tried this and I find it more difficult to get my finger straight and have it come out as well.
Tripod
I use a bendy arm tripod like this one. It's easy to move it however I need. Unfortunately I found the light wasn't strong enough on it's own, but you could use it in combination with other options listed below.
Lighting
For a long time, I used a lightbox that I got for like 17$ off Amazon. That's still what I use to take my pictures. I would put my hand half in it... it worked okay and the end effect was pretty good, but it was rather awkward. However it's definitely a good option.I taped white tissue paper loosely over the lights to reduce glare and reflection. THIS IS A FIRE HAZARD so please be very careful. I never leave the light on and unattended and I made sure the tissue paper doesn't touch the light anywhere. Please be careful.
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| This is the lightbox I use, I got it on Amazon.ca |
Now I got a more expensive tabletop ring light. This one is pretty good and it's easier to film without having to put my hand in the box. However I wish I'd gotten one which had a more stable tripod at the bottom - when I angle the light down, it has a tendency to tip over.
I couldn't get the phone attachment to work for me either. This has some extra features that made it more expensive, but I don't use them.
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| This is the ring light I got |
This ring light below is less expensive and it looks like it would work well. I like how the bottom looks stable enough to be able to angle the light down without it tipping over. It also doesn't have that third leg that gets in the shot.
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| I didn't get this ring light but I think it would work well and it looks stable at the bottom |
Another option which I haven't tried myself is to use regular table lamps and LED bulbs. I believe you will need to make sure the color temperature is at least 5500k, which means it will be closer to real sunlight and your images will look cooler and whiter, instead of that yellow/brown look you can get with indoor lighting.
For the background I just use a few sheets of white paper. I like the clean look of that.
Editing
For editing I use the app InShot. It's free, and you can remove their branding by just watching an ad. I find it pretty easy to figure out.
Links
Here are some links to the products I talked about. These are affiliate links so if you purchase something, I get a small percentage - thank you!USA - amazon.com
ring light (I haven't tried this one but it looks good)
bendy phone holder (different brand than what I have but looks the same)
light box
CANADA - amazon.ca
ring light (I haven't tried this one but it looks good)
bendy phone holder
light box
That's it!
I hope this has been helpful for you. Making nail art videos on Instagram can be intimidating at first and your initial attempts may not look incredible, but just play with it and you'll get better quickly!If you try this out, tag me, I'd love to see it! Please tag the photo/video to make sure I don't miss it, if you just tag me in the description I may not see it.
See you next month!
Love and lacquer,
xoxo
Michele
