Hello again! It’s Thom here and today I’m ‘throwing the book at you!”

But first…..I hope everyone is doing well today and making plans for a safe and enjoyable 4^th of July holiday. Are you also planning to take some cool videos?

I hope so. Just yesterday one of my sons, James, was over to the house yesterday. We were talking about ‘work’ of course and he’s got some hilarious new productions coming up soon on his YouTube channel, GoPotato.TV.

I’ve got a video tip for you today but before I tell you what it is, I want to explain what I mean by the title of this post, “….throwing the book at you”.

Remember the 4^th of July contest offer I made in my last post? I suggested that you take your video camera and make a video of yourself visiting someplace of historical significance, right?

I said I’d send you an autographed picture of me but I mentioned that to James and he said, “Awww dad…they don’t want a picture of you! Give’m something they can use!”

I said, “Well, Ok…….like what?”

James thought about it for a few seconds and then had what I thought was a great idea. He said, “Why not give’m a digital copy of your book, Acting For Real?”

I immediately knew that’s what I had to do. I’ve had countless people tell me how much they enjoyed and benefited from that book because of all the insight it gave them on their inner strengths and the ability to express themselves better….especially on video.

So that’s what I’m going to do.

Now the contest prize is still an autographed picture of me but it now includes a digital copy of my book, Acting For Real. If you have any interest in acting and video marketing and how to put the two together more effectively… I know you’ll love this prize if you win it.

All you have to do make a video and send it to me by July 4^th. Best video gets the prize.

Now…here’s my video making tip. This is something that is so automatic to people who work with video all the time that it’s very often overlooked even in other courses that talk about video.

Let me describe a problem first:

How many videos or pictures have you seen where the person in the video or picture is too small? Have you noticed how in so many amateur videos and pictures the subject of the video or picture is almost nothing but a little ‘speck’?

It happens all the time and I’m here to tell you that the reason it happens is because the ‘shooter’ hasn’t evaluated the subject though the ‘camera’s eye’.

You see, the camera lens doesn’t see things like your eye does. Between your eye and your brain, you get a much different mental image than what the camera lens really sees…and that can be good or bad depending on the situation.

When you’re looking at somebody with your eyes they will always look a lot bigger than they’ll look in the picture or video you take of them. That means that, generally speaking, you’ve got to get closer to your subject.

It won’t seem natural at first. You’ll think you’re too close.

But I’m telling you what I know from working with cameras and film and video all my life…the cameras sees it differently than the human eye does and you’ve got to compensate for that difference if you want your pictures and/or videos to look good.

Most often, unless you’ve got something in the background that you want to be in the picture too, you should have the subject filling at least a third of your ‘frame’….or maybe slightly more. Definitely it should never be less than a third.

The best way to see this principle in action is to just grab your camera and go out and take some pictures. Start with pictures First because it’ll eliminate some of the unique variables that you get in video situations.

Stand at different distances away from your subject, take several pictures and then compare them. You’ll be amazed at the difference this small tip makes in the quality of your pictures.

If your camera has a view screen on the backside, like most of them do today, that’s even better. You’ll be able to immediately get a fairly decent picture to evaluate. Otherwise you’ll have to wait until you can upload the picture to your PC or laptop.

But…you get the idea, right?

Try it. I guarantee you’ll be amazed at what a difference this factor will make in your finished pictures. Let me know if you like this idea and if you find it useful I’ll give you some more camera tips and tricks later.

Meanwhile, I hope you’ve gotten your copy of YouTube Domination over on www.nicheceleb.com . Everybody I talk to who reads YouTubeDomination tells me they learn a lot about how to make better videos with YouTube.

Video, and especially video on YouTube, continues to dominate the market place. If you’re in business and you’re looking for a competitive advantage, learning to use internet video marketing properly is the single biggest competitive advantage you can have.

It’s soooo easy to do to. And fun to learn too, right?

Well, that’s my message for today. Ya’ll have a good day today and until next time…..

Be BOP,

Thom