How To Get Professional Photos and Videos With Minimal Gear

Creating professional-quality photos and videos doesn’t have to require expensive gear or a studio full of equipment. With a little creativity and the right techniques, you can achieve stunning results using minimal tools—sometimes even just a smartphone and a few household items. Whether you’re a beginner or simply working on a tight budget, this guide will show you how to make the most of what you have. From mastering lighting and composition to leveraging DIY hacks, you’ll learn how to capture impressive photos and videos without breaking the bank.

The Importance of Lighting

Proper lighting will take your media to the next level. No one wants to watch a short film that’s too dark, or look at photos that are over-exposed. Good lighting doesn’t require expensive cinema lights, though: it just requires a bit of planning.

When shooting outdoors, take advantage of natural light. Plan your shoots for sunny days, free of clouds and rain. Choose spots that are not too heavily shaded, and look up when the peak sun hour for your area will be. A peak sun hour is when the sun is at its brightest - and hottest. You may or may not want to take advantage of peak sun hours as they provide good lighting, but it may be too hot or bright to tolerate, especially in summer. 

Golden hour is another time of day to take advantage of. This is when the sun has just risen, or is about to set, and the natural light is infused with red and gold tones. This lighting can be very flattering for portrait photography.

Another trick for indoor shooting is to pick a room or spot near a window. If the position of the window lets in a lot of natural light, you can take advantage of that sunlight while staying indoors. However, sunlight changes position throughout the day, so make sure your shoot takes place when the light is pointing towards the window.

For both indoor and outdoor shoots, using a reflector can help bounce natural light onto a subject. These metallic pieces of fabric can reflect the light and even change the colour and tone, depending on the fabric. Reflectors can be found for affordable prices, and you can even make your own out of fabric, tinfoil, or poster board.

Finally, you may choose to invest in a cheaper, small LED light. Many of these cheaper lights are small but mighty, and help a lot when shooting indoors when you don't have access to natural light. You can also rent one of these smaller LEDs for an affordable daily rate from your local rental house.

Leverage Your Smartphone

Don’t have a camera? While you can always rent or borrow a camera, try using your cell phone! Modern smartphones have state-of-the-art cameras, and can shoot just as well

as many consumer-grade cameras. However, it takes a little more effort to make smartphone cameras work for professional-looking pieces. To start, try playing with manual settings in your phone’s camera settings. You can control exposure, contrast, and more. The cameras in cell phones are programmed to automatically control these features, so you’ll have to play around with them manually to get the look you want.

Another thing to keep in mind is stabilization. You can use tripods on your phone just like you would for a camera, and it’ll help keep your shots steady and not blurry. You can rent tripods for relatively cheap, or you can buy cheap phone-specific tripods online or from a dollar store.

Stabilization Matters

Speaking of stabilization, regardless of if you’re using your phone or a camera, you should have a tripod or gimbal on hand. It’s the simplest way to avoid shaky footage.

Can’t get your hands on a tripod? As a last resort, you can improvise with household items, such as placing your camera atop a stack of books. Be careful, and make sure your device isn’t at risk of falling over. Make sure your camera is level and focused on your subject when using a makeshift tripod.

Master Composition Techniques

Learning basic composition for photo and video will take your clips to the next level. Use negative space and perspective to create depth in your photos and videos. Utilize the rule of thirds to position subjects. You can even turn on a grid for the rule of thirds on your phone’s camera!

Optimize Backgrounds and Props

Backgrounds and props can take your shots from bland to interesting. However, you don’t want backdrops and props to take away from your subject.

Shooting in outdoor environments creates interesting backgrounds with hardly any effort. Make sure the background isn’t too “busy”: don’t shoot portraits in front of a soccer field with a big game going on, and don’t shoot product photos in a busy mall. Not only could the business take away from your subject, you may catch unwanted people or things in the background that you have no control over. Quiet and less busy places look best in the end.

You can also utilize pieces of fabric, blankets, or poster board if you need a plain background, such as for headshots. You can hang these up from a shower curtain, curtain rod, or pin them onto the wall.

Props add intrigue and depth to your videos and photos. Have your subject hold a bouquet of flowers in your garden photography session, or your faux chef hold a plate of food in your kitchen-themed commercial. They should be character or subject specific, as random props can throw a viewer off. Again, make sure the props aren’t too “busy” and don't overtake the subject.

Props don’t need to be expensive or specifically bought for your shoot: look around your house for things to use, or borrow objects from a friend.

Focus on Audio Quality

Good audio makes your videography more viewable. Your footage may look great, but what if it sounds terrible? Sound helps tell your story, and it’s crucial that your audio is clear and legible.

You don’t necessarily need a fancy microphone; if you don’t have an external mic, make sure where you are shooting is free from background noise. You can also edit your audio in post-production software to de-noise if needed.

However, if you can, try using an affordable microphone to record better audio. You can rent on-camera microphones from respected brands such as RODE for cheap prices at most rental houses. These microphones can plug into your camera and record better audio directly onto the mp4 file.

Use Basic Editing Software

You may think you need fancy, expensive software to edit well, but the truth is, some of the best editing platforms are free! DaVinci Resolve is free, and many professionals use it (well, with plugins and add-ons that may cost money). DaVinci Resolve is a great place to start with editing, as you can get a professional feel without spending any extra money. If you’re looking for specific effects or styles, there’s many tutorials on YouTube showing you how to get the look you want for your video.

Adobe offers free versions of their photography software line for mobile devices. While features are limited in the free apps, you can still edit photos beautifully. Focusing on colour correction over masking and crazy filters will give you the simplest but best look.

Plan Your Shots

As said before, doing things cheaply or without a lot of equipment takes a bit more effort. You’ll want to plan everything about your production and post-production processes. Storyboarding your videography beforehand can help. Make a shot list with everything you’ve got to film. Plan angles and movements ahead of time to save time during the shoot.

You’ll also want to scope out your locations beforehand, especially if you’re utilizing natural light. Pay attention to different times of the day, and how that location is at different times: how busy it is, how well-lit, how noisy, etc.

Know When to Upgrade

Starting your videography or photography with minimal gear can yield great results. However, for most, you will want to upgrade your equipment and invest in your craft in the long run. When your finances allow, upgrade key equipment, such as lighting, lenses, and audio. Start small, and build your kit as you continue. 

Creating professional-quality photos and videos doesn’t have to break the bank, and starting with minimal gear is a great way to hone your skills and explore your creativity. By mastering techniques like lighting, composition, and stabilization, and leveraging accessible tools like smartphones and affordable editing software, you can produce impressive results. As you grow more confident in your craft, you can begin upgrading your gear to take your work to the next level. Remember, it’s not about the tools you have—it’s about how you use them!