Tip #4: Get Up Close and Personal
Of course, one way to lose the background is to fill the screen with your subject. This is something you really need to work on when shooting your video. But it has more advantages than just the mechanics of compression.

By its nature, streaming video is often a smaller image to begin with. That can make an acceptable video image unusable on the computer screen.Unlike our eagle on the previous page, this wider shot of a gorilla loses him in the grass. If possible, get in much closer by moving the camera or zooming the lens.

Using a video camera changes your perception. You are trying to catch everything going on. So you naturally choose a relatively wide shot of the scene. In your eyepiece, it seems fine. On your monitor or television, it seems fine. Online, you can’t see what is going on.

When shooting video for online use, step in and get close to your subject. At about the point it feels psychologically too close, step in further. There are a lot of reasons for doing this. Remember that your online video is probably going to be displayed much smaller than full screen. That drop in scale helps the compressor save data. Also, close-up video will seem sharper, even if it really is not. That is because the viewer can back up to see the details instead of leaning in. It is the same approach that billboards use. And finally, getting in close means your portrait mode will be more effective at blurring the background. That is because the lens depth-of-field is shorter the closer you get.

With all of these characteristics working for you, getting up close and personal will make your video more effective online.

Tip #5: Use an External Microphone
Getting in close works for more than just the camcorder. It is also a principle to use when capturing audio. You want the closest and cleanest audio you can gather. You need to use an external microphone.

The built-in microphone on your camera is designed for convenience first, quality second. It is a non-discriminating device that usually picks up everything around it. That means your tape captures great sound of the camcorder itself, the ringing phones in the outer office, the centralized air system, and the honking taxi outside.

All that background noise creates the same problems for an audio codec that background detail creates for a video codec. If the audio is clear, it is easier for the codec to pull constructive patterns from the mix and throw away the rest.

But there is another side to this issue that you might not consider. Since audio and video are handled separately, getting good clean audio has another big advantage. The better the audio, the more you can compress. Good clean audio that is compressed at the most aggressive settings is often still acceptable. That means you can balance more resources to getting the most out of the video.

So plug-in a microphone and go right to the source of your audio. Not only will you get cleaner results, but your video may gain the room it needs to look better.

Choices not Restrictions
It is important to view these tips as choices, not restrictions. Armed with the knowledge you have gained, you can choose to implement these solutions in your video shooting. If you choose not to, expect that you are going to have to compromise in your streaming video somewhere else.

So where do we go from here? In my next article in this series, I will take a look at tips you can use in the editing process to get the most of your streaming video.