Crafting Compelling Thumbnails to Captivate YouTube Viewers and Encourage Clicks

How to Make Video Thumbnails for YouTube

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The video thumbnails you use for YouTube are vital to getting views and subscribers. There are a lot of things that go into making people watch your videos, but your video thumbnail might be the most important factor.

Here are 5 easy tips for creating thumbnails that get views.

1. Have a Consistent Layout
2. Use Your Face
3. Use Graphics/Emojis That is On Topic
4. Make Your Text Huge
5. Keep It Clutter-Free!

Contest now closed.

Edit Your Videos Before Creating Video Thumbnails

1. Have a Consistent Layout

Your thumbnails all must look like part of the same set. You want viewers to recognize your videos like yours, and they are more likely to do that if you build up a standard layout that they can start associating with you.

An example of a standard layout could be you in the middle of the screen wearing an expression that matches the theme of your video, with your title written underneath your face. Every individual thumbnail would still be different, but you and the text would always be in the same spot.

2. Use Your Face

People feel automatically connected and drawn into images that make eye contact. This makes thumbnails which feature faces more click-able than thumbnails which don’t, in most genres (i.e. if you make food videos then this may not apply – featuring the food might be more important than featuring your face). Check out more tips like this here .

Also, if somebody recognizes you in your thumbnail from a previous video of yours, that will go a long way towards making them click.

3. Use Graphics/Emojis that are On Topic

Anybody can take a screenshot of themselves in their video and use it as a thumbnail. To make your thumbnails look polished, consider using small images (like emojis or hearts) to stand out. This will add color and personality to your thumbnail.

Make sure the images you choose are relevant to the topic of your video.

4. Make Your Text Huge

If you use text in your thumbnail (you don’t have to) then it should be to add context. For example, if the main image is just you smiling then you might need some text to let viewers know the video is a makeup tutorial.

Thumbnails might look large while you’re putting them together in your image editor, but when they’re displayed on YouTube they’re a lot smaller. That goes double if a viewer is watching on their phone. So, make sure that any text you use is large enough that it can be read easily on small screens.

5. Keep it Clutter-Free

It’s great to add text and emojis to your thumbnails, but you do need to be careful not to add too much. You never want your thumbnails to look cluttered. Viewers should be able to glance at your thumbnails and know exactly what kind of video to expect – that’s difficult to do if there’s too much to process.

A good rule for text is to use only 1-3 words. That way they won’t clutter your screen, and you can make them large enough to read on small-screened devices.

For even more tips on making great YouTube thumbnails, click here .

Use these tips to make video thumbnails for YouTube, and tell us what kind of results you get!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The video thumbnails you use for YouTube are vital to getting views and subscribers. There are a lot of things that go into making people watch your videos, but your video thumbnail might be the most important factor.

Here are 5 easy tips for creating thumbnails that get views.

1. Have a Consistent Layout
2. Use Your Face
3. Use Graphics/Emojis That is On Topic
4. Make Your Text Huge
5. Keep It Clutter-Free!

Contest now closed.

Edit Your Videos Before Creating Video Thumbnails

1. Have a Consistent Layout

Your thumbnails all must look like part of the same set. You want viewers to recognize your videos like yours, and they are more likely to do that if you build up a standard layout that they can start associating with you.

An example of a standard layout could be you in the middle of the screen wearing an expression that matches the theme of your video, with your title written underneath your face. Every individual thumbnail would still be different, but you and the text would always be in the same spot.

2. Use Your Face

People feel automatically connected and drawn into images that make eye contact. This makes thumbnails which feature faces more click-able than thumbnails which don’t, in most genres (i.e. if you make food videos then this may not apply – featuring the food might be more important than featuring your face). Check out more tips like this here .

Also, if somebody recognizes you in your thumbnail from a previous video of yours, that will go a long way towards making them click.

3. Use Graphics/Emojis that are On Topic

Anybody can take a screenshot of themselves in their video and use it as a thumbnail. To make your thumbnails look polished, consider using small images (like emojis or hearts) to stand out. This will add color and personality to your thumbnail.

Make sure the images you choose are relevant to the topic of your video.

4. Make Your Text Huge

If you use text in your thumbnail (you don’t have to) then it should be to add context. For example, if the main image is just you smiling then you might need some text to let viewers know the video is a makeup tutorial.

Thumbnails might look large while you’re putting them together in your image editor, but when they’re displayed on YouTube they’re a lot smaller. That goes double if a viewer is watching on their phone. So, make sure that any text you use is large enough that it can be read easily on small screens.

5. Keep it Clutter-Free

It’s great to add text and emojis to your thumbnails, but you do need to be careful not to add too much. You never want your thumbnails to look cluttered. Viewers should be able to glance at your thumbnails and know exactly what kind of video to expect – that’s difficult to do if there’s too much to process.

A good rule for text is to use only 1-3 words. That way they won’t clutter your screen, and you can make them large enough to read on small-screened devices.

For even more tips on making great YouTube thumbnails, click here .

Use these tips to make video thumbnails for YouTube, and tell us what kind of results you get!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The video thumbnails you use for YouTube are vital to getting views and subscribers. There are a lot of things that go into making people watch your videos, but your video thumbnail might be the most important factor.

Here are 5 easy tips for creating thumbnails that get views.

1. Have a Consistent Layout
2. Use Your Face
3. Use Graphics/Emojis That is On Topic
4. Make Your Text Huge
5. Keep It Clutter-Free!

Contest now closed.

Edit Your Videos Before Creating Video Thumbnails

1. Have a Consistent Layout

Your thumbnails all must look like part of the same set. You want viewers to recognize your videos like yours, and they are more likely to do that if you build up a standard layout that they can start associating with you.

An example of a standard layout could be you in the middle of the screen wearing an expression that matches the theme of your video, with your title written underneath your face. Every individual thumbnail would still be different, but you and the text would always be in the same spot.

2. Use Your Face

People feel automatically connected and drawn into images that make eye contact. This makes thumbnails which feature faces more click-able than thumbnails which don’t, in most genres (i.e. if you make food videos then this may not apply – featuring the food might be more important than featuring your face). Check out more tips like this here .

Also, if somebody recognizes you in your thumbnail from a previous video of yours, that will go a long way towards making them click.

3. Use Graphics/Emojis that are On Topic

Anybody can take a screenshot of themselves in their video and use it as a thumbnail. To make your thumbnails look polished, consider using small images (like emojis or hearts) to stand out. This will add color and personality to your thumbnail.

Make sure the images you choose are relevant to the topic of your video.

4. Make Your Text Huge

If you use text in your thumbnail (you don’t have to) then it should be to add context. For example, if the main image is just you smiling then you might need some text to let viewers know the video is a makeup tutorial.

Thumbnails might look large while you’re putting them together in your image editor, but when they’re displayed on YouTube they’re a lot smaller. That goes double if a viewer is watching on their phone. So, make sure that any text you use is large enough that it can be read easily on small screens.

5. Keep it Clutter-Free

It’s great to add text and emojis to your thumbnails, but you do need to be careful not to add too much. You never want your thumbnails to look cluttered. Viewers should be able to glance at your thumbnails and know exactly what kind of video to expect – that’s difficult to do if there’s too much to process.

A good rule for text is to use only 1-3 words. That way they won’t clutter your screen, and you can make them large enough to read on small-screened devices.

For even more tips on making great YouTube thumbnails, click here .

Use these tips to make video thumbnails for YouTube, and tell us what kind of results you get!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The video thumbnails you use for YouTube are vital to getting views and subscribers. There are a lot of things that go into making people watch your videos, but your video thumbnail might be the most important factor.

Here are 5 easy tips for creating thumbnails that get views.

1. Have a Consistent Layout
2. Use Your Face
3. Use Graphics/Emojis That is On Topic
4. Make Your Text Huge
5. Keep It Clutter-Free!

Contest now closed.

Edit Your Videos Before Creating Video Thumbnails

1. Have a Consistent Layout

Your thumbnails all must look like part of the same set. You want viewers to recognize your videos like yours, and they are more likely to do that if you build up a standard layout that they can start associating with you.

An example of a standard layout could be you in the middle of the screen wearing an expression that matches the theme of your video, with your title written underneath your face. Every individual thumbnail would still be different, but you and the text would always be in the same spot.

2. Use Your Face

People feel automatically connected and drawn into images that make eye contact. This makes thumbnails which feature faces more click-able than thumbnails which don’t, in most genres (i.e. if you make food videos then this may not apply – featuring the food might be more important than featuring your face). Check out more tips like this here .

Also, if somebody recognizes you in your thumbnail from a previous video of yours, that will go a long way towards making them click.

3. Use Graphics/Emojis that are On Topic

Anybody can take a screenshot of themselves in their video and use it as a thumbnail. To make your thumbnails look polished, consider using small images (like emojis or hearts) to stand out. This will add color and personality to your thumbnail.

Make sure the images you choose are relevant to the topic of your video.

4. Make Your Text Huge

If you use text in your thumbnail (you don’t have to) then it should be to add context. For example, if the main image is just you smiling then you might need some text to let viewers know the video is a makeup tutorial.

Thumbnails might look large while you’re putting them together in your image editor, but when they’re displayed on YouTube they’re a lot smaller. That goes double if a viewer is watching on their phone. So, make sure that any text you use is large enough that it can be read easily on small screens.

5. Keep it Clutter-Free

It’s great to add text and emojis to your thumbnails, but you do need to be careful not to add too much. You never want your thumbnails to look cluttered. Viewers should be able to glance at your thumbnails and know exactly what kind of video to expect – that’s difficult to do if there’s too much to process.

A good rule for text is to use only 1-3 words. That way they won’t clutter your screen, and you can make them large enough to read on small-screened devices.

For even more tips on making great YouTube thumbnails, click here .

Use these tips to make video thumbnails for YouTube, and tell us what kind of results you get!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Capturing the Unseen: 9 Must-Have CamGear for Aspiring Vloggers

Smartphone Camera Accessories Vloggers Should Try to Improve Recording

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

As smartphone camera technology is rapidly advancing, more and more people are using smartphones as their primary vlogging device. They’re convenient and they draw the least amount of attention. But since most smartphones weren’t made specifically for vlogging, there’s a lot of room to make them more suitable for that purpose. Here is a list of the nine best smartphone camera accessories for vloggers.

Table of Contents 1. PORTABLE CHARGER2. TRIPOD MOUNT3. ANTI-GRAVITY CASE4. SELFIE RING LIGHT5. DIRECTIONAL MICROPHONE6. LENS SET7. FILMMAKING RIG8. FILMMAKING RIG9. GIMBAL

1. RAVPower Portable Charger

Vlogging uses a lot more power. If you’re planning to vlog all throughout your day with your phone, you need a portable way to charge it back up. RAVPower has a great line up of portable chargers with multiple USB inputs that hold a total charge of more than 20,000 mAh. With that amount, you can fully charge your smartphone more than 6 times! I own one myself and it’s been great for me during my travels. A 22,000 mAh charger goes for about $42 USD.

2. Arkon Tripod Mount

The Arkon tripod mount is a great portable tripod option that you can get at the fair price of around $20 USD. Not only does it have bendable legs, like the more expensive Joby GorillaPod tripod, that you can wrap around all kinds of structures, but it also comes with the smartphone mount, which Joby sells separately. Another great thing about the Arkon tripod is that its smartphone mount can be rotated so that you can position your phone to film in either widescreen or portrait mode.

3. Mega Tiny Anti-Gravity Case

For all the flat surfaces that the bendable legs of the Arkon tripod mount can’t wrap around, Mega Tiny’s anti-gravity cases will do the job of holding your iPhone or Android phone in one fixed position. These cases can stick to glass, mirrors, metal, and more. They range from $20 to $30 USD.

4. FLII Selfie Ring Light

As much as smartphone camera technology has advanced, phone cameras still underperform when it comes to filming video in low-light. In low-light, your footage is very grainy because your phone is equipped with a small camera sensor, an engineering choice by the manufacturers to keep the size of the phone small. A handy accessory that you can use to get more light is the FLII selfie ring light. This ring light clamps onto your phone and emits a neutral white light. You can clamp this light to either side of your phone, depending on whether you want to use your rear-facing camera or your front-facing camera. This selfie ring light sells for around $16 USD.

5. RODE VideoMic Me

The mic that is already built into your phone is equally sensitive to the sounds that come from behind the phone as it is to the sounds that are in front of the phone. This can be problematic when you’re trying to vlog in selfie mode while there’s a loud concert on the other side. One smartphone accessory that can improve the sound that you record from your phone in these situations is the RODE VideoMic Me. This mini directional shotgun mic plugs right into your phone’s headphone jack and sells for around $60 USD. In windy conditions, the dead cat windshield that it comes with does a great job of minimizing noise from the wind. In quiet, indoor conditions where you are the only person speaking, this device performs no better than your phone’s internal microphone. Your phone will also have to be in airplane mode to prevent the Rode VideoMic Me from recording unwanted clicking noise caused by background processes performed by your phone. So you wouldn’t want to use this for livestreaming.

6. Aukey Optic 3-in-1 Smartphone Lens Set

Aukey makes a 3-in-1 lens set that you can clamp onto your smartphone so that you can vlog at different focal lengths. The 3-in-1 set comes with a wide-angle lens, a fisheye lens, and a macro lens. The clamp it comes with is long enough for these lenses to reach any camera on a smartphone, not just those of iPhones which are positioned close to the phone’s outer edge. To get the most out of these lenses, you’ll have to use them without your phone’s protective case on. Although you are free to use this lens set on either your phone’s rear-facing camera or front-facing camera, the metal housing of these lenses is likely to show up in your footage when you use them with your front-facing camera. So, instead of having your recorded image stretch to the ends of a 16:9 ratio rectangular frame, your recorded image will look as if it is contained inside a circle. This lens set sells for around $30 USD.

7. iOgrapher Go for Android and iPhone

There’s many more accessories that you can take advantage of if you don’t limit yourself to just smartphone camera accessories. Sound and lighting equipment made for stand-alone cameras perform much better too. Many of these accessories are meant to connect to the camera “shoe” (a bracket on top of the camera that accessories can be attached to). Smartphones don’t come with these kinds of shoes. So, to take advantage of these higher quality accessories, you’ll need some kind of camera rig for your smartphone that also comes with shoes. The iOgrapher Go offers this at around $60 USD. This accessory comes with three shoes.

8. Manfrotto TwistGrip System

Manfrotto’s TwistGrip System does a similar job to the above iOgrapher Go. This system also comes with three shoes. An advantage the TwistGrip System has over the iOgrapher Go is that it is much more portable. Its three connected parts can be detached to take up less space in your bag. This system sells for around $50 USD.

9. Zhiyun Smooth-Q 3-Axis Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer for Smartphones

My favorite smartphone camera accessory that I own is the Zhiyun Smooth-Q gimbal stabilizer. This gimbal is very effective in helping you record smooth video. Using the app that it comes with, you can even preset this gimbal to smoothly pan and rotate from a starting position to an ending position, giving you the opportunity to film beautiful time lapses. You can get this device at around $100 USD.

Polish Your YouTube Videos with Filmora

As one of the most widely used video editing software in YouTube video editing, Filmora provides lots of templates and effects with an intuitive interface, which saves much time. Download the free trial version and get started now.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

As smartphone camera technology is rapidly advancing, more and more people are using smartphones as their primary vlogging device. They’re convenient and they draw the least amount of attention. But since most smartphones weren’t made specifically for vlogging, there’s a lot of room to make them more suitable for that purpose. Here is a list of the nine best smartphone camera accessories for vloggers.

Table of Contents 1. PORTABLE CHARGER2. TRIPOD MOUNT3. ANTI-GRAVITY CASE4. SELFIE RING LIGHT5. DIRECTIONAL MICROPHONE6. LENS SET7. FILMMAKING RIG8. FILMMAKING RIG9. GIMBAL

1. RAVPower Portable Charger

Vlogging uses a lot more power. If you’re planning to vlog all throughout your day with your phone, you need a portable way to charge it back up. RAVPower has a great line up of portable chargers with multiple USB inputs that hold a total charge of more than 20,000 mAh. With that amount, you can fully charge your smartphone more than 6 times! I own one myself and it’s been great for me during my travels. A 22,000 mAh charger goes for about $42 USD.

2. Arkon Tripod Mount

The Arkon tripod mount is a great portable tripod option that you can get at the fair price of around $20 USD. Not only does it have bendable legs, like the more expensive Joby GorillaPod tripod, that you can wrap around all kinds of structures, but it also comes with the smartphone mount, which Joby sells separately. Another great thing about the Arkon tripod is that its smartphone mount can be rotated so that you can position your phone to film in either widescreen or portrait mode.

3. Mega Tiny Anti-Gravity Case

For all the flat surfaces that the bendable legs of the Arkon tripod mount can’t wrap around, Mega Tiny’s anti-gravity cases will do the job of holding your iPhone or Android phone in one fixed position. These cases can stick to glass, mirrors, metal, and more. They range from $20 to $30 USD.

4. FLII Selfie Ring Light

As much as smartphone camera technology has advanced, phone cameras still underperform when it comes to filming video in low-light. In low-light, your footage is very grainy because your phone is equipped with a small camera sensor, an engineering choice by the manufacturers to keep the size of the phone small. A handy accessory that you can use to get more light is the FLII selfie ring light. This ring light clamps onto your phone and emits a neutral white light. You can clamp this light to either side of your phone, depending on whether you want to use your rear-facing camera or your front-facing camera. This selfie ring light sells for around $16 USD.

5. RODE VideoMic Me

The mic that is already built into your phone is equally sensitive to the sounds that come from behind the phone as it is to the sounds that are in front of the phone. This can be problematic when you’re trying to vlog in selfie mode while there’s a loud concert on the other side. One smartphone accessory that can improve the sound that you record from your phone in these situations is the RODE VideoMic Me. This mini directional shotgun mic plugs right into your phone’s headphone jack and sells for around $60 USD. In windy conditions, the dead cat windshield that it comes with does a great job of minimizing noise from the wind. In quiet, indoor conditions where you are the only person speaking, this device performs no better than your phone’s internal microphone. Your phone will also have to be in airplane mode to prevent the Rode VideoMic Me from recording unwanted clicking noise caused by background processes performed by your phone. So you wouldn’t want to use this for livestreaming.

6. Aukey Optic 3-in-1 Smartphone Lens Set

Aukey makes a 3-in-1 lens set that you can clamp onto your smartphone so that you can vlog at different focal lengths. The 3-in-1 set comes with a wide-angle lens, a fisheye lens, and a macro lens. The clamp it comes with is long enough for these lenses to reach any camera on a smartphone, not just those of iPhones which are positioned close to the phone’s outer edge. To get the most out of these lenses, you’ll have to use them without your phone’s protective case on. Although you are free to use this lens set on either your phone’s rear-facing camera or front-facing camera, the metal housing of these lenses is likely to show up in your footage when you use them with your front-facing camera. So, instead of having your recorded image stretch to the ends of a 16:9 ratio rectangular frame, your recorded image will look as if it is contained inside a circle. This lens set sells for around $30 USD.

7. iOgrapher Go for Android and iPhone

There’s many more accessories that you can take advantage of if you don’t limit yourself to just smartphone camera accessories. Sound and lighting equipment made for stand-alone cameras perform much better too. Many of these accessories are meant to connect to the camera “shoe” (a bracket on top of the camera that accessories can be attached to). Smartphones don’t come with these kinds of shoes. So, to take advantage of these higher quality accessories, you’ll need some kind of camera rig for your smartphone that also comes with shoes. The iOgrapher Go offers this at around $60 USD. This accessory comes with three shoes.

8. Manfrotto TwistGrip System

Manfrotto’s TwistGrip System does a similar job to the above iOgrapher Go. This system also comes with three shoes. An advantage the TwistGrip System has over the iOgrapher Go is that it is much more portable. Its three connected parts can be detached to take up less space in your bag. This system sells for around $50 USD.

9. Zhiyun Smooth-Q 3-Axis Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer for Smartphones

My favorite smartphone camera accessory that I own is the Zhiyun Smooth-Q gimbal stabilizer. This gimbal is very effective in helping you record smooth video. Using the app that it comes with, you can even preset this gimbal to smoothly pan and rotate from a starting position to an ending position, giving you the opportunity to film beautiful time lapses. You can get this device at around $100 USD.

Polish Your YouTube Videos with Filmora

As one of the most widely used video editing software in YouTube video editing, Filmora provides lots of templates and effects with an intuitive interface, which saves much time. Download the free trial version and get started now.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

As smartphone camera technology is rapidly advancing, more and more people are using smartphones as their primary vlogging device. They’re convenient and they draw the least amount of attention. But since most smartphones weren’t made specifically for vlogging, there’s a lot of room to make them more suitable for that purpose. Here is a list of the nine best smartphone camera accessories for vloggers.

Table of Contents 1. PORTABLE CHARGER2. TRIPOD MOUNT3. ANTI-GRAVITY CASE4. SELFIE RING LIGHT5. DIRECTIONAL MICROPHONE6. LENS SET7. FILMMAKING RIG8. FILMMAKING RIG9. GIMBAL

1. RAVPower Portable Charger

Vlogging uses a lot more power. If you’re planning to vlog all throughout your day with your phone, you need a portable way to charge it back up. RAVPower has a great line up of portable chargers with multiple USB inputs that hold a total charge of more than 20,000 mAh. With that amount, you can fully charge your smartphone more than 6 times! I own one myself and it’s been great for me during my travels. A 22,000 mAh charger goes for about $42 USD.

2. Arkon Tripod Mount

The Arkon tripod mount is a great portable tripod option that you can get at the fair price of around $20 USD. Not only does it have bendable legs, like the more expensive Joby GorillaPod tripod, that you can wrap around all kinds of structures, but it also comes with the smartphone mount, which Joby sells separately. Another great thing about the Arkon tripod is that its smartphone mount can be rotated so that you can position your phone to film in either widescreen or portrait mode.

3. Mega Tiny Anti-Gravity Case

For all the flat surfaces that the bendable legs of the Arkon tripod mount can’t wrap around, Mega Tiny’s anti-gravity cases will do the job of holding your iPhone or Android phone in one fixed position. These cases can stick to glass, mirrors, metal, and more. They range from $20 to $30 USD.

4. FLII Selfie Ring Light

As much as smartphone camera technology has advanced, phone cameras still underperform when it comes to filming video in low-light. In low-light, your footage is very grainy because your phone is equipped with a small camera sensor, an engineering choice by the manufacturers to keep the size of the phone small. A handy accessory that you can use to get more light is the FLII selfie ring light. This ring light clamps onto your phone and emits a neutral white light. You can clamp this light to either side of your phone, depending on whether you want to use your rear-facing camera or your front-facing camera. This selfie ring light sells for around $16 USD.

5. RODE VideoMic Me

The mic that is already built into your phone is equally sensitive to the sounds that come from behind the phone as it is to the sounds that are in front of the phone. This can be problematic when you’re trying to vlog in selfie mode while there’s a loud concert on the other side. One smartphone accessory that can improve the sound that you record from your phone in these situations is the RODE VideoMic Me. This mini directional shotgun mic plugs right into your phone’s headphone jack and sells for around $60 USD. In windy conditions, the dead cat windshield that it comes with does a great job of minimizing noise from the wind. In quiet, indoor conditions where you are the only person speaking, this device performs no better than your phone’s internal microphone. Your phone will also have to be in airplane mode to prevent the Rode VideoMic Me from recording unwanted clicking noise caused by background processes performed by your phone. So you wouldn’t want to use this for livestreaming.

6. Aukey Optic 3-in-1 Smartphone Lens Set

Aukey makes a 3-in-1 lens set that you can clamp onto your smartphone so that you can vlog at different focal lengths. The 3-in-1 set comes with a wide-angle lens, a fisheye lens, and a macro lens. The clamp it comes with is long enough for these lenses to reach any camera on a smartphone, not just those of iPhones which are positioned close to the phone’s outer edge. To get the most out of these lenses, you’ll have to use them without your phone’s protective case on. Although you are free to use this lens set on either your phone’s rear-facing camera or front-facing camera, the metal housing of these lenses is likely to show up in your footage when you use them with your front-facing camera. So, instead of having your recorded image stretch to the ends of a 16:9 ratio rectangular frame, your recorded image will look as if it is contained inside a circle. This lens set sells for around $30 USD.

7. iOgrapher Go for Android and iPhone

There’s many more accessories that you can take advantage of if you don’t limit yourself to just smartphone camera accessories. Sound and lighting equipment made for stand-alone cameras perform much better too. Many of these accessories are meant to connect to the camera “shoe” (a bracket on top of the camera that accessories can be attached to). Smartphones don’t come with these kinds of shoes. So, to take advantage of these higher quality accessories, you’ll need some kind of camera rig for your smartphone that also comes with shoes. The iOgrapher Go offers this at around $60 USD. This accessory comes with three shoes.

8. Manfrotto TwistGrip System

Manfrotto’s TwistGrip System does a similar job to the above iOgrapher Go. This system also comes with three shoes. An advantage the TwistGrip System has over the iOgrapher Go is that it is much more portable. Its three connected parts can be detached to take up less space in your bag. This system sells for around $50 USD.

9. Zhiyun Smooth-Q 3-Axis Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer for Smartphones

My favorite smartphone camera accessory that I own is the Zhiyun Smooth-Q gimbal stabilizer. This gimbal is very effective in helping you record smooth video. Using the app that it comes with, you can even preset this gimbal to smoothly pan and rotate from a starting position to an ending position, giving you the opportunity to film beautiful time lapses. You can get this device at around $100 USD.

Polish Your YouTube Videos with Filmora

As one of the most widely used video editing software in YouTube video editing, Filmora provides lots of templates and effects with an intuitive interface, which saves much time. Download the free trial version and get started now.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

As smartphone camera technology is rapidly advancing, more and more people are using smartphones as their primary vlogging device. They’re convenient and they draw the least amount of attention. But since most smartphones weren’t made specifically for vlogging, there’s a lot of room to make them more suitable for that purpose. Here is a list of the nine best smartphone camera accessories for vloggers.

Table of Contents 1. PORTABLE CHARGER2. TRIPOD MOUNT3. ANTI-GRAVITY CASE4. SELFIE RING LIGHT5. DIRECTIONAL MICROPHONE6. LENS SET7. FILMMAKING RIG8. FILMMAKING RIG9. GIMBAL

1. RAVPower Portable Charger

Vlogging uses a lot more power. If you’re planning to vlog all throughout your day with your phone, you need a portable way to charge it back up. RAVPower has a great line up of portable chargers with multiple USB inputs that hold a total charge of more than 20,000 mAh. With that amount, you can fully charge your smartphone more than 6 times! I own one myself and it’s been great for me during my travels. A 22,000 mAh charger goes for about $42 USD.

2. Arkon Tripod Mount

The Arkon tripod mount is a great portable tripod option that you can get at the fair price of around $20 USD. Not only does it have bendable legs, like the more expensive Joby GorillaPod tripod, that you can wrap around all kinds of structures, but it also comes with the smartphone mount, which Joby sells separately. Another great thing about the Arkon tripod is that its smartphone mount can be rotated so that you can position your phone to film in either widescreen or portrait mode.

3. Mega Tiny Anti-Gravity Case

For all the flat surfaces that the bendable legs of the Arkon tripod mount can’t wrap around, Mega Tiny’s anti-gravity cases will do the job of holding your iPhone or Android phone in one fixed position. These cases can stick to glass, mirrors, metal, and more. They range from $20 to $30 USD.

4. FLII Selfie Ring Light

As much as smartphone camera technology has advanced, phone cameras still underperform when it comes to filming video in low-light. In low-light, your footage is very grainy because your phone is equipped with a small camera sensor, an engineering choice by the manufacturers to keep the size of the phone small. A handy accessory that you can use to get more light is the FLII selfie ring light. This ring light clamps onto your phone and emits a neutral white light. You can clamp this light to either side of your phone, depending on whether you want to use your rear-facing camera or your front-facing camera. This selfie ring light sells for around $16 USD.

5. RODE VideoMic Me

The mic that is already built into your phone is equally sensitive to the sounds that come from behind the phone as it is to the sounds that are in front of the phone. This can be problematic when you’re trying to vlog in selfie mode while there’s a loud concert on the other side. One smartphone accessory that can improve the sound that you record from your phone in these situations is the RODE VideoMic Me. This mini directional shotgun mic plugs right into your phone’s headphone jack and sells for around $60 USD. In windy conditions, the dead cat windshield that it comes with does a great job of minimizing noise from the wind. In quiet, indoor conditions where you are the only person speaking, this device performs no better than your phone’s internal microphone. Your phone will also have to be in airplane mode to prevent the Rode VideoMic Me from recording unwanted clicking noise caused by background processes performed by your phone. So you wouldn’t want to use this for livestreaming.

6. Aukey Optic 3-in-1 Smartphone Lens Set

Aukey makes a 3-in-1 lens set that you can clamp onto your smartphone so that you can vlog at different focal lengths. The 3-in-1 set comes with a wide-angle lens, a fisheye lens, and a macro lens. The clamp it comes with is long enough for these lenses to reach any camera on a smartphone, not just those of iPhones which are positioned close to the phone’s outer edge. To get the most out of these lenses, you’ll have to use them without your phone’s protective case on. Although you are free to use this lens set on either your phone’s rear-facing camera or front-facing camera, the metal housing of these lenses is likely to show up in your footage when you use them with your front-facing camera. So, instead of having your recorded image stretch to the ends of a 16:9 ratio rectangular frame, your recorded image will look as if it is contained inside a circle. This lens set sells for around $30 USD.

7. iOgrapher Go for Android and iPhone

There’s many more accessories that you can take advantage of if you don’t limit yourself to just smartphone camera accessories. Sound and lighting equipment made for stand-alone cameras perform much better too. Many of these accessories are meant to connect to the camera “shoe” (a bracket on top of the camera that accessories can be attached to). Smartphones don’t come with these kinds of shoes. So, to take advantage of these higher quality accessories, you’ll need some kind of camera rig for your smartphone that also comes with shoes. The iOgrapher Go offers this at around $60 USD. This accessory comes with three shoes.

8. Manfrotto TwistGrip System

Manfrotto’s TwistGrip System does a similar job to the above iOgrapher Go. This system also comes with three shoes. An advantage the TwistGrip System has over the iOgrapher Go is that it is much more portable. Its three connected parts can be detached to take up less space in your bag. This system sells for around $50 USD.

9. Zhiyun Smooth-Q 3-Axis Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer for Smartphones

My favorite smartphone camera accessory that I own is the Zhiyun Smooth-Q gimbal stabilizer. This gimbal is very effective in helping you record smooth video. Using the app that it comes with, you can even preset this gimbal to smoothly pan and rotate from a starting position to an ending position, giving you the opportunity to film beautiful time lapses. You can get this device at around $100 USD.

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Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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