You are on page 1of 5

How to shoot videos and send them to YouTube with an iPhone

Introduction
The guide is designed to help users understand the basics of shooting simple, unedited videos and sending those videos to YouTube, the popular Internet-based video sharing web site. This guide assumes the user has a basic functional understanding of how to operate an iPhone and a basic functional understanding of YouTube. This guide assumes the user is operating an iPhone with iOS 4 or later, a built-in camera and the Camera iPhone app. An active WiFi (802.11 wireless) Internet connection and current YouTube account is also assumed.
Trademark and copyright: This guide follows trademark and copyright guidelines from Apple, Inc.1 and Google Inc.2 This guide is not endorsed by Apple or Google. iPhone is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. YouTube is a trademark of Google Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License3.

Step-by-step instructions
Step 1: Run the Camera app If your iPhone is asleep or turned off, turn on and unlock your iPhone so that you can see your iPhone apps. Locate the app called Camera. In fig. 1, the Camera app is the second icon from the left in the top row of icons. When you have located the Camera app, touch the app to start it. After a few seconds, the Camera app will launch and the app will automatically switch into live camera mode.
1 2 3

http://www.apple.com/legal/trademark/guidelinesfor3rdparties.html http://www.google.com/permissions/guidelines.html http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Figure 1 - The iPhone iOS Interface

By R. Slade Walters sladewalters.com youtube.com/sladewalters

Page 1

Step 2: Set motion video mode After a few seconds, the Camera app will launch and on your iPhones screen you should see a real-time video display of whatever your iPhones camera is seeing. There are two camera modes still image mode and motion video mode. To select motion video mode, move the slider selector at the bottom right of the screen to the motion camera icon. Fig. 2 shows the app set to motion video mode. Step 3: Choose the camera source If you have an iPhone 4, you have two built-in cameras. One camera is located on the back of the iPhone 4, generally facing what the user is looking at, the other is located on the front of the iPhone 4, generally facing the user. You can easily switch cameras by touching the camera selector icon. The icon is located on the top right side of the display. The icon looks like a stylized camera with two curved arrows on both sides. As you can see in fig. 3, I have selected the user-facing camera, which is why you are now staring at my ugly mug. My apologies. Step 4: Select a screen orientation You should also select a screen orientation. If you would

Figure 2 Camera App

Figure 3 Camera app interface

Figure 4 User-facing camera, portrait mode

like your videos to be tall and skinny, you can hold the iPhone in portrait mode. The example screen shot above is an example of portrait mode. Shooting in portrait mode for YouTube isnt recommended, because YouTube displays videos in landscape/widescreen mode. To shoot in landscape mode, physically rotate the iPhone 90 degrees. The iPhone will adjust the on-screen controls as it is rotated and the camera will automatically record video in landscape mode while the phone is in a landscape orientation.

By R. Slade Walters sladewalters.com youtube.com/sladewalters

Page 2

Figure 5 User-facing camera, landscape mode

Figure 6 Outward-facing camera, landscape/widescreen mode

Note: the user-facing camera shoots 4:3 aspect ratio video in standard definition (640 x 480 resolution) and the outward-facing camera shoots 16:9 aspect ratio video in highdefinition (1280 x 720 resolution). Step 5: Record video To record video, simply touch the record button. The record button is the fairly large oval-shaped button with a red dot in the center of the gray control bar. It could be on the bottom, left or right of the screen, depending on the orientation of the iPhone (see fig. 6). The record button has a red indicator in the center of the button that will blink during recording. A time code indicator will appear in the upper right of the screen and will display elapsed recording time (see fig. 6). To stop recording, push the record button again. Step 6: Review video To review the video you just shot, select the camera roll icon. The Camera Roll icon will display a small sample frame of the last video shot. The Camera Roll stores all of the still photos and motion videos captured with the built-in cameras. The Camera Roll icon is located in the gray interface bar on the bottom left in portrait mode (see figs. 2-3) or in
Figure 7 Record button (middle left), time code indicator (upper right) and camera roll icon (upper left)

By R. Slade Walters sladewalters.com youtube.com/sladewalters

Page 3

the upper left in landscape mode (see figs. 4-6). Once youve selected the camera roll icon, the iPhone will display the contents of the camera roll, starting with the most recently recorded photo or video. To review the video, push the play button in the center of the still video screen (see fig. 7). Step 7: Start the sending process When you have reviewed your video and you are ready to post the video to YouTube, touch the send icon on the bottom left corner of the screen. The send icon looks like a box with a curved arrow pointing out to the right (see fig. 7). When you touch the send icon, send options will appear (see fig. 8). To begin sending to YouTube, select Send to YouTube. If you are not already logged in to your YouTube account, you will be asked to supply your YouTube username and password. After selecting Send to YouTube, when you are logged into YouTube, the Publish Video screen will appear. Step 8: Publish video The Publish Video screen contains data fields for title, description, video resolution, tags, category and viewing permissions. A memorable title and thorough description are good choices for the title and description fields. The video resolution selector allows you to choose the quality and resolution you upload to YouTube. High definition video will look better on YouTube, but will take significantly longer to upload. The tag fields allow you to
Figure 9 Send Menu Figure 8 The Camera Roll

input key words that will assist other users in finding your video content with a text search. The category field allows you to select the broad category under which YouTube should file your video. Finally, the viewing permissions selector allows you to choose

By R. Slade Walters sladewalters.com youtube.com/sladewalters

Page 4

who can see your video file. Public videos can be seen by anyone, unlisted videos can be seen by anyone you provide a link, and private videos are visible to YouTube users you specify on the YouTube web site. Fig. 9 shows a composite view of the entire scrolling YouTube Publish Video screen. When you select a text field, like the title, description and tag fields, an on-screen keyboard will appear to allow field input. Selectable fields like the video resolution and view permissions fields can be selected with a simple touch. The category field, when selected, will display a scrolling list of category choices. When you are finished entering all of the required video data, select Publish at the top of the screen. The publishing/upload process will start. Step 9: Wait for the upload process to complete Before the video will upload, the iPhone must prepare the video by converting it into a YouTube-friendly format. This could take a few seconds or several minutes, depending on the length of your video. When the preparation is complete, the video will begin to upload. The upload process could also take a few seconds or several minutes depending on the length of the video and the speed of your Internet connection (see fig. 10). When your video is finished uploading, the iPhone will announce that the upload is complete and give you the option of viewing your video on YouTube using the builtin iPhone YouTube app.
Figure 11 Upload Progress Bar

Figure 10 Publish Video Screen

Step 10: Enjoy your newfound YouTube fame Your video will be forever immortalized on YouTube.

By R. Slade Walters sladewalters.com youtube.com/sladewalters

Page 5

You might also like