52 Things You Can Do This Year to Make Your Pictures and Video Better

Here are 52 things that you can try this year that should take your video and photo skills to the next level.

We’re constantly creating new ones via our revamped Science Filmmaking Tips channel, so stay tuned each week for new ones. Until then, here are plenty to get you started. Oh, and don’t forget that if you like this content, you can help us by supporting this outreach via Patreon. Thanks again:

New from our 2018 52Things series!

  1. How to Make Stop Motion
  2. Learn to Edit Faster with Keyboard Shortcuts
  3. How to Photograph the Northern Lights
  4. Take your Drone Flying to the Next Level
  5. Create 360 Degree Photospheres or Panoramas
  6. Create 360 Degree Panoramas with your Drone
  7. Practice your Handheld Camera Techniques
  8. Learn to Shoot Video by Yourself
  9. How to do Motion Tracking
  10. Drone Hyperlapse over 6 months
  11. Do a Droneception Photograph
  12. Bring theBring the Right Camera Gear – Adventure Bag Setup 2018
  13. How to Create Your Own Lightroom Presets
  14. Create Your Own Video LUTS
  15. Create Light Leaks and BOKEH
  16. Eat Surstromming
  17. Create BOKEH overlays in Photoshop
  18. How to do a Drone Hyperlapse
  19. Stitch Multiple Photos together to simulate a Long exposure shot
  20. Use After Effects Templates to Spice up Your Project
  21. Do Smoke Grenade Photography
  22. Take the Perfect Family Portrait
  23. The Vertigo Effect with a Drone
  24. Ultra High-Res MacroPhotography
  25. Use a Gimbal
  26. Shoot a DIY Video – Here’s how
  27. Contemplate Film School
  28. Create Fire Rain (Steel Wool Photography)
  29. Photocomposition with Toys
  30. Create Your Own Whoosh SFX
  31. Get a Gopro for Gimbal-free video
  32. Understand Wildlife Filmmaking Ethics
  33. Know the Basics of Your Camera Lens
  34. Take Better Photos with these 5 Tips
  35. Shoot Solo with 6 More tips
  36. Get Drone Shots without a Drone
  37. Be Creative with LED lights
  38. Learn the Steps to Make a Documentary
  39. Part 1 – Answer “Why are you Making it”
  40. Part 2 – Story Basics
  41. Part 3 – Lighting Basics
  42. Part 4 – Talking To Clients
  43. Part 5 – Shooting Interviews
  44. Part 6 – Choose an Editing Software
  45. Part 7 – Editing Basics – (With Adobe Rush)
  46. Create a 3-axis Moving Timelapse
  47. Make a Timelapse Between Seasons
  48. Make a Driving Timelapse
  49. Shoot an Aerial Timelapse
  50. Make a Tilt-Shift / Miniature World Time-lapse
  51. Shoot better B-Roll

Video and Photo Tips from Previous Years!

  1. Learn the Basics of your DSLR.
  2. Learn how to make Sketch Animations
  3. Make Better Videos for Instagram
  4. Create the Jittery Text and Hand drawn look.
  5. Learn what settings are ideal for your GoPro
  6. Learn how to make grey pictures white!
  7. Create Stunning Cave Photos.
  8. Shoot Underwater with your GoPro
  9. Buy a sweet Macro-Photography kit.
  10. Make a Hyperlapse
  11. Do a Day-to-Night Timelapse
  12. Make 360 or VR video
  13. Create a macro camera from your Gopro.
  14. Make a VLOG
  15. Get Music for your Videos
  16. Shoot better interviews
  17. Shoot better B-Roll
  18. Get Free Stuff for your Films
  19. Speed up your Editing in FCPX
  20. Add Color to Black and White Images
  21. Up your Photo-Game
  22. Learn to Deal with Depression
  23. How to Send a Weather Balloon with camera attached to Space
  24. Tips to Get Stuff Done
  25. Create a 3-axis Moving Timelapse
  26. Make a Timelapse Between Seasons
  27. Make a Driving Timelapse
  28. Shoot an Aerial Timelapse
  29. Make a Tilt-Shift / Miniature World Time-lapse
  30. Plan a Project somewhere you’ve never been
  31. Shoot a Wedding video for a friend.
  32. Add Dinosaurs to Photos via Masking in Photoshop
  33. Create Light Rays in Photoshop
  34. Shoot Waterfall Pictures using Shutterspeed
  35. Learn White Balance
  36. Become an Adventure Filmmaker
  37. Create Milky Way Photos in Lightroom
  38. How to Mount a Lavalier Microphone
  39. Use Magic Lantern to make an old DSLR into a HD video camera
  40. Shoot a White Background Video
  41. Use an Endoscope
  42. Get rid of flickering with Fluorescent Lights
  43. Do a Parallax Photo – 2D into moving video!
  44. Create Steel Wool Photographs
  45. Fake Epic Slow Motion!
  46. Deflicker your Timelapses
  47. 3D Print a Drone Handle
  48. Record Better Audio in an Airplane
  49. Be a better Documentary Filmmaking Crew Member
  50. 5 Drone Moves you should know!
  51. Shoot with a Steadycam
  52. Make good videos with your phone

Remember, there are more via our revamped Science Filmmaking Tips Youtube channel! Follow along every other week! And, if you’re keen to help supporting us at Patreon we’d be eternally grateful.

Written by Rob Nelson

Rob is an ecologist from the University of Hawaii. He is the co-creator and director of Untamed Science. His goal is to create videos and content that are entertaining, accurate, and educational. When he's not making science content, he races whitewater kayaks and works on Stone Age Man.

You can follow Rob Nelson