North Texas

How You Can Take a Better Picture

If you have young kids, you may be grabbing your phone to get videos of everything from dance recitals, that trip to a theme park, goofing off on a Saturday morning or teaching them Snapchat. They're the moments that matter, the ones you can't recreate.

So how do you make sure that photo or video is the best it can be, and makes good TV or even a photo print?

"The moment we try to put it on a computer screen or video screen it looks a little weird," said NBC 5 photojournalist Davis Soltis.

So here's what to know.

"The video is vertical, it's because I held my phone vertically the way we typically use a phone. There are these large black spaces on both sides, it might look great on your phone but the moment you put it on your TV screen a compuer screen there's going to be these voids. This is not how you want to keep your memories. There is a way to fix this and it's simple; you take your phone and flip it [horizontal]. Most phones will automatically flip the video and that will look great on any screen," said Soltis.

David showed using these Christmas trees at the NBC 5 studios.

"Here's the video I shot vertically," Soltis says, "different video, same place shot like this just with my cellphone, not a new cellphone not a fancy cellphone."

Don't have kids? It doesn't matter, it works for everything. Think of it like taking a photograph with a traditional camera and if you see breaking news, break out your phone and connect with us at NBC 5.

"You send us a video like this we're going to be able to use it in our newscasts and it looks great," Soltis said.

Lets face it, some of the videos are funny whether vertical or horizontal, but take it from the professionals at NBC 5 and capture those moments the best way.

Another Note: Delete the "sent from my iPhone" or "sent from my Samsung" automatic signature. That becomes part of the caption or summary for your photo or video on our website. And always include your name and some information, like the names of the people in the photo or video!

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