 So you got yourself the iPhone 15 Pro Max and want to know how to make the most out of its amazing camera for filming and editing. In this video guys, we will go through the steps you need to take in order to produce professional looking videos using your iPhone 15 Pro Max. Now as for the camera setup, like I said, I'll be using the iPhone 15 Pro Max with this cage by B script. Now with a cage like this, I'm able to get the smoother handheld shots as it has a nice grip here on the side and I can use the other hand to support the bottom. Of the cage, also I can attach an SSD holder on top and I'm gonna explain to you why we need this later. And also I can mount this on a tripod if I want to film myself. Now by the way, I will leave links to all the products used in this video in the description below. Now in this tutorial, I'll be using the default camera app. However, there are third party apps like Filmic Pro or the new free black magic camera app that supports Apple log and provide greater control over camera settings. I'll highlight the benefits of using the black magic camera app later in this video. Now as for the camera settings, with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, you can now capture the best video quality by shooting in Apple log. Remember that Apple log is only available on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models. Now shooting in log significantly improves the quality of your video by reducing over sharpening, unpredictable tone mapping and noise reduction and provides a more cinematic and true to life look. It also makes your footage resemble to that of professional cameras, which is a huge step from a previous iPhone models. Now in order to shoot in Apple log, just turn it on in your iPhone settings. So to do that, head over to settings, then go to camera, then head over to formats, below you will see Apple Pro Res, make sure to turn that on and then in the Pro Res encoding, select log. Now you also want to make sure to enable HDR. So head back, gonna go one more back and now select record video and then below you'll see HDR video, which you want to turn on. Otherwise you'll end up recording in 8-bit log instead of 10-bit log and this means the footage will have less color info and give you awful results when color grading in the edit. Oh, and one thing you should also do is enable lock white balance. This way your video will have a consistent color tone throughout your recordings. Next up, open the regular camera app and turn on Pro Res log. Now you can record in Apple log up to 4K 30 frames per second internally. If you want to record at 4K 60 frames per second, you can connect an external SSD using a 3.0 USB-C and once connected, you'll also see USB-C displayed and as I change the frame rate, you'll see I'm able to shoot in 60 frames per second and this means that when you start recording, all the files will be saved directly to your external hard drive. Now shooting in Apple log on the default camera app generates huge file size but with a one terabyte SSD connected, I can record up to 72 minutes of 4K 60 frames per second footage. Now while Pro Res log is awesome for the best video results, it might not be ideal for everyday shooting because of the hassle of using an external storage and larger file size. But there is a solution to it. If you're looking to record 4K 60 frames per second internally and want to save on file size, you can also use the awesome free black magic camera app. It lets you record in different Pro Res formats and lets you even shoot log in HEVC which means way smaller file sizes while still capturing your footage in 10-bit Apple log. Now just a heads up, you can't directly select the 2X camera in the black magic camera app. Also the default camera app still has the upper hand when it comes to switching between focal length smoothly and you can also use the Apple watch to monitor yourself, especially when filming yourself what we're about to do today. This is really useful. Now when shooting in log, you'll notice that the image looks flat and less vibrant. The reason for that is that the camera captures a wider dynamic range which means more details in the shadows and highlights. And this is great because it gives you more flexibility in the color grading process. Now when using the default camera app on the iPhone it tends to overexpose the footage. To preserve the highlights better, it's a good idea to bring the overall exposure down to negative 1.0. And to do that, I'm gonna select the arrow and then over here on the plus minus icon I can select that and bring it all the way down to negative 1.0. Now before you hit that record button, remember to lock focus and exposure whenever possible to avoid any expected changes during your recording. And to lock your focus and exposure, simply tap hold on the screen until AEAF lock appears. And this means your auto exposure and auto focus are now locked. So if I leave my settings in auto, you'll see as I place my hand in front you'll see the focus changes as well as a little bit the exposure. So we don't want that. So I'm gonna tap hold until AEAF lock appears. This way my auto exposure and auto focus is locked. And when I now place my hand in front of the camera you'll see no changes will happen and will give us a consistent look throughout our recordings. Now unfortunately you can't separate focus from exposure in the standard app but you can do that in the Blackmagic Camera app. So if you need more control the Blackmagic Camera app is a great option. So with that out of the way, let's now get into the filming process. Now for this video I'm gonna film myself as I hike and as I walk through the forest I discovered this cathedral and then in the end I walk into the cathedral and the video stops. So that's the kind of storyline that we have today. And I've already set up my first shot and the camera settings are now at 4K, 25 frames per second. So in normal speed I don't plan on slowing this clip down. And I really like this framing because you can see we have some foreground and it also guides our eyes on this path right here. The only thing left is to set and lock focus and exposure so that no changes occur as I film. Let's start with the recording and go. Now remember to always check your shot first before you move on. Otherwise you will have to set it up again or come back to the location just because you forgot to press record for example. So for this shot again I'm gonna film myself and use the tripod to position the camera. And this time I'm gonna set focus on this tree which is also going to create an interesting video as I walk along this path. This time I'm gonna capture myself from behind. So sometimes people are walking by you just have to be a little bit patient and action. Now I know these are a lot of static shots but we can actually add a digital zoom later on in the edit to add some camera movement into our shot. So next up is gonna be a handheld shot. I'm gonna film myself walking and this is gonna look really nice especially with the clothes that I have. We have red and blue and then brown shoes. So some nice contrast. We also have these colorful leaves lying on the floor so they should look really nice. I'm gonna film this in a 4K 25 frames per second. And again I'm gonna set and lock focus on my shoes and start and make sure to walk in the same speed as in the previous shot otherwise it would not match. So this time I'm gonna capture some detailed shots. I'm gonna use the macro lens and shoot in a 4K 25 frames per second. I can't use 60 frames per second that will disable the macro function. So what I like to do is look for interesting things around me and I found these mushrooms up here. So what I'm gonna do is lean my phone against this tree and frame it and you can see there's a flower at the bottom right. And if I press on it you'll see that the macro function is disabled so I'm gonna enable it, make sure my horizon is level and then I'm gonna set and lock focus on these mushrooms. And it's gonna be a simple static shot. I'm gonna start recording. I'm gonna try and lean a little bit more forward so that I'm not shaking too much. Gonna create a sort of three point contact. So this looks way more stable. Just gonna hold it like that for a couple of seconds. So as for my next shot I'm gonna use the ultra wide angle lens to capture a shot of all of these trees. I think this looks really nice and I'm gonna create a slide shot just to add some movement in it and I'm gonna shoot this in 60 frames per second and I'm gonna tap hold to lock the focus and exposure. Gonna frame it this way just when we have some nice foreground and action. So for my next shot again I'm gonna use my tripod. I've already set the framing. Gonna shoot at 4K 25 frames per second using the 1x lens and I'm simply gonna walk towards the cathedral recording. Again I'm gonna set and lock focus and exposure. Once I did that, hit the record button. So next I'm gonna get a shot of me walking up the stairs. What I really like about this shot is that we have symmetry. We have some nice leading lines that guide the viewer's eyes towards the center. And again I'm gonna set and lock focus and then hit the record button. I'm also gonna capture a close up shot of me walking up the stairs. This way I have a more complete scene so you don't want to only grab a wide shots but also medium and close ups. I'm gonna set and lock focus over here and I'm gonna use the 2x and recording 4K 25 frames per second. The next thing I'm gonna do is create a push and shot using the ultra wide angle lens. I'm gonna shoot it in 60 frames per second and I'm gonna set and lock focus and while I push forward I'm gonna walk in a constant steady speed and action and I always make sure the horizon is leveled. The next thing I'm gonna do is use the 5x lens and I'm gonna shoot it in 4K 60 frames per second. I set and lock the focus and exposure. Start from here and then slowly tilt down. What I also notice is that we have sun peeking behind the leaves. This way we can introduce a little bit of sun flare into our shot. So what I'm gonna do is set and lock focus first and then slowly create that slide shot and go. Unfortunately the battery died on the DJI mic during this part of the video. So I'll just give you a voiceover to explain what I did for this last take. I used the tripod to set up the camera inside the cathedral. Fortunately I had the place all to myself so that I could feel myself walking in. This time I recorded it internally in 4K at 25 frames per second. I made sure the horizon was leveled and I locked the exposure on the brightest part of the image to prevent overexposure. Then I hit the record button and captured myself walking in, which in my opinion turned out really nice. All right, so now back at home let's now check out how I've edited the video and give you a breakdown of the editing process. Now I use FileCapro as my go-to editing software. So let me first play back the video with the editing timeline so you can see how the clips have been edited together. Okay, so there you have it. Let's now break down the edit. Now if I wanted to I could straight up edit directly from the SSD, however I prefer to take the footage off and store it on my larger external hard drive. Now the first thing I do after importing all of the clips into FileCapro is I pick out the best shots to create a coherent storyline. And what I mean by that is I choose the take or angle that visually tells the story in the most appealing way. Now I did take a few other shots that you haven't seen because they either didn't fit into the story or the shot wasn't that great. So most importantly is to really cut out the fat and keep the meat. So usually you would start recording and then sort of set up the framing and then actually capture the good shot. So everything before you wanna cut out. Just to give you an example the part that I cut out on this shot is this section right here. You can see that I'm just setting up the shot and it's also a little bit shaky. So I don't want that in my video. So I cut it out and really keep the best part which is this shot right here. This smooth slide shot. Now after that I usually start searching for the perfect music. And that's where our sponsor for today's video Artlist comes in. And music and sound effects are important in any video as they help convey emotions and set the tone for your story. Now if I would play the video back without any music and sound effects it just feels lifeless. But by adding the right music and sound effects you can create a more immersive experience for your viewers. And Artlist makes it incredibly easy to find the perfect tracks. Now all the music and sound effects that you heard in this video are from Artlist and I've been using their platform for years now. They have a wide range of royalty free music and sound effects with unlimited downloads that you can use in any video project. Artlist also has an easy to search function where you can browse different categories and choose the mood, video theme, genre and instrument for your music. Now for the short video Forest Serenity I wanted the mood to be uplifting and the genre to be cinematic. So by narrowing down my search I found a soundtrack within just a few minutes. I can also find similar songs and see the way forms to better understand the pace and flow of the music. Now when searching for sound effects many beginners don't know where to start. So here's a simple formula to remember. It's called the triple eight formula. Atmosphere, action and accents. Again, Artlist provides different categories in the sound effects section to help you find the proper sound effect for your video. So to do that I first create the right atmosphere by adding a sound like wind blowing, river flowing or birds chirping. Now these background sounds indicated in teal on my timeline bring your location to life. Next is the action shown in a red where I include a sound effects for important moments in the video. This could be footsteps, a closing door or the sound of a church bell. Things you would expect to hear. Now in some of my shots I actually used some sounds that I recorded through my iPhone. Then as the third step I add accents which are indicated in orange. These are wishes, risers and hits to emphasize key moments. They don't have to be realistic but they create tension and once you have layered various sound effects you get something like this. So as you can see it adds depth and dimension to your video plus building a library of top notch sound effects allows you to use them in future projects. Now guys if you're interested I have worked out a special deal with Artlist where you can get two months additionally for free by checking out the link in the video description below. So with that said let's now move on to the color grading process. So color grading Apple log footage in Final Cut Pro doesn't have to be complicated. Let me show you how you can create the final look for your video with just a few simple steps. So we're going to apply a color grade to this shot. Now you'll notice that it doesn't have the typical log look and that's because Final Cut Pro automatically applies the Apple log transformation look onto your footage. Now even though this is convenient this won't give you the absolute most dynamic range out of your log footage. So to take full advantage of the log footage make sure to select your clip and head over to the inspector and then head over to basic and change that to general. This way you get the camera look section. Now you'll see that Apple log has been applied. You want to change that to none. This way we get our typical log look back. So the next thing to do is to look up the custom LUT in the effects browser, custom LUT and I'm going to apply that to the clip and I'm going to select the film strip. Now in the video inspector I can change which LUT is being used. For this I'm going to choose Apple log to Rec. 709 which is by the way free to download from the Apple developer website. I will leave a link for you in the video description below. Now you'll see that applying the LUT will transform your footage over to a Rec. 709 look which overall produces better results and gives you much more to work with and having FileCup Pro automatically transform it. Now from here on I can add a color wheel and importantly apply it above the custom LUT. This way I can push the colors more and really make use of the full dynamic range of the video. From here on I can tweak the exposure, maybe reduce some of the saturation, adjust a bit of the white balance. Now in most cases I only have to do minor tweaks and the iPhone 15 Pro Max does a great job and not much needs to be changed. Now once you're happy with the results I can add a second custom LUT and then apply a look to the video. And for this I'll be using my premium mobile LUTs which includes 10 creative looks that will help you make your iPhone footage stand out. Now you'll find a link to it in the video description below. Now as you can see I've already imported all of my 10 premium mobile LUTs and my favorite one for this is the Golden Touch which works really great for this clip but there are other LUTs as well such as Frozen Forest which looks really moody and cold or let's try out hard stone. Now this might be a little bit too intense so I can also reduce the intensity if I want to and you'll see the before and after look which looks nice. But I'm gonna stick with the Golden Touch and increase it all the way to 100% and you can see the before and after. Now you could take this color grading further and add more advanced adjustments. I actually have tutorials where I go more in depth on the color grading process which I will also leave a link below. Now to save time from having to do that for every clip I can save this grade as a preset by selecting save effects preset and I make sure all the effects are selected and then I can choose a name for it. I'll call it Apple Log Final Look. And from here on I can save it to a category which I created a new one called custom color and save it. So when I now look up Apple Log you'll see it's over here and I can simply apply it to this Apple Log clip and it will apply those saved color effects to that clip. So next up let's look at some of the effects I applied to the clips that can help make your videos more engaging. So at the beginning I added a fade in transition and you can see I've applied a title and this title is from Motion VFX called M Title Cinematic 2. I use them in a lot of my videos because the default titles inside Final Cut Pro are quite cheesy. And when I play this clip back you'll also notice a handheld effect applied to this shot and this is actually a built in plugin inside Final Cut Pro which is over here which adds that handheld look to your video. And because this is a static shot I added a digital zoom in. So when I open up the transform tool, make it smaller you can see that it slowly zooms in in combination with the handheld effect which I think looks nice. I also applied the zoom in effect on this second clip over here which you can see. And this is really easy to do especially when you're filming yourself to add camera movement to your static shots. So to do that I'm simply gonna reset this quickly. I'm gonna set a key frame at the beginning of the clip and then move the cursor all the way to the end. Go one frame back and then simply drag it like so. And when I play it back we now have this automated zoom in. Now you also notice this adjustment layer on top that's actually the letter box effect that I've applied. Now this is actually a plugin from Motion VFX called M film look but you can also use the letter box effect that is built inside Final Cut Pro. Now in some of the handheld shots I've applied post stabilization which you can find in the inspector over here under stabilization which helps smoothen out the shakes. And to export your clip head over up here and then select export file and then head over to settings and when it's for social media I set the format to web hosting, the video codec to H.264 and the resolution to 4K if it's for YouTube and if it's for Instagram or TikTok I set it to 1080p. Simply hit next, save your video and you're done. So just to wrap things up let me now show you the final video including the behind the scenes so that you can see exactly how it was created. Congratulations if you made it to the end of this video I know it was a lot to cover but hopefully you found some valuable tips and tricks to help take your mobile videos to the next level. Now the iPhone 50 Pro Max is a significant upgrade with the introduction of Apple Log perfect for content creators looking to capture the best quality possible. If you're new to filming with your iPhone and want to learn more make sure to check out my comprehensive mini course iPhone camera 101 which not only includes my premium mobile LUTs but also is packed with valuable lessons that will help you master your iPhone's native camera app in no time. So sign up today by clicking the link in the video description below. If you have any question guys, let me know. As always, thank you so much for watching. I appreciate all of you and I'll see you in the next one. Happy filming.