– In this video, I'm gonnashow you two different ways to get you super cool thumbnailsfor your YouTube videos using your phone, let's go.
You gotta just press record.
(beeping) Hey what's up? It's Omar El-Takori with Think Media, helping you build yourinfluence with online video and on this channel, sometimes we do tech reviews and tip videos, just like this one.
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So, here at Think Media, we get the question a lot, how do you guys create your thumbnails? The easy answer is we use Adobe Photoshop to create the thumbnail, and then we usuallyuse really nice cameras to take the photos of the thumbnails.
And we also use AdobeLightroom to edit the photos.
It's kind of a lot.
And depending on where youare in your YouTube journey, we would say you totally don'tneed any of those things, that you can actually just use your phone.
And in this video, I'm gonnashow you how you can use your phone and Instagram stories to actually create your thumbnails, and I just want you to keep it locked throughout the entire video.
'Cause the first way I'm gonnashow you how you can use it, using your actually camera app, or taking a photo of somebody, and then including textand stuff like that.
And then the secondway, I'm gonna show you how you can use Google, as well as unsplash.
com to create a thumbnail withouta human element in it, so, not having to actually take a photo.
Which we actually usedfor one of our videos, so let's just into it.
So, real quick, we'regonna hop into photo, and I just wanna show youa few different things that the iPhone has, specifically, I'll beusing an iPhone 11 Pro, but a lot of these tips kindof apply to previous models or similar phones.
So, the first thing isyou can take the photo using the photo mode.
This is your traditionalphoto that you can take, not too much heavy features going on.
The option I do want you to enable is to change your aspect ratio.
And that is simply going from 4:3, which is your traditionalphoto aspect ratio, to 16:9, which is very wide.
So, essentially what a thumbnail is, is a nine by 16 ratio.
It's wide in length andthen short in height.
So, we're gonna change that from 16:9.
The next thing, is you're gonnahop into you portrait mode.
I love portrait mode, especially on the iPhones, 'cause they look really good.
However, there is somethingI would encourage you to do to make your photos look alittle bit more believable, like you actually took themon a professional camera, and that is increasing your aperture.
So, we're gonna selectthe F on the top right corner of the screen, and then, just make sureyou're at 4.
5 to around F five.
And the difference is just inhow blurry the background is.
I find, when the backgroundis super, unnaturally blurry, it just comes off as unauthentic, and it just isn't as moving.
So I would just select4.
5 on your aperture.
Just a quick power tip, beforeI actually take the photo, use a super plain background.
You don't want anything too busy because we're gonna throwtext next to the subject, and, so, you don't wannahave things in the way of being able to read what's going on.
So, whether you use a plain white wall, you go outside, or youfind downtown in your city, you can find some cool, colored walls, just using super plain walls is gonna be super helpful for text.
All right, we have Ruby, here, and I'm gonna just set heroff to the right of the photo because we wanna keep room for some text.
And, so, I'm just going to get Ruby right, and I'm gonna tap on my screen and actually bring down the exposure by bringing down that sun.
And then, Ruby, smile! Ruby, smile! (Ruby speaks gibberish) Cool, and then I'm gonna do some examples not in portrait mode.
So, I'm just gonna usethe zoom-in feature.
Ruby, over here.
(camera clicking) Cool.
All right, so once you'vetaken all your photos, and you actually haveoptions to choose from, we always would encourage youto take as much as you can when you're taking the photos.
Use various different emotions.
Use different expressions.
Use your fingers.
Obviously, for this last example, I was just using little Ruby, my daughter.
But, if you can control it, you can look off to the side, and we actually have a video on how to increase your thumbnail game.
You can check that out in the YouTube cart in the description below.
As well as a video I did onphoto tips for your iPhone.
And, so, I know I brokedown a little bit of things when it came to the portrait mode, and the regular photo mode, but there's a lot of things you can learn when it comes to what theiPhone already offers.
We'll also put that video up in the YouTube cart andthe description below.
All right, so we'll be using Instagram to create our thumbnails.
So, I'm gonna open up our Instagram app.
Swipe right, and then swipe up from the middle of the screen.
And then you can seeall the various pictures we actually took.
If I show you the differencebetween the portrait mode, so here's portrait mode.
You can see Ruby's kind ofseparated from the background.
I didn't like any of herexpressions during portrait mode.
But portrait mode's great.
I would find, though, because it was four by three, remember when I mentioned the difference.
If I zoom in, it's gonna be really tight.
Which is fine, sometimes weactually have thumbnails, when it's specifically just a face, which isn't terrible.
But I do like her expression in this one photo inparticular, super cute.
And then, so, what I'm gonna do, is I'm gonna pinch to rotate, and then get the photo to fill the screen.
Once we put the photo right there, then you're gonna wanna add text.
Simply tap on the screen, and then we're gonna add in, just for the sake of the video, and make sure you can use all caps.
So, I'll be how to be cute like me, exclamation point, exclamation point.
Then, same thing.
We can pinch and zoomour text to rotate it.
And then, obviously, wewant it to be super legible, because people will be readingthis on a very small screen.
Some other things you can dois add a box around your text, if you wanted to add a box.
That's kinda helped, that's cool.
But, for the sake of this example, I am just gonna keep it normal.
Here, right here, where it says strong, you can tap that and changeyour font as you like.
But, just make sure you choosea font that's easy to read.
If it's hard to read, then nobody's gonna know what your video is on, and they're probably notgonna click your video.
But, if we're done, Ithink we're done here.
You're gonna hit the download button.
So, right here on the top, you're gonna hit this download button, and then boom, it is saved to your phone.
So, let's now go back into our albums, and there you have it.
There's your thumbnail.
What's key, though, isyou wanna rotate this.
So, we're gonna go to edit, and then we're gonna just hit the box, and hit the rotation buttontill it's in the correct form.
And there you have it.
And because we have a Mac workflow, I'm just going to airdrop it to my laptop.
But hey, let's say you actually don't need a face in your thumbnail, what can you do? I'm gonna show you how weactually made a thumbnail without using a face, and just using pictures from the internet, so let's jump into it.
All right, so the first thingwe wanna do is get our photo.
And we get a lot of ourphotos for social media, but also some thumbnailuse from unsplash.
com.
This is an internet sourceof freely usable images, powered by creators everywhere.
So, unsplash.
com.
For this one in particular, I'm just gonna search laptop.
And then find the photo that I need.
So, then you're gonnahit the download button.
It's gonna open up a page.
And then you're gonna wannasave it to your photos.
And then, the next thing we're gonna do is actually get a Premier Pro logo.
So I'm gonna Google searchPremier Pro transparent background.
And hopefully find a Premier Pro that is just the logo itself.
I'm gonna save that image.
All right, so now we're readyto create our thumbnail.
So I'm gonna hop rightback into Instagram, into stories mode, and in the same way, I'mgoing to add the main photo to my thumbnail.
So, I'm just gonna get this right.
And maybe you're wonderinghow we're gonna get that Premier logo in here.
I'll show you in just a second.
So, we're gonna add that right there.
And then I'm gonna close this back out.
Don't close the app, just close it out.
Go back into photos.
I'm gonna go to the Premier logo, and then I'm gonna copy this photo.
So, I'm just gonna copy the photo like so.
Go back into Instagram, and then I'm just gonna add sticker.
And as you notice, it just added the logo.
How awesome is that? Look at that.
I'm a graphic designer, guys.
This is crazy.
People can't make thumbnails, get that out of here, man.
And then, I'm just gonnaadd the text, how to start, right on the top.
All caps, how to start, exclamation point.
'Cause it's that importantthat you learn how to start.
And then, I'm just gonna get this right.
And once you got it allsquared away and ready to go, you can just save your thumbnail.
And then, in the sameway, we're gonna rotate it on our phone.
So I'm just gonna hit edit, and then rotate that bad boy, like so.
And there you have it.
You have your thumbnail made from scratch.
All right, so I hope thosetwo tips served you well and if you got value out of this video, why don't you smashthe like button for me, thank you so much.
And question for you iswhat camera are you using to create your YouTube videos? Are you using your phone? A Cannon, Sony or Nikon? Using Panasonic? Let me know in the comment section below, and make sure you check out our playlist on how to create content using your phone, and you can click ortap the screen right now to check that out, and I hope to see you in the next video.
Peace.
(upbeat music).
