CHỤP ẢNH BẰNG ĐIỆN THOẠI SAO CHO ĐẸP

Bây giờ ai cũng có điện thoại thông minh và ai cũng có thể dùng nó để chụp ảnh, chụp cho bạn bè và tự chụp seo phì. Các nhiếp ảnh gia không phải lúc nào cũng kè kè máy ảnh bên mình nên nhiều khi cũng dùng điện thoại để chụp và chụp vẫn đẹp.
Có phải các nhiếp ảnh gia tài giỏi không? Đúng là họ giỏi hơn người không chuyên nhưng cái giỏi của họ là ở chỗ nếu biết chắc sẽ không đẹp là họ không chụp.
Muốn chụp đẹp bằng điện thoại phải:

1. Biết thế nào là bức ảnh đẹp
Định nghĩa về ảnh đẹp có rất nhiều, tuỳ theo cung bậc thẩm mỹ và chuyên nghiệp, ở đây xin bàn ở mức độ số đông, bình dân nhất. Nếu không biết thế nào là bức ảnh đẹp bạn sẽ mãi mãi chụp không đẹp, có chăng là ăn may mà thôi.
Đầu tiên bức ảnh đẹp phải rõ nét, đủ sáng và bố cục hợp lý.
Bức ảnh giống như một bài thơ, càng cô đọng càng tốt, nên tránh những chi tiết rườm rà. Chụp bông hoa hay người mà xung quanh lộn xộn, dây dợ lằng nhằng, đồ vật lộn xộn là hỏng. Những chi tiết xấu làm người xem ảnh không còn tập trung chú ý vào nhân vật chính nữa.
Tôi vẫn nói chụp ảnh khó nhất là chọn phông (nền), nếu phông xấu ta không chụp, chọn phông khác.
Nhiều người không phân biệt giữa ảnh phong cảnh với ảnh chân dung (cả người hay bán thân). Phong cảnh thì cảnh là chính, nhân vật trong ảnh là phụ hoặc chỉ để làm cho ảnh sinh động. Vì vậy trong ảnh phong cảnh phong cảnh là nhân vật chính, con người trong đó là nhân vật phụ. Vì vậy “nó” không được chiếm nhiều không gian trong bức ảnh.
Ngược lại, ảnh chân dung người là trung tâm, là nhân vật chính, phong cảnh chỉ để tôn vẻ đẹp hình thức và nội tâm nhân vật nên không thể chụp người bé tí tẹo trong không gian rộng lớn. Đây là lỗi thường gặp của những ông bà chủ điện thoại thích chụp ảnh nhưng không có khái niệm gì về thể loại và bố cục ảnh.

2. Biết được thế mạnh và thế yếu của điện thoại thông minh.
Như bất kỳ một kẻ thông minh nào, máy ảnh tích hợp vào điện thoại cũng có những cái cực ngu.
Bên cạnh ưu điểm là nhỏ gọn, tiện lợi, thao tác dễ dàng và có nhiều thành tựu công nghệ kể cả trí tuệ nhân tạo, máy ảnh của điện thoại có những nhược điểm làm cho nó thua kém máy ảnh kỹ thuật số:
⁃ Cảm biến nhỏ, thu ánh sáng yếu, chủ yếu là “tâng sáng” bằng thuật toán, ảnh chụp bằng điện thoại thiếu độ sâu màu và thường bị vỡ khi phóng to. Các hãng sản xuất cố gắng cải thiện việc này bằng cách ghép từ 2 đến 4 camera, dùng trí tuệ nhân tạo ghép hình ảnh của nhiều camera lại để tạo chiều sâu ảnh và xoá phông như thật.
Lời khuyên 1: Muốn chụp đẹp thì dùng điện thoại đời càng mới càng tốt.
⁃ Vì camera bé xíu nên độ méo hình khá là tàn bạo. Lại vì camera góc rộng nên chụp chân dung ta cứ phải tiến gần đến đối tượng, mà chụp càng gần càng bị méo hình, rất khó đỡ. Các nhà sản xuất “bịa” cho ta chế độ chụp chân dung, cho phép ta đứng xa khoảng 2,5 mét là chụp được mà không bị hiện tượng chụp mẹ vợ thành “mẹ vợ ngậm dấm”.
Lời khuyên 2: Khi chụp chân dung ta nên chuyển sang chế độ “Chân dung”, nếu có.
⁃ Một cái tội nữa khi chụp ảnh bằng điện thoại là đầu to chân bé, hoặc người cao như cái sào. Đó là ta không biết một quy tắc “camera ngang tầm mắt đối tượng” là chụp người thật nhất. Ta cao hơn đối tượng thì hạ điện thoại xuống, ta thấp hơn thì nâng nó lên. Nhiều người có xu hướng hạ thấp điện thoại chụp bạn cho nó cao như người mẫu. Như người mẫu đâu chưa thấy chỉ thấy ảnh bạn giống cái cột cờ một cách phi lý!
Lời khuyên 3: Camera ngang tầm mắt đối tượng chụp.
⁃ Điện thoại mỏng tang, khó để nó vuông góc với mặt đất. Anh để nó hơi ngửa ra sau, chụp người chân bị dài đầu bé, anh để hơi úp về phía trước, bạn anh đầu to chân lùn. Đừng tưởng đầu to mà thông minh, khối thằng đầu to rất dại đấy!



Lời khuyên 4: Cố để máy ảnh vuông góc với mặt đất.
⁃ Camera của điện thoại là góc rộng độ méo hình lớn, càng ra rìa càng phóng to ra.
Vì thế lời khuyên 5: cái này áp dụng khi chụp tập thể từ 3 người trở lên:
Người cao to béo mượt đứng vào giữa hàng, người thấp bé nhẹ cân đứng ra ngoài (rìa), khi đó người đứng rìa sẽ được phóng đại lên, đẹp mỹ mãn.
Cũng cùng lý do trên tuyệt đối không đứng thành vòng cung. Nhiếp ảnh gia phải tuyệt đối cương quyết không cho những người ngoài rìa tiến lên mà phải đứng thành đường thẳng, kẻo người đứng rìa sẽ to gấp rưỡi người đứng ở giữa. Cái này tưởng đơn giản nhưng rất khó vì người đứng rìa luôn có xu hướng tiến lên phía trước, lo sợ mình sẽ bị “ra rìa”.

⁃ Lời khuyên 6: Lấy ngón tay chạm nhẹ vào mặt (mắt càng tốt) của đối tượng để điện thoại lấy nét và đo sáng. Nhớ là chạm trên màn hình chứ không chạm vào mặt đối tượng, mất người yêu như chơi.



⁃ Lời khuyên 7: chụp bằng máy ảnh hay bằng điện thoại đều phải làm hậu kỳ. Trên điện thoại nào cũng có phần mềm chỉnh sửa ảnh tích hợp. Ta có thể chỉnh thoải mái, khắc phục những khiếm khuyết khi chụp và hoàn thiện bức ảnh. Chỉ lưu ý chớ có làm mịn mặt quá đà mà chồng và ông hàng xóm đều không thể nhận ra. Cao tay hơn một chút, ta có thể cài thêm app Snapseed mà tôi đã có lần giới thiệu, dùng nó chỉnh sửa ảnh rất tốt.
⁃ Lời khuyên 8 và cuối cùng: chụp ảnh bằng điện thoại vừa rất dễ vừa rất khó như trình bày ở trên. Ai chụp cũng được vì tưởng nó dễ, chỉ khi ta biết những cái khó (nhược điểm của điện thoại) ta mới cố tìm cách hạn chế chúng. Muốn chụp đẹp, quan trọng nhất là đam mê và chịu khó vượt qua chính mình.
Chúc các bạn tôi, những người chỉ chụp bằng điện thoại chụp ngày càng đẹp!

The beauty of the "yellow season" in Northwest Vietnam at Hang Dang De village

Ngây ngất với mùa vàng Tây Bắc ở Háng Đăng Dê

Vượt qua những con đường đất trơn chuội, bạn sẽ bắt gặp tại Háng Đăng Dê một màu vàng khiên cánh nhiếp ảnh say mắt, dân phượt mê mẩn và niềm mơ ước được ngắm tận mắt của rất nhiều người...

Passing the slippery dirt roads, you will see a yellow color at Hang Dang De village, a yellow color that makes photographers passionate, enthralled, and many people's dreams of coming here ...

Những nẻo đường Tây Bắc hẻo lánh xa xôi xưa kia mấy ai không có dịp tới vì phải di chuyển trên những cung đường rất hiểm trở, vượt thác, băng đèo, trèo núi… mà bây giờ đã là những điểm du lịch nổi tiếng thế giới.

Not many people has been to the remote and isolated Northwest - Vietnam because of its dangerous with very high, steep mountain... However, it becomes a famous tourist destinations in the world recently thanks to better traffic.

Sự phát triển kinh tế, giao thông miền núi nói riêng tuy chưa được đầy đủ nhưng là một thành tựu lớn và cùng với du lịch, nhiếp ảnh đã mang khách tới những vùng Tây Bắc hẻo lánh, hiểm trở.

The economic development and transportation in this mountainous area are not convenient yet. But in recent years, along with tourism, photography has brought tourists to the remote and rugged Northwest regions. 

8 Tips for Mastering Your Portrait Photography

Becoming a master of portrait photography takes lots of patience and practice. It’s likely there are a few mistakes you are making with your portraits that hold them back from excellence. In this article, I will walk through eight tips to instantly boost your portrait photography game and take it to the next level.

#1 Adapt to the available light

Light is one of the most important elements to keep in mind when taking portraits – specifically how the light looks on your subject’s face. Proper lighting, or lack thereof, can make or break your image. Direct the person you are photographing to turn their head towards the main light source, whether it’s a street lamp or the sun. If you’re having them look towards the sun, tell them to look in a direction that won’t cause them to squint or be unpleasant for them. You don’t want people going blind on your shoot, right?

While the golden hour is a fabulous time to photograph portraits, you won’t always have the luxury of perfect lighting thanks to the whims of Mother Nature. In these situations, you need to adapt to the available light to maximize your portrait opportunities.

Keep in mind, there is no such thing as bad light. It can all be used to your advantage if you know what you’re doing. Here are some basic tips for different natural lighting scenarios:

• Harsh sunlight – have your subject stand in the shade to provide even lighting across their face.
• Golden hour – have your subject face the sun to give a nice glow on their face or put the sun behind them to get some halo lighting.
• Cloudy day – you will pretty much be good to shoot anywhere since the clouds will naturally diffuse the sun and provide flattering, even light on your subject’s face.
• Night time/low light – look for a street light or other light source that can provide good lighting on your subject’s face.

#2 Give directions to your subject

Let’s face it, most people are not confident or even comfortable being in front of the camera. Providing gentle directions to the person you are photographing can help them relax. Keep your directions simple and positive. If you don’t know any poses, focus on one thing to improve each shoot. Perhaps you ask your subject to lift their chin to provide a more flattering view of their face. A little positive direction goes a long way.

#3 Find a clean background that contrasts with the subject

Backgrounds are extremely important in creating pleasing portraits. The key role of the background is to provide context to the environment the person is occupying and make them stand out. Finding a clean background that provides contrast with your subject is crucial.

Some things to be mindful of:

• Branches, poles or other objects may look like they are growing out of your subject’s head, depending on where they are in the image. Try to frame the shot so that your subject’s head is distanced from distracting elements.
• Try to find colors or tones that either complement or contrast your subject’s skin tones and clothing.

#4 Focus on the dominant eye

This is particularly important if you’re shooting with shallow depth of field. Be sure to focus on the dominant eye of your subject, the one that is closest to the lens. If the dominant eye is out of focus, your photo will end up looking slightly off. This can ruin an otherwise good portrait.

#5 Keep your lines straight

Crooked horizon lines can give your portraits a weird look, so make sure to keep those lines straight. The same goes for environmental elements like doors and the edges of buildings. If these types of lines aren’t straight, it can give your portraits a tilted look that isn’t flattering. Of course, you can straighten important lines in post-production, but this will involve cropping, which may ruin the composition. Focus on getting it right in camera.

#6 Be careful where you crop extremities

Hey, I get it. Sometimes you don’t want to frame up a full body shot of your subject. Maybe you want to pull in closer for an upper body profile or headshot. In these cases you will be cropping a portion of your subject’s body out of the frame, so be very careful where you crop their extremities.

Some tips about cropping:

• Don’t crop body parts at the joint: Cropping your subject at the elbows, knees, or wrists can make them look like they have lost a limb. Try cropping halfway between joints instead. For instance, if you are cropping out part of the arm crop halfway up the wrist or bicep rather than at the elbow.
• If your subject’s hands/feet are in the frame make sure they are all the way in: Don’t accidentally lop off fingers or toes at the edge of the frame. This can ruin your portrait.

Look at the hand here, it appears somewhat cut-off or missing.

This is better, it includes her while arms and hands.

#7 Pay attention to the edges of the frame

If you’re shooting portraits on the street, get that trash can out of the corner of your frame! Or at the very least, make sure it’s out of focus and blends into the background.

When you’re photographing a person, it’s easy to have all your focus on them to the point where you lose track of the outside of the image. But having distracting elements on the edges of the frame can ruin your portrait. Make the proper adjustments in framing before you press that shutter and keep those edges tidy.

#8 Incorporate something interesting

If you really want to take your portrait photography game to the next level, it’s important to think outside the box and get creative. A lot of portraits can be boring and look the same; properly exposed pictures of people just standing there.

To spice up your portraits, try incorporating some interesting props or environmental elements. Now, you don’t need to grab onto Instagram trends, like wrapping your subject in LED lights, but including props can help your portraits stand out from the crowd. Get creative and start mastering your portrait photography game.

Conclusion

Follow these eight tips and see how your portrait photography improves. Please share any comments or questions you have in the section below, as well as your images.

5 Simple Techniques for Leading the Viewer’s Eye in Your Images

As photographers, it’s easy for us to make conscious composition choices that allow us to balance our photographs or to create harmony within them. It’s is more difficult however to try and lead viewers through your photographs. We rarely consider how to influence the viewers of our photographs. When composing images, we don’t think about the different elements in our images and the order by which we want viewers to see those elements.

This is a common tactic in classic painting, but not used readily by photographers. The reality is it’s hard to influence viewers and to dictate the ways in which they view our photographs.

The lines of the creek lead the viewer’s eye through and into the image.

8 Photography Training Tips You Can Do To Help Improve Your Work

Photography is like any other pastime or profession. You need to constantly improve your skills and work on areas where you feel there is room for improvement. It doesn’t matter if you are a pro or an amateur, you are never too good to learn. But people often find it difficult to improve their photography skills as you can get into a habit of a particular style or working in a specific way that becomes difficult to change. Here are a few training methods and ideas that can help you improve your photography.

1 – Only Use Prime Lenses
Prime lenses are ones that have a fixed focal length, unlike zoom lenses that allow you to change the focal length by zooming in or out. Although most people tend to avoid prime lenses simply because zoom lenses offer greater flexibility, the real benefit of prime lenses is that it means you have to actively move around to get the photo you want to capture. This often means moving in closer to your subject which also means you have to engage with them.

Keyboard shortcuts for Photoshop - Secret for success.

This series will introduce keyboard shortcuts for Photoshop. It will help you to save a lot of time when playing with photoshop.

9 Tips to Get Sharp Focus at Night

Autofocus is so good on modern cameras that most photographers use it all the time. It seemingly never lets you down. But, let’s say it’s nighttime and you are going to do some shooting. You find a good spot. You set up your tripod. You go to focus your camera using the autofocus. You can feel the camera’s focus ring twisting back and forth, trying to focus. But it never gets there. The camera keeps hunting for a focus spot but never finds one.
Uh-oh. What are you going to do now?



Actually, this problem doesn’t arise only at night. Your camera will typically have trouble focusing in any really dark scene. So here are some tips for dealing with that situation and focusing your camera when it is dark

1. Aim for the bright spot
Sometimes you can still use your autofocus. Even though it is dark, most night scenes will have a bright spot or two. They might be streetlights, or a lit-up building, or even the moon. That bright spot can be used to set your autofocus.

11 Steps for Basic Portrait Editing in Lightroom – A Beginner’s Guide

I love Lightroom, and use it for the vast majority of my portrait editing. You can achieve a wide variety of portrait effects in Lightroom, from harsh and grungy, to soft and dreamy. My technique varies depending on the kind of portrait I’m editing, although the workflow remains consistent.

The photo I’ve selected for this exercise, is one you can easily replicate at home. It was shot indoors, with a large window as the only light source, and is one of a series shot in the same location.

How to become a more confident photographer

Confidence is worth it’s weight in gold in any arena.  As a photographer, there’s nothing like KNOWING you’re capable of “getting the shot.”  
There are thousand ways to gain confidence in your abilities as a photographer. Here are a few that I have found to be incredibly helpful. They will help you to be prepared for any shot and ready to get your settings right in a split second.  Feel free to add other ideas in the comment section below!

Shoot Frequently

This is the most important of any of the tips, so if you’re going to choose just one, let this be it because practice makes perfect.

10 Tips for stunning portrait

You often take a portrait for your friends, your children and your clients. The following 10 tips can help you improve your photo and make you different. If you have chance to take a children portrait, you also can read my other post on children portrait as well.



Tip #1 – have your subject look up at you
It’s slimming and flattering (see images above). Bring a small step stool to stand on and photograph your subjects from slightly above their eye line. Watch double chins disappear. Keep a step stool in the trunk of your car so you don’t even have to think about adding it to the list of gear to bring when you prep the night before. It’s there, ready to go.
 
Tip #2 – capture the moments in between poses
Personally this is a favorite of mine. If you’re noticing the images look too posed, or your subject is uncomfortable in front of the camera, shake things up. Ask them to do the most ridiculous pose or ask them to pretend to laugh really hard. Take that photo, but keep the camera up and wait. The moment after that photo happens you’ll find their guard will come down, they will laugh authentically or give you a moment that feels much more real.

14 YouTube Channels for The Best Photography Tutorials

Learning photography takes time, and it’s all the more enjoyable if you can pick it up at your own pace. It’s in situations like these that YouTube comes in handy.

There’s plenty of channels out there that are dedicated to this topic, and many that cater for those who are new to the craft by breaking down the many aspects of photography into small, easy-to-digest video segments.

Here’s a list of YouTube channels that will help inspire as well as improve your photography skills (in no particular order):

COOPH
(Subscribers: 315,000+ | Views: 28,084,000+)

COOPH or The Cooperative Of Photography has only a handful of videos on their channel so far, but they’re worth watching because there’s lots of practical photography tips and tricks that you can put to use right away. Videos of interest include 7 DIY Photography Tips Using Household Objects.

8 Tips for Mastering Your Portrait Photography

Becoming a master of portrait photography takes lots of patience and practice. It’s likely there are a few mistakes you are making with your portraits that hold them back from excellence. In this article, I will walk through eight tips to instantly boost your portrait photography game and take it to the next level.

#1 Adapt to the available light
Light is one of the most important elements to keep in mind when taking portraits – specifically how the light looks on your subject’s face. Proper lighting, or lack thereof, can make or break your image. Direct the person you are photographing to turn their head towards the main light source, whether it’s a street lamp or the sun. If you’re having them look towards the sun, tell them to look in a direction that won’t cause them to squint or be unpleasant for them. You don’t want people going blind on your shoot, right?

14 Snazzy Lightroom Before and Afters

Lightroom will surprise you.
Many photographers see it as a tool for basic adjustments, like exposure, white balance, and contrast, but think that creative processing needs to be done in Photoshop. Once you really dig into Lightroom, however, you’ll see that you can do so much neat stuff, it may just blow your mind.

We’ve been using it as our primary editing program for a couple years and it still regularly amazes us! So we’ve thrown together 15 snazzy examples to show you just how much creative editing you can do using only Lightroom!

Note: All of these have had the colour balance adjusted, some had tone curve adjustments, and some had profile corrections. The creative editing has been described after each example to give you an idea of how to achieve the look yourself! These are all processed fairly heavily, so you can see how much can be achieved. Make sure to edit to your own unique tastes!
1. Frost Branch



LIGHTROOM TIPS:
Basic adjustments – increased exposure, contrast, saturation

4 Tips to Help People Photographers Shoot Interior Spaces

As a people photographer, I am not a specialist in photographing still forms like architectural structures and interior spaces. However, because I photograph weddings, I often take photos of interiors and locations as part of the wedding photos I give my clients. This is essentially how I learned to develop an eye for detail, form and structure as part and parcel of my work.

Let me share with you a few tips I have learned that will hopefully get you started in photographing interior spaces and architecture if you are a people photographer.

#1 Use natural light
One of the advantages of still photography is simply that – nothing moves.

Top 3 mistakes to avoid as a beginner photographer

Photography is a wonderful hobby (for me it's just a hobby, and I will write here in hobbyist point of view) that is accessible to almost anyone who is interested. The best thing about photography is that anyone can pick up a camera and start taking pictures, share it and get inspiration to shooting more.But there are a few common pitfalls that you may wish to avoid if you’re just getting started.

1. Gear everywhere.
It's a common think that buying a new gear will help to improve photos. So photographer, especially beginners always think of purchasing more gears than enough: tripods, extra lenses, filters, darkroom gear, timers, lights, reflectors – the list is endless.
My recommendation is: start off small with a basic DSLR camera and a kit lens. When you feel like you’ve pushed that as far as you can, then start by answering these 5 questions and looking for some necessary gears.

Too many gears is a bad idea for beginner.

FAQ: Astro Photography Tool

Canon EOS DSLR camera models matrix

It is very nice to get your feedback after reading my blog post on finding the shutter count on Canon cameras with a PC (Windows computer) using software APT.
I will try to summary some common questions that I received in the last 6 months. Hopefully it will help you solve out some of the problem when using APT.
Question 1: I found APT a commercial software. Do I need to purchase it to find out my Canon 60D shutter count?
Answer: No. You can use free version of APT to get the shutter count.



Question 2: Does APT support Canon 7D mark II?
Answer: Not yet. But as you know, APT is updated frequently. The new cameara should be supported soon.

Question 3: I had a Canon 30D, installed APT on my Windows 7 64 bits. When I plug it in, APT said it does not support my camera series.
Answer: Unfortunately, the DIGIC 2 cameras (20D, 20Da, 30D, 350D, 400D) is not fully supported by ATP under Windows 7 64 bits.
You can try to install APT on 32bits Windows 7 computer or configure a virtual 32bits machine on your 64bits Windows 7 machine to use APT with your DIGIC 2 camears.
All DIGIC 3 and 4 cameras are fully supported.

7 Prompts to Help you Pause and Take Better Photos

Photography is one of those professions or hobbies that you simply need to practice in order to improve. Once you have learned the basics and the theory, it is as much about trial and error as anything that you can read in books. With that practice comes experience which, over time, becomes almost like your blueprint for taking photos. The more you practice the quicker you learn and ultimately it all works subconsciously. To start you off on your process, here are 7 questions to ask yourself before you take a photo.

1. What am I trying to communicate?

One of the common mistakes that all new photographers make is that they click away, taking photos without really thinking about the image and the message or story it communicates. Digital photography makes the process of taking a photo risk free. Apart from taking up a bit of memory on your card, there’s no harm in just clicking away. Back in the days of film, every photo essentially cost money. So anyone who has ever used a film camera will tell you that you had to be much more selective about when you took photos.

So instead of just clicking away, try to think about what the message is that the photo is communicating. Imagine if you saw this image in a magazine without any words to accompany it, what would you think? By thinking about the message or story in the photo it will also help you to think if you can improve it in any way. Over time this process will become much quicker and you will subconsciously recognize scenarios and the stories they can tell.

Check Canon shutter count on Windows

As you know, I have written an introduction how to check your Canon DSLR's shutter count with a MacOS application. Many questions sent to me asking about an equivalent application on Windows.
I decide to write another post about shutter count checking but with a FREE Windows application.
This application's name is Astro Photography Tool - APT. This program is different to all other MacOS apps which is only FREE for a short time or some function excluding the shutter count check. APT is FREE for basic functions including the shutter count identification which is awesome.

Main screen of Astro Photography Tool

APT - Astro Photography Tool is an application that allows controlling Canon EOS and ASCOM compatible CCD cameras and is completely designed with astro imaging in mind. The focus of this tool is to automate the control of your camera, to help in almost all stages of your imaging session, to preserve the dark adaptation of your eyes and to bring all this packed in flexible and easy to use form.



If you have any queries, please find out the FAQ section first. If you can not find the answer there, please leave a comment, I will get back to you as soon as possible.


Some of you will wonder is it a right application for shutter count checking?
Yes, it is. Even it is a rather big application which can help you play around with your Canon EOS cameras. Most functions are useful if you are astro photographer, and some of advanced functions need to purchase full version. But if you only want to know your Canon DSLR's shutter count, FREE version of APT is more than enough.

How to get the shutter count information?

Shutter count tells camera "true age"

What is the first question you should ask buyer when buying a second hand camera?

8 YouTube URL Tricks You Should Know About

No matter if you’re a casual YouTube user or go looking for the craziest channels you can find, there are all sorts of ways to tweak YouTube to make it just right for you. Let’s look at some URL tricks to get more out of the service.

1. Link to Any Part of a Video
Typically, when you copy a link to a YouTube video, it starts from the beginning. If you want to show someone just a bit of a video or skip a lengthy intro, you can append a time stamp to the URL to start it at that time.

You can do this in a couple of ways. By manually adding &t=YmXXs to the end of a video URL, you’ll set it to start that many minutes/seconds into the video. You can omit minutes, or use only seconds, such as 90s for a minute and a half. So, this video:youtube.com/watch?v=7RWI3-8N_-Y

Can be shared 90 seconds in using this URL:youtube.com/watch?v=7RWI3-8N_-Y&t=1m30s

If you don’t want to use the manual method, pause the video at the time you’d like to share it at, then right-click and choose Copy video URL at current time.

2. Loop a Video Infinitely