Common shooting mistakes

Most people  make the same sets of mistakes when they first start shooting video:

• Rail Through the Stomach. Did your subject just get impaled by a railing or is a tree growing from their head? Trees or telephone poles sticking out of the back of someone's head- not a good idea.
• Bright Light Background!  Subjects who are just darkened blurs because there was bright light in the background.
• Boring shots of buildings with no action. You can avoid this by using interesting camera movements of angles. 
• Shooting Up The Nose. Do you really want to be looking up someone's nose when you are watching a video? All of the audiences attention is taken away from the shot when they can see up someone's nostrils.
• Looking Down on Children. This is one of the most common video mistakes. When shooting video you want it from the perspective of the subject. Shooting the top of a child's head does not give you their perspective. Don't shoot down when filming children.
• Office Lights!  Shooting anywhere with fluorescent lighting on the ceiling is a no no. They provide great lighting for offices and other places but they create horrible lighting for videos. The position of these lights creates dark eye sockets and show imperfections on the skin.  You can move your subject closer to a window to let the some natural light in.