My Setup for Filming Watercolour Tutorials (Patreon)

A few people have asked about my filming setup, so I thought I’d do a quick rundown of what I use and how I record my tutorials.

Camera gear

Nothing fancy here: I just use two iPhones.

One points straight down at the painting and the other sits over my palette.

They’re easy to use, the quality is great, and I don’t have to fuss around with big camera rigs. To lock the focus, I just tap and hold on the screen until the little yellow box flashes. That’s it.

Magic Arm

To hold the phone over my painting, I’ve tried a few different arms over the years and the Manfrotto Magic Arm is by far the sturdiest. Once it’s tightened, it doesn’t drift or sag, which is exactly what you want when you’re filming.

I clamp it to the end of the table, so when I paint I need to sit at that end. It keeps the phone nice and close to the painting so you can see all the detail. You do need a separate phone holder for it - it just screws onto the end. My favourite is the Square Jellyfish clamp. It grips well and doesn’t loosen over time like others. It's also easy to take the phone in and out quickly.

(Square Jellyfish phone holder)

Palette Camera Stand

For the palette angle, I use a C-stand with a grip arm - the kind photographers and film crews use. It’s a heavy, super-stable stand with an adjustable boom arm on top. They’re designed to hold lights and reflectors.

I clamp my phone holder onto the end of the arm and position it over the palette. It gives me a clear top-down view of the mixes, and I can swing it out of the way when I’m not filming. It takes up a bit of room, but the stability is worth it, especially when I’m doing long tutorials.

I use this stand for the palette camera because the Manfrotto Magic Arm doesn’t sit high enough. With the C-stand, I can get the phone right above the palette so you can see everything clearly - dipping the brush in the water, mixing the paint, loading the brush, even wiping it on the cloth.

Lighting

Daylight is always my favourite to paint with, and on a bright day I can just open the blinds in the studio and have plenty of natural light to film by. The problem is that it’s unreliable. As soon as a cloud drifts over the sun, the light inside shifts and the phone cameras compensate. Sometimes everything goes dark, other times it blows out and looks overexposed.

To avoid all that, I usually keep the blinds closed and rely on my Lumi task lamp. It’s clamped to the table right in front of where I paint. The light stays consistent, so the footage doesn’t flicker or jump around between exposures. The only thing I need to watch is my own hand, if I lean too far forward I can cast shadows onto the paper, so I just adjust the lamp or my position a little.

Audio

For voice-overs, I use a Blue microphone on a Blue extension arm that’s clamped to my computer desk. The arm swivels, so on days when I’m not recording I can just swing it out of the way and keep the space clear.

I also use a small Blue pop shield in front of the mic. It cuts out those little pfft or pop sounds you get when you say certain words, so the audio ends up much cleaner.

Editing

Once everything is filmed, the real work starts. I edit all the footage in Premiere Pro, and it usually takes quite a few days. An hour long tutorial can take as many as five days or so to edit and check. I’ve got to match the palette camera with the painting camera, trim out the bits where my hand drifts out of frame, and tighten everything so it flows nicely.

After that, I record the voice-over, which takes a long time.

When it’s all finally stitched together and checked, I can upload it and get it ready for you to watch.

That’s my setup from start to finish. If you’re curious about anything else, just let me know.

Louise