Everyone starts somewhere, and the world of video and filmmaking is no different. Whether your aspirations are to get a YouTube channel off the ground or to break into full-length feature films, starting off on the right foot when you’re a total beginner is easier than you may think.

When you’re first starting out, aside from having the drive and motivation to keep learning and improving, it’s the basic foundational things that can make the biggest difference the quickest. In this video, adventure photographer and YouTuber Benjamin Jaworskyj breaks down a few of the basic things that anyone can get right while they are a beginner. Ranging from the basic things about your camera, to stability, to recording sound, this video offers a range of good advice for any novice.

When you first started out (whether you were into photography, videography, or both), do you think that you had strong foundations, or were you just winging it? I think that it’s pretty common for people to have rocky starts when we first begin to pursue a new hobby or profession. I know that at the very beginning, when I was experimenting with photography, I generally had no idea what I was doing and was stumbling through things with a trial and error style. Were you in the same boat?