Steve Stockman, author of How to Shoot Videos That Doesn’t Suck, offers five great tips that will help you shoot better home movies with your existing video camera.

As Steve says, the video equipment doesn’t matter, but knowing the right techniques and a little practice can vastly improve your video. The tips include:

• Don’t shoot non-stop. Just capture the most interesting shots of a video and stop.
• Get closer to the subject. Don’t shoot until you see the ‘whites’ of their eyes.
• Keep the brightest light behind your camera.
• Treat your video camera like a still camera. First compose a shot and then hit record.
• Keep your videos short.

Related: Take Better Pictures with a Mobile Phone Camera

Steve was kind enough to email me a quick-start guide with 12 illustrated tips for shooting better home videos. You can read them here.