Tips for shooting with a GoPro

A member of the Breck Epic Team, Eric Willett accounts his journeys as a professional athlete here. To read more from Eric, search his name in the top right, or click here. 

GoPro cameras are awesome! These action cameras are pretty much the simplest way to get photos and videos of yourself without having a personal photographer, and using one is pretty dummy-proof. Here are a few tips for getting the shot you want.

If you just want to mount it and press play, then I definitely recommend just sticking it on your helmet. If you are going to mount the GoPro on your helmet, you should mount it on the

front pointed slightly down. I recommend the placement on the front of the helmet, opposed to on the top of your helmet, where the angle doesn’t really work for getting the best POV (point of view) shot.

If you want to hold it in your hand to get yourself in the frame, I recommend using a handle, which connects to the GoPro mount. Something about 5 inches or longer is perfect to get everything you want in the frame. Additionally, another trick is holding the camera vertical, this will 90 percent of the time guarantee your whole body is in the shot, as long as you can keep your arm extended.

While filming yourself or a friend, the best rule of thumb is to point the lens at the person’s belly button, this tends to be the center of the shot and will make sure you don’t cut them off at their feet or chop their head off. So, it is definitely important to always be conscious of where you are pointing the lens.

A must have app for your smart phone is the GoPro App. The GoPro App is an awesome tool to view photos, watch videos, download all footage straight to your phone. Downloading straight to your phone will give you easy access to upload to Instagram, Facebook, and other social networks.

My last recommendation is to read the dreaded owners manual. I know it seems daunting to read it, but the owners manual has so many tips to maximize your camera potential. If you really don’t want to read it, go to YouTube and take a look on GoPro’s channel. On the GoPro channel, there are a ton of various tip videos on cool and creative ways to use your camera.

— Eric Willett