Making better kayaking videos with minimal effort

I have been making video for around 20 years now, and making video professionally for around 15. I have to confess that I am not big on filming my own kayaking adventures, preferring instead to leave that to others on the trip and focus on my own paddling. However I have produced kayaking videos in a professional capacity as promos for coaching and kayak companies, which has involved taking cumbersome camera gear out onto the river.

The biggest difference between a professional and the results that they get when compared to an amateur mainly lies in the time taken and the gear hassle a pro will put up with. To get good shots involves blood, sweat, and tears. Frankly put, making a video to a professional standard is actually a complete pain in the backside, but we put up with all the hassle because we are employed to get excellent results.

An amateur does not have pressure from a client to do this and instead simply wants to get a good record of their day out. Having said this there are many paddlers out there who would like to get better results. For younger paddlers having a trust fund or a parent to buy a swanky £6k or more camera for them is also not on the cards, and most full time employed dads wouldn’t be spending that sort of money on a camera to film their kayaking adventures with either.

Most paddlers are equipped with GoPro’s or other equivalent cameras. The GoPro is generally popular due to the abundance of mounts and the overall quality that it now produces. There are many ways in which you can get much more from your GoPro, particularly if it is a Hero3 or Hero3+ Black Edition. It would take me a long time to go into each of the ways you can set up these cameras, and I will save it ...more
Also posted on playak.com