In the fourth installment of Running With Your GoPro I address the issue of framing your shot. As always, keep in mind I’m not a professional by any stretch of the imagination. I am an enthusiast but I’ve learned some things along the way.
The most versatile mount for framing the shots that I like is by far the GoPole.
Framing a Still Shot While Running With Your GoPro
There are two angles that I love when shooting, up high and down low. Sounds simple, right? Actually, not so much. You still need to capture interesting content. And what looks good to the naked eye probably won’t look the same through the eye of your GoPro (unless you have an aspherical lens for an eye). Even with the Hero 4 Silver or the Touch BackPac, getting that perfect shot is more by feel than by eye (in my experience).
For instance, I’ve tried a million times to get a great photo of runners passing the statue of Fred Lebow in Central Park to no avail. I’m convinced there’s no way to get an outstanding photo with this camera.
Here’s the best of what I’ve been able to capture
So I’ve changed my strategy. As I said above, I’m either shooting bottom up or top down. Chances are if you run with the New York Road Runners, you’ve seen me before, during or after a race holding my camera high up over the crowd or running with the camera facing behind me by my feet.
Framing From the Bottom Up While Running With Your GoPro
I hold the camera anywhere from 12 to 24 inches from the ground and snap away. Hold it too close to the ground and you get a ton of pavement in the foreground, so you can’t just lay the camera on the ground, you need to hold it.
Too close to the ground will look like this:
Here are some of my favorites from bottom up.
Framing From the Top Down While Running With Your GoPro
Top down can be a little tricky, pitfalls that are easy to miss are a photo of too much sky or the back of your head. As you take more of these photos you’ll figure out how to adjust the camera angle slightly up or down to capture a great shot.
Some examples of what not to do:
Some of my faves from top down:
I don’t want you to walk away from this post thinking that you can never get a good shot without your GoPro being high up or low down, I just find that they tend to be the most visually interesting. But there are other things you can take into consideration.
Like using the distortion from the aspherical lens to your advantage:
Sometimes extreme close ups work really well too
I’d love to hear what works for you!
