Good video editing starts long before your video is edited.  Even the best video editing can only do so much with mediocre footage.  The secret to ending up with a great video is to start with great footage.

Shooting from different angles can result in very different lighting.

Try Different Angles

Yawn, another YouTube video of a guy riding his bike with the camera mounted on the handle bar. Oh look, another surf video with the camera on the front of the board.  Think about what other angles you can video to really capture the sport or your badass move.

Use your friends as tripods – Have someone on the trail or in the water to video you as you ride by. They use this angle in the pro videos. You have the technology to do the same.  Look for the best angle to really capture the action (that is safe for everyone).  A really pro technique is to have more than one camera recording at different angles. This makes for great material for a really professional edit of your video.

Rig it up! – Half the fun of the GoPro camera is inventing new ways to rig it up to get video at an angle no one ever has before.  (examples that surf guy, Grant’s backpack) Most of the GoPro rigs people spend pay lots of money for started out in some guy’s garage.

Finally different angles may have very different lighting. See the example of these two screen shots from the same session. One direction the lighting is great. The other…..not so good.

 Record In Small Segments

Instead of turning on your GoPro at the start of your session and letting it run until the card fills up turn the recording on and off for smaller clips. It makes it much easier for editing your video later.

• You don’t have to wade through hours of footage to get to that one great shot.
• When editing your video you can delete clips, clearing up memory and making it easier to find the good stuff.
• Don’t waste valuable card space and battery life recording the uninteresting parts only to run out just when you land your best move of the day.

 Video at Different Times of Day

Lighting makes a huge difference in the quality of a video. Take a look at these videos shot in the same spot with the same camera angle at different times of day.

Shoot and Reshoot

As you are going through your video clips for editing you may notice how a shot could be much better from a slightly different angle or possibly at a different time of day or you may think of whole new shot. Don’t just settle for what you’ve got. Go back and shoot the video again.  Your final video will look much more professional and you’ll gain valuable information for making your next video even better.