21 GoPro Tips & Tricks for Amateurs

To make your action videos breathtaking, you should know some GoPro tricks.

With GoPro HERO8 or GoPro HERO7 you can shoot in almost any situation, weather conditions and get exciting videos. Here are my short recommendations to help you create nice videos from the first try:

Buy a universal Starter GoPro Kit.
Install a GoPro app: iOS | Android
Always keep an eye on the light.
Choose a frame rate beforehand.
Use fast SD cards.
For a timelapse use a kitchen timer.
Have an external microphone at hand.
Use a gimbal and a transparent monopod for smoother shot.
Don’t forget to lock the touch screen while recording.
Stabilize your clips using software.

If you’re an extreme sports fan, outdoor activities lover, vlogger or just appreciate the compact size of recording devices, keep on reading about how to record professionally looking videos on a small GoPro camera.

21 GoPro Tips & Tricks

Today the GoPro HERO8 is the most popular action camera in the world. These are my working GoPro tips and tricks in detail to get the most out of GoPro because this camera can give you a pretty good video and photo quality.

1. Collect or Buy a Starter GoPro Kit

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This Starter GoPro Kit has all the essential equipment. What you need is a waterproof case if you want to shoot underwater, snorkeling filter, anti-fog inserts, various types of belts and mounts for good fixation, tripods, lenses, etc. The best thing about this kit is that all the necessary equipment is combined in one set.

2. Plan Your Story

Before you take the camera, think about what you are going to shoot and write a plan in accordance with it. If you come up with the idea beforehand, think over individual shots and write them down, it will be simpler to execute your plan and remember what else needs to be deleted. It’s better to think about the idea of the video for a few hours than to waste a lot of time on random ideas already in the process of shooting.

3. Understand Your GoPro’s Resolution

Find out the difference between 1080, 2.7k and 4K and study how each of these settings influences your footage. When there’s something worth shooting, no matter if it’s a close-up of a bug or dusk in the distance, you have to know which setting will suit such footage more.

In order to find out more about those settings, you can check out YouTube GoPro Resolution tutorials or experiment with them in real life (which will be even better).

View more action cameras under 100 dollars.

4. Use Red Filters for Better Underwater Photos

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In order to get the best results in underwater shooting, you need red snorkel filters. If you don’t use them, you won’t be able to discern what’s going on under the water and all you see will be blue and green masses.

Using snorkel filters (there are different shades that you pick depending on how deep you are), the camera will show everything exactly how you see it in real life. There will be bright colors as if the water is transparent.

5. Create Rotating Time Lapse Videos with a Kitchen Timer

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For timelapse videos buy a regular kitchen timer that you need to spin. Place a sticky mount to the timer, pick the timelapse mode on your GoPro and spin to start. With the motion, you will add a wonderful new dimension to time-lapse shots. The best part about it is that such a timer normally costs no more than $10!

6. Replace Lens Protector

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Some of the GoPro cameras have waterproof bodies, which means that you don’t have to get any extra GoPro accessories. However, due to this, your lens can easily get damaged and scratched. To avoid it, purchase a replacement GoPro protective lens cover. With its help, you will be able to replace your lens cap.

7. Match a Fast SD Card

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If you use a slow SD card, it can cause errors in the process of shooting, put a camera into a freeze mode and overheat its processor.
In addition, it might not save taken photos and videos. Approximately 70% of all issues in GoPro cameras happen due to incorrectly chosen memory cards.
I recommend using a micro SD with a speed rating of Class 10 or V30.

Choose the best SD Cards for DSLR.

8. Use an External Microphone

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For the best results, get an external microphone as built-in microphones in GoPro cameras usually can’t record videos of good quality. Especially, if you set it on a monopod. An external microphone has a standard head mount and is placed on a camera through a cord.

9. Select Gimbal for Smoother Shots

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You will have to spend some extra money on it, but it will help you achieve nice shots.
There exist various types of gimbals on the market and they all have different prices. The best gimbal for GoPro is Karma Grip.

View more GoPro accessories.

10. Buy a Transparent Monopod

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If you use a transparent monopod, you can take pictures and videos of yourself and the place around you at the same time from the whole new perspective. In comparison with the classic one, the transparent monopod is not visible in the frame. In this way, the angle of your shot will be unusual, and the viewers won’t be able to realize how you managed to take it like this.

11. Set the Correct Lighting

It’s very important to have the right lighting in photography. If you don’t set the lighting correctly, your video may be ruined. Advanced video makers recommend shooting at golden hour, paying attention to white balance, using color gels and avoiding light-polluted lens flare. Take experimental shots to understand if the lighting is set properly or not.

Learn about golden hour photography.

12. Try to Avoid Shooting in a Low Light

Although GoPro cameras can take good photos and videos at night, initially, they were created for light areas. That’s why don’t rely much on your GoPro if you are going to shoot in the darkness.

In order to get better results, try not to move your camera. The quality will be better, and the photo will be sharper. However, you should know that it will be very difficult to avoid noise.

If you are going to shoot at poor light, don’t shoot at more than 25 fps or the quality of your video will be damaged. If you’re shooting in the darkness, compensate exposure to +0.5 or +1.

Check out the best low light cameras.

13. Choose a Frame Rate

Based on what result you want to get, you need to set a particular frame rate.

If you aren’t using slow motion or other effects, 30fps will do.

In case you want to have slow motion in your video, turn to 120fps or 240fps.

If you’re shooting 120 fps in slow motion, you should use Full HD. With 4K, you can crop the picture in a half and the quality will remain the same.

If you don’t know for sure if your video will have slow motion, then you should keep it at 60fps. This will allow you to half the speed of your video while editing it.

14. Pick the Suitable Viewing Angle

There are three main viewing angles in GoPro cameras.

The Wide angle is a 14 mm lens. Photographers and videographers use this angle most often. It gives a fisheye effect.

The Medium angle is a21 mm lens. This angle gives you a small fisheye effect.

The Narrow viewing angle is a 28 mm lens. It’s a large angle that reduces the fisheye effect.

You can select viewing angles only if your quality is 1080. If you’re going to shoot in 4K, you will be able to use only the Wide angle.

Even cameras of the fifth series have an additional Linear angle. It provides a wide picture with an 8% crop (carding). Because of this crop, there is no fisheye effect and the viewing angle is still pretty wide.

Approach GoPro video editing services if you want to spend less time on the video editing.

15. Control the Frame Duration

There are some useful GoPro tips and tricks from advanced users who say that it’s better not to make the frame duration longer than 10 seconds. If you can’t fulfill this recommendation (in such cases as descending on a snowboard, riding a boat, etc.), try to constantly change the position of your GoPro camera. In this way, you will be able to subsequently mount exciting material from the shots that you took using various angles and different time intervals.

Learn more about the best GoPro alternatives.

16. Lock the Touch Screen

I recommend locking the screen while shooting. In this way, you won’t let the image crash if you flip the screen unintentionally. Swipe down on the screen of your camera and click the padlock shaped icon to activate the lock function. If you want to unlock it, swipe down again and click the padlock.

17. Stabilize Your Clips

When you are working with a GoPro, it’s practically impossible to avoid shaking of blurring. To eliminate unwanted rattle and make your video clearer, use professional stabilization software.

Check out the best video stabilization software.

18. Align White Balance When Shooting on a Snowy Day

In the majority of cases, a GoPro camera automatically chooses the white balance based on your picture. However, before taking important shots, see these settings yourself.

Check out the ProTune mode, including white balance and a picture. If you’re shooting on a sunny or snowy day, control the exposure. GoPro cameras have a built-in exposure meter and the frames in the snow can be underexposed. That’s why you should raise exposure manually by half or for one step in the ProTune settings.

19. Pick Music before Editing

The most common mistake is not including it earlier. Audio adds a mood and atmosphere to a video. That’s why a video without music can look incomplete. For adding music I recommend you to use a special GoPro software – GoPro Studio. Here you can find free copyrighted music and sound effects for your videos.

Read about the best free audio editing software.

20. Download a GoPro App

There is an official GoPro App using which you can manage the GoPro camera on your smartphone. Also, with this app, you can post all your recorded material fast and easily and even watch GoPro channels of other videographers.

21. Apply GoPro Edit Templates

It’s not difficult to spend hours shooting photos and videos. However, it’s quite challenging to sort out everything you have recorded and edit the full video. You can check the official GoPro website and find free templates there. Pick the one you like more and add it to your video.

VIEW TEMPLATES

Freebies

Use special LUTs to bring all your ideas for the GoPro video to life. These LUTs will help you save time on color grading and add interesting effects to the clips.