A partner in crime works best. Then they can walk beside you while you swim.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Perfect, another trip to the favor well!

Have you found a specific depth and distance that works best? Tips for keeping the subject in the shot while shooting blind?

Scott

Use a gopro stick it about 2ft under water

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

You are my kind of coach.

i put my gopro on a broom stick then get my kid to walk beside me or infront of me. you need to experiment. It works best if you swim right up against the lane rope and the camera is along the wall. Even better if you can remove a lane rope and swim one lane over from the wall.

keep the camera in the water.

Most modern GoPros (past Hero2 I think) have the ability to sync over Wifi to your phone/tablet so you can see what the camera sees in real time.

In terms of getting a smooth shot, mount the camera on long stick with something 1-2ft below it to stabilize the stick. Google steady-cam you'll get the idea. Ideally you could fill a tube with sand so the weight is at the bottom and doesn't generate drag through the water.

wi-fi signals typically don't transmit through water though. Doesn't really matter since the field of view of a go-pro is so wide, just make sure you are back far enough and are pointing it in roughly the right direction.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

That's a lot of hassle to get a steady shot. I've found just using my tiny biceps to steady the broom stick/pvc pipe/whatever it's stuck to is fine.

There is a learning curve on steadying it but that's about 15yards of walking beside the swimmer.


Ideally if you're the person who's getting video'd you want to be swimming pretty hard and do something like 500-800. If you're the person with the camera you want the swimmer to be 2-300 in before you start shooting.

Most people can hold it together for 2-300, but after that everyone starts to get uglier.

If you're the person shooting the video don't be afraid to stick the camera in the water and not record. Ideally the swimmer shouldn't have an idea of when vs when you are not recording. People try to make themselves pretty for the camera

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Shit, start filming after 200m? My races are done after 200m ;-)

Honestly, memory cards are so cheap, just film the whole damned thing and edit later.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I remember seeing a PVC 'cart' on wheels, with an extendable arm that put the camera in the water. The coach could roll the cart along the pool deck next to/in front of the swimmer.

I am assuming different arms could get you head on, side, and underneath shots.

Another idea I had was to build an underwater track and cart for the camera, thing roller coaster with wheels above and below.

Hook up a long line and a few pulleys, and you could have the camera move in perfect sync with yourself.

Hey thread,

Thanks for the feedback. I’m leaning towards DD’s KISS approach.

I’m currently noodling how to bribe the pool staff to pull a lane line for a two lane shoot.

Scott

I've never needed to pull a lane line to get what I needed. Just swim on the far side of the lane

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Making progress, having fun!

Static surface angle:

Static underwater wall angle:

^^^^^^^^^^^^Critique my work so far^^^^^^^^^^^

Cold outside these days, so no volunteers for the role of cameraman just yet.

Scott

When you are extending forward, your arms are dropping too far down which is creating a lot of frontal drag/extra resistance youre swimming through. Keep those arms up without flipping your fingers up.

Also, hard to tell from this angle but it looks like youre dropping your elbow. Like you are entering, extending down, and the swooping back up? Again, hard to confirm that with this shot.

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Inside The Big Ring: Podcast & Coaching

Thanks, I understand what you are saying and agree with your feedback.

At this point, I’m enjoying my new pool toy and playing around with camera angles to find what works best. If I don’t say so myself, I was pleased with the deck shot in the post prior to the subject of your comment. 👍

Fixing the stroke comes later 😀

Scott

It’s MacGuyver time. Get a broom handle and mount the GoPro to the end of it. Screw a loop into the other end. Secure a tight line from one end of the pool to the other. Guide the handle with GoPro submerged alongside the swimmer. It’s a bit janky, but with an image stabilised (Hero5 or later) unit it should work. Or....invest in a DJI Spark and fly it above swimmer looking down for a different angle. Do both and cut between to music for a very cool video. Watch any Casey Neistat film on YouTube for some creative ideas :)

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