Want to Create Great Videos with Your Action Camera?

Remember when people went into the water with expensive video setups, and then you found yourself sitting through hours of boring blue videos, which the authors seemed extremely proud to present?

Well, nowadays, one can get the same results no matter what camera they use, a GoPro, even an iPhone, and these small action cameras are encouraging even more would-be videographers.

The problem is that the requirements for an interesting presentation remain the same. An interesting video needs a beginning, a middle, and an end, and must tell a story.

So, professional cameraman Jeff Goodman, in his new book Camera Underwater Video Basics: The Essential Guide to Making Underwater Films, shows you how to do it. You'll learn shoot planning, sequence structures, and shooting techniques, along with all-important editing, so you don't bore your audience. He discusses subjects like ethics and responsible filming as well as routines to adopt before entering the water and uses plenty of illustrations to guide you.

I first met Jeff in the Galápagos, where he was shooting a Discovery Channel film with Nigel Marvin. He's a skilled professional with a genuine love for the underwater world. If you want to shoot underwater videos with an action camera that others might enjoy watching, get a copy of his book and heed his advice.

And here's one helpful piece of advice from me. "Never show your rushes." In other words, keep your footage to yourself until you have assembled and edited the shots into a viewable sequence.

- John Bantin

Action Camera Underwater Video Basics by Jeff Goodman, 190 pages in paperback (under $25) or Kindle ($9.95) https://tinyurl.com/mrhkm3e8