Best Practices for Recording Sports Video

If you're serious about improving your technique—whether in golf, baseball, or any other sport—recording yourself on video can be a game-changer. 

But here’s the thing: the effectiveness of that video analysis depends heavily on how the footage is captured. Camera angles, distance, and consistency all play a crucial role.

In this post, we’re going to focus on two of the most commonly used angles for recording yourself: Face On and Down the Line. 

Getting these right will give you clearer feedback, better communication with your coach or athlete, and ultimately more improvement over time.

Face On

When recording from the face-on angle, you want to square up the camera so it’s directly in front of you. Think of this as the camera looking at you head-on, like it's having a conversation with you.

Key Tips:

• Camera height: Aim to position the camera at hand height. This keeps proportions accurate and avoids distortion. When the camera is too high or too low, it can skew how your motion looks on screen.
  
  
• Orientation: Landscape mode often works best here. It gives you more horizontal space, which means you can stay in frame without having to move the camera too far back. There are exceptions however. For example, golfers often capture in portrait mode because its easier to keep the golfer and club in frame.
  
  
• Tripod recommended: A G-Pod, tripod, or anything stable will make a huge difference in keeping the shot clean and consistent.
  
  
• Keep your equipment in frame: Especially important in golf—make sure the club doesn’t exit the screen during the swing. If it’s cut off, you lose valuable context.

Ultimately, the face-on angle is a great starting point. If you're recording for your own feedback, being consistent with your setup—distance, height, and angle—is more important than getting it perfect every time. 

Down the Line

The down-the-line angle gives a side view, typically from behind and slightly off to one side. In golf, this is behind the player, looking down the target line. In baseball, it might be from behind the batter or pitcher.

Key Tips:

• Camera height: Once again, hand height is a good rule of thumb. It helps maintain a natural view of the swing path and body position.
  
  
• Positioning matters: This is where things can get tricky. If you position the camera too far inside (toward your body), the club or bat will look like it’s swinging more inside than it really is. Too far outside, and it’ll look outside. The angle can seriously distort what’s actually happening—so try to line the camera up parallel to your target line.
  
  
• Use a visual reference: Laying down alignment sticks or drawing a target line on the ground can really help. This gives both you and your coach clear reference points for where you're aiming and how your body is aligned.
  
  
• Keep it consistent: Just like with face-on shots, keeping the camera the same distance and angle across sessions makes your videos much more useful. If you're trying to track improvement, jumping between different setups will only create confusion.
  
  

Whether you're coaching yourself or working with a pro, the goal is to create repeatable, reliable footage that you can compare over time. Consistency in your recording setup leads to better analysis, which leads to better results.

While these guidelines are especially applicable to golf, the same camera angle principles  carry over to other sports. Whatever your sport, the key takeaways remain the same:

• Set your camera at hand height
  
  
• Be mindful of the angle and alignment
  
  
• Use a tripod or stable setup
  
  
• Above all - stay consistent
  
  

Getting this right doesn’t require fancy equipment—just a little attention to detail. 

If you're ever unsure, check with your coach or compare your setup to examples online. And as always, the more reps you get with this, the easier it becomes to capture the footage you need to improve your game.