Whitewater kayaking

What it means

Whitewater kayaking means paddling down moving water with rapids, waves, holes and waterfalls. Creeking, a steeper form, runs narrow, technical streams with big drops. Rivers are graded by difficulty, see rapid class, and paddlers choose runs that match their skill and the day's water level.

The footage is spectacular because of constant motion and water everywhere: paddlers dropping over ledges, punching through waves, rolling back up after a capsize. As in mountain biking, line choice decides everything, and a good edit shows both the rapid and how the paddler ran it, ideally from more than one angle.

How it works in practice

A helmet camera gives a strong POV, showing the bow, the paddle and the rapid ahead. A camera mounted on the boat, on the deck facing back at the paddler, shows the face and the water hitting it.

Shore angles are invaluable on big rapids. A friend standing on a rock below a drop, filming the whole line, often produces the best shot of the day, especially with a long lens that compresses the drop.

Use waterproof cameras or housings, keep lenses treated so drops slide off, and shoot at high frame rates to slow drops and splashes.

What to watch out for

Safety comes first. Never film from positions that put you or the paddler at risk, and never let a camera distract from reading the river.

Water on the lens is constant on rivers. Wipe often, and keep the lens cover on between runs to avoid scratches from rocks.

Helmet POV flattens drops, making them look smaller. Shore footage and low boat angles restore scale. Long flat sections between rapids add little, so trim to the rapids, the drops and the reactions after them, which together make a much tighter edit than the full descent, much like dead time on land.