Where should I put a security camera so it is actually useful?

Most domestic camera footage is useless for identification, and the reason is nearly always framing. A camera set high on a gable, looking down at a wide garden, records that a person was present. A camera at head-and-shoulders height covering the two-metre gap someone must walk through records who.

What you'll need

• The camera and its mounts
• A wedge or corner bracket (optional)
• Drill and outdoor-rated fixings
• A second person with a phone to check the framing (optional)

Step by step

1. Map the routes onto and through the property.There are usually only two or three ways to reach a house: the front path, the side access, and sometimes a rear boundary. Cameras belong on those, not spread evenly around the building.
2. Choose pinch points.A gate, a path between a wall and the house, the last two metres before a door. A narrow space guarantees the subject passes close to the lens, which is what makes footage identifiable.
3. Mount at about 2.5 metres.High enough to be awkward to interfere with, low enough that the camera looks at a face rather than the crown of a head. Above about 3.5 metres you are recording hats.
4. Angle across rather than straight down.A camera aimed steeply down sees the top of people. Tilt it so the frame is filled by the space at chest and head height across the approach.
5. Keep the sun and lights out of the frame.A camera pointed at a low winter sun, a street light or your own security floodlight will silhouette everyone in front of it. Walk past at different times of day and check.
6. Watch what happens with infrared at night.Infrared reflects hard off nearby walls, glass, and even light-coloured render, blinding the sensor. Keep the lens clear of the wall it is mounted on and never shoot through a window from inside — the glass reflects the IR straight back.
7. Check the coverage against your boundary.Once the frame includes the pavement, a shared path or a neighbour's property, you have data-protection obligations. Angle it in, mask what remains, and put up a notice.
8. Sort out power and connection before drilling.Wired cameras need a route for the cable and mains work outdoors is notifiable — that is an electrician's job. Battery cameras need somewhere reachable for recharging, and Wi-Fi coverage falls off fast through an external wall.
9. Set motion zones rather than whole-frame detection.Draw the detection area on the path and the door, not the road, the trees or the neighbour's washing. This is the difference between a camera you check and one you mute.
10. Test with a person, not with the app preview.Have someone walk each route, then look at the recording — not the live view — on a phone screen. If you cannot recognise a person you know, the camera is in the wrong place.

Tips

• One well-placed camera is worth four badly placed ones, and it produces a fraction of the alerts.
• Cameras under an eaves overhang stay cleaner, dry and out of direct rain, and the picture lasts far longer between wipes.
• Clean the lens and the IR window twice a year. Spider webs across the lens are the single commonest cause of both bad footage and endless night alerts.

Common mistakes

• Mounting high on a gable to cover everything — Wide coverage from height records movement, not identity. It also puts the camera far from the Wi-Fi and makes maintenance a ladder job.
• Shooting through a window at night — The infrared illuminator reflects off the glass straight into the lens, producing a white screen. Cameras behind glass need the IR turned off and external light instead.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask