Blind spots and glare are the two failures that make a camera useless at the exact moment you need it. This guide shows how to position cameras so they capture faces, plates, and entry points clearly, and how to stop the sun and headlights from washing out the frame. You will get concrete height and angle rules, one real scenario, common mistakes, and a placement checklist you can apply the same day.
Why blind spots and glare happen
A blind spot is any zone no camera covers at usable resolution. It usually comes from three causes: a lens field of view that is too narrow for the area, a mounting position that leaves dead angles behind pillars or vehicles, and cameras aimed at coverage instead of at the specific action you care about. A camera that “sees” a doorway from 20 metres away technically covers it, but the face is only a few pixels wide and worthless for identification.
Glare is different. It is the sensor being overwhelmed by a bright light source in the frame, so everything else turns into a dark silhouette. The classic case is a camera pointed at a glass door with daylight behind it, or a driveway camera facing the low morning or evening sun. At night, glare often comes from the camera’s own infrared bouncing off a nearby wall, ceiling, or falling rain.
The core placement rules
Mounting height and tilt
For identification, mount cameras low enough to catch faces, roughly 2.2 to 3 metres, tilted only 10 to 15 degrees down. Mount too high and you record the tops of heads and hats, which never identify anyone. Reserve high mounts (4 metres or more) for wide overview shots, not for recognising people.
One job per camera
Decide what each camera must deliver before you drill: identify a face, read a plate, or give general awareness. A single camera rarely does all three well. A tight lens on the gate for plates, plus a wider camera for the yard, beats one “do-everything” camera that does none of them.
Overlap at choke points
People and vehicles must pass through gates, doors, and corridors. Cover these choke points with overlapping fields of view so no one crosses an unseen seam. Overlap also means one failed camera does not open a gap.
Handling backlight and glare
First, control the scene. Whenever possible, aim the camera so the brightest light is behind it, not in front. If you must shoot toward a bright door or window, use a camera with true Wide Dynamic Range (WDR), which captures bright and dark areas in the same frame. Cheap “digital WDR” helps far less than hardware WDR on the sensor.
Second, respect the sun’s path. A camera facing due east or west will fight direct sun twice a day. Rotating it or adding a physical hood often solves more than any setting. For night IR bounce, keep the lens away from nearby walls and eaves, and consider separate IR illuminators placed off to the side rather than relying only on the ring around the lens.
A real scenario
A small warehouse owner complained that his gate camera never showed who took a delivery. On site, the camera sat at 4.5 metres pointing steeply down, and it faced the afternoon sun. Two changes fixed it: we moved a second, tighter camera to eye level beside the gate at 2.5 metres for faces and plates, and we re-aimed the overview camera 20 degrees to put the sun behind it. Same budget, no new licences, usable footage the next morning.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
- Mounting too high for faces. Fix: add a dedicated low camera at a choke point instead of relying on the overview shot.
- Shooting into glass or sun. Fix: re-aim, add a hood, or move to a WDR camera; do not just raise brightness, which flattens the whole image.
- Wide lens for everything. Fix: match the lens to the task; use a tighter lens where you need detail.
- Ignoring night IR bounce. Fix: pull the lens off the wall and test in full dark, not at dusk.
- Never checking the recorded view. Fix: judge from the recorded stream on a phone or monitor, not from your eyes standing next to the camera.
Placement checklist
- Write the one job for each camera before drilling.
- Mount face cameras at 2.2 to 3 metres, tilt 10 to 15 degrees.
- Overlap every gate, door, and corridor.
- Put the brightest light behind the camera where possible.
- Enable hardware WDR only where backlight is unavoidable.
- Test each view at your worst-light hour and in full darkness.
- Confirm faces and plates are readable on the recorded footage, not just live.
Conclusion
Good coverage is about intent, not camera count. Give each camera one clear job, mount for faces at choke points, and put light behind the lens. Your next step: walk your site at your worst-light hour, list every choke point, and re-aim or add one camera per gap before buying more hardware.
Frequently asked questions
How high should I mount a camera to see faces?
Around 2.2 to 3 metres with a slight downward tilt. Higher mounts capture the tops of heads and rarely identify anyone. Use high mounts only for wide awareness shots.
Does more megapixels remove blind spots?
No. Resolution helps detail within the frame, but a camera cannot record what it is not aimed at. Blind spots are a positioning and coverage problem, not a resolution problem.
What is the fastest fix for a camera facing the sun?
Re-aim it so the sun is behind the lens, or fit a physical sun hood. If neither is possible, use a camera with true hardware WDR. Raising brightness alone does not fix backlight.
Why does my camera look worse at night than a cheaper one?
Often it is infrared bouncing off a nearby wall, eave, or rain. Move the lens away from reflective surfaces and test in complete darkness, or use side-mounted IR illuminators.
Can one camera cover a whole entrance and read plates?
Rarely. A wide view for awareness and a tighter view for plates or faces do two different jobs. Two well-aimed cameras usually beat one compromise camera.
References
IEC 62676, the international standard series for video surveillance systems in security applications, covers system requirements and image quality principles that underpin sound camera placement.