I’ve reviewed hundreds of home security setups both from data online and on-field work, and you know what kills me? Seeing someone drop $800 on cameras only to mount them where they’re basically filming their gutters and driveway cracks.
Here’s where your cameras actually need to go: front door (aimed at face height), back door and patio access, driveway with license plate angles, side gates, and any blind corners where someone could lurk unnoticed.
Mount them 9-10 feet high, angled down at 15-30 degrees, with overlapping coverage so there’s nowhere to hide.
Most people think more cameras equal better security. Wrong. Strategic placement beats camera count every single time. I’m going to show you exactly where to position your cameras so you’re actually protected—not just performing security theater for the neighborhood.
Why Security Camera Placement Matters More Than You Think
Let’s get something straight: a $200 camera in the right spot will outperform a $600 4K ultra-HD whatever-they’re-selling-you camera pointed at nothing useful.
I’ve seen Ring doorbells capture crystal-clear footage of burglars’ shoelaces because they were angled too low. I’ve watched $1,000 surveillance systems record absolutely nothing helpful because the homeowner mounted cameras where they “looked cool” rather than where they’d actually catch faces and actions.
Here’s the thing about criminals—they’re not all master strategists, but they’re not idiots either. They look for camera blind spots. They notice when cameras are pointed away from entry points. And they absolutely love properties where cameras are positioned for aesthetics rather than effectiveness.
You’re dealing with a fundamental trade-off: wide coverage versus detailed identification. A camera with a 120-degree field of view can monitor your entire front yard, but can you actually identify someone’s face from that footage?
Probably not. Meanwhile, a narrow 80-degree angle might miss your peripheral zones but will capture enough facial detail to actually be useful to police.
The pros think in layers: perimeter cameras for early warning, entry-point cameras for identification, and interior cameras as your last line of defense. Most homeowners skip straight to buying cameras without thinking about this strategy, and that’s where coverage gaps become security gaps.
Where to Place Security Cameras: Essential Coverage Zones
1. Front Door and Main Entrance Cameras
If you only put up one camera, make it here.
About 34% of burglars enter through the front door—just walk right up and force it or pick the lock while looking like they belong there.
Your front door camera needs to be positioned to capture faces, not the tops of heads. Mount it 7-9 feet high, angled downward at about 15-20 degrees.
This gives you that sweet spot where you’re getting clear facial shots of anyone approaching, standing at your door, or walking away.
Here’s where people mess up: they mount it directly above the door. Terrible idea.
You end up with footage of baseball caps and hoodies. Instead, position your camera slightly to the side and angled across the door area. You want to see faces from an angle that actually shows features, not just the crown of someone’s head.
Doorbell cameras like Ring or Nest are great for convenience and that immediate notification feature.
Our article on: Smart Doorbell vs Traditional Doorbell Security Benefits throws more light on what doorbells are important.
But don’t rely on them as your only front coverage. They’re mounted low (literally at door height), which makes them easy to disable and gives you awkward upward-angle footage. Pair them with a higher, dedicated camera for redundancy.
And think about your coverage radius. You don’t just want to see who’s at your door—you want to catch them approaching from the sidewalk or driveway. A good front camera should cover at least 15-20 feet of approach area, giving you context about how they got there and where they went afterward.
2. Backyard and Rear Entry Camera Placement
This is where most properties are completely exposed, and homeowners have no idea. Your backyard privacy fence that keeps neighbors from seeing your weekend BBQs? It also keeps them from seeing someone spending five minutes prying open your patio door.
Every back entry point needs camera coverage: sliding glass doors, back doors, basement windows, garage service doors—all of it. These are high-priority targets because they’re out of public view and often less secure than front entries.
For average-sized backyards, you’re probably looking at two cameras minimum. One covering your main back door and immediate patio area, another positioned to catch the far corners and any side access to the back. Large or L-shaped yards might need three or four cameras to eliminate blind spots.
Position these cameras high on your house’s back wall or under eaves, angled to cover approaches rather than just the doors themselves. You want to see someone coming across your yard, not just arriving at the door ready to break in. That extra context matters for both deterrence and evidence.
Night vision becomes critical back here. Your backyard probably doesn’t have street lighting, so you need cameras with solid IR illumination—at least 65-100 feet of night vision range. And make sure they’re rated for outdoor use with proper weatherproofing. I’ve seen too many people mount indoor cameras under an eave and wonder why they failed after one rainstorm.
2. Driveway and Garage Camera Coverage
Your driveway isn’t just where you park—it’s an access route, an approach warning zone, and often where expensive stuff (bikes, tools, cars) sits vulnerable.
For driveways, you want dual coverage if possible: one wide-angle camera capturing the entire driveway and vehicle areas, plus a dedicated license plate camera if you’re dealing with vehicle theft or want to log who’s coming and going.
License plate cameras need specific positioning—about 10-15 feet from where vehicles typically stop, angled directly at plate height (roughly 3-4 feet off the ground).
Garage cameras depend on whether you’ve got attached or detached, and how you use the space. If your garage is basically a storage locker filled with bikes, tools, and Amazon packages, put a camera inside monitoring the main space and any entry doors.
If it’s just for cars, focus your cameras on the outside: the main garage door when closed, any service doors, and the approach area.
Here’s something most people miss: position your garage cameras to capture both directions. You want to see someone approaching, but you also want footage of them leaving. That exit footage can show stolen items, getaway vehicles, or accomplices you didn’t spot on the approach.
Motion detection zones are your friend for driveways. Modern cameras let you draw specific areas for motion alerts, so you’re not getting notifications every time a car drives past on the street. Focus your zones on the actual driveway and garage areas where activity matters.
3. Side Yard and Pathway Camera Strategy
Side yards are the forgotten highways for burglars. They’re narrow, usually completely out of sight from neighbors or street traffic, and they lead directly to your vulnerable backyard.
If you have side access—a gate, a pathway between your house and fence, anything that creates a route from front to back—it needs a camera. Period. This isn’t optional coverage; it’s essential.
The challenge with side yards is the narrow field of view. You’re dealing with a corridor, often just 4-6 feet wide.
A wide-angle camera positioned at one end of the passage can usually cover the entire length, but you need to mount it high (9-10 feet minimum) to prevent tampering and to get a downward angle that captures faces.
I’m a big fan of positioning side yard cameras so they’re visible from the front. That visibility is part of your deterrence. When someone’s standing at your front property line casing the place, seeing that camera watching the side route makes them think twice.
Weather protection matters here more than almost anywhere else. Side yards are often wind tunnels and rain collectors. Make sure your cameras are fully weatherproof (IP66 rating or better) and that all cable connections are sealed properly.
4. Property Perimeter and Blind Spot Cameras
Every property has them—those spots where someone could hide, observe, or work completely unseen.
Walk your property at night, and you’ll find them: beside the AC unit, behind that overgrown shrub, the shadowy gap between your shed and fence, that recessed area created by your house’s architecture.
These blind spots need cameras, but you can be strategic about it. One well-positioned corner camera can often cover two or three potential hiding spots.
Place cameras at your property’s corners, angled to sweep along fence lines or building walls. You’re creating overlapping zones where there’s literally nowhere to stand without being on camera.
For larger properties, perimeter cameras serve as your early warning system. Position them to catch movement at your property boundaries, giving you notice when someone’s approaching rather than just alerting you when they’re already at your door.
But here’s the balance: don’t go overboard. I’ve seen people install 16 cameras on a standard suburban lot, and honestly, it’s overkill.
You’re not Fort Knox. More cameras mean more maintenance, more footage to review, more false alerts, and more things to go wrong. Strategic placement of 4-8 well-positioned cameras will beat a dozen randomly placed ones every time.
Focus on actual vulnerable points and likely approach routes, not paranoid coverage of every square foot. Your goal is security, not Big Brother surveillance of your own property.
Camera Placement Mistakes That Kill Your Coverage
1. Mounting Cameras Too Low
When cameras are at 6-7 feet, they’re within easy reach. Someone can spray paint the lens, redirect it, or just rip it down. Get your cameras up to 9-10 feet minimum, where they require a ladder to access. Yeah, it makes installation harder, but that’s kind of the point.
Then there’s the “aiming at nothing useful” problem. I’ve watched footage where cameras pointed at the sky because nobody checked the angle after mounting. Or they’re aimed at a wall three feet away because the homeowner didn’t think about the field of view. Before you permanently mount anything, connect the camera, power it up, and check the actual view on your phone or monitor. Adjust until it’s right, then lock it down.
2. Lighting Conditions Will Destroy Your Footage Quality
Cameras pointed toward the sunrise or sunset will be blind during those hours—nothing but white glare. Cameras aimed at bright security lights will capture dark silhouettes but no identifying features. Position cameras so lighting works with them, not against them. Sometimes that means adding or repositioning lights to complement camera angles.
3. Coverage Gaps Are Sneaky.
You think you’re covered because you can see your front door and backyard on camera. But there’s a 30-foot stretch along your side fence with zero coverage, and that’s exactly where someone will work.
Your camera coverage should overlap. If you can walk from your front to back yard without being on camera the entire journey, you’ve got gaps to fill.
4. Poor WiFi Connectivity
I’ve also seen people completely ignore WiFi signal strength when choosing camera locations. They mount a camera at the far corner of their property, 100 feet from the router, through three walls, and wonder why it’s constantly disconnecting or delivering choppy footage.
If you’re going wireless, test signal strength at each location before mounting.
You might need WiFi extenders or mesh network nodes to support cameras at your property’s edges.
And for the love of weatherproofing—check the IP rating. IP65 is the minimum for outdoor cameras; IP66 or IP67 is better. I’ve seen expensive cameras fail within months because they weren’t rated for actual outdoor conditions. Rain, humidity, temperature swings, and direct sun all take their toll. Buy cameras actually designed for the environment you’re putting them in.
5 Pro Camera Placement Tips for Complete Coverage
1. Overlapping Fields Of View
Instead of placing cameras to barely touch coverage edges, position them so each camera’s field of view overlaps with adjacent cameras by at least 10-15 feet. This eliminates blind spots and gives you multiple angles of the same area. When you’re reviewing footage of an incident, having two or three camera perspectives is infinitely more valuable than a single view.
2. Wide-angle cameras (120-180 degrees)
This positioning is great for covering large open areas like big front yards or spacious driveways. But don’t use them exclusively. Pair wide coverage cameras with narrower focused cameras at key points. The wide camera gives you context and movement detection; the focused camera gives you identification-quality footage.
3. Get Ptz (Pan-Tilt-Zoom) Camera For At Least One Position
These can automatically track movement, zoom in on specific areas, and give you active control over coverage. They’re more expensive and require more setup, but one good PTZ camera can replace two or three fixed cameras in the right application.
Height recommendations vary by camera type. Standard bullet or dome cameras work best at 9-10 feet for entry points, higher (12-15 feet) for perimeter coverage. Doorbell cameras are obviously at door height (4-5 feet), which is why they should never be your only coverage. PTZ cameras often work better at greater heights (15-20 feet) where they have clear sight lines for pan and zoom functions.
4. Integrate Your Cameras With Your Security Lighting
When motion triggers your lights, your cameras should be positioned to benefit from that illumination.
Some systems let you trigger both simultaneously—light flood and camera recording start together. That sudden illumination plus the visible recording creates serious deterrent value.
Think about what law enforcement needs from your footage. I’ve talked to detectives who say the most useful camera footage shows faces clearly enough for identification, captures approach and exit routes, and includes timestamps and context. Position cameras with that end goal in mind. You’re not just collecting footage; you’re potentially collecting evidence that could lead to arrests and convictions.
5. Cable Management Matters More
Exposed cables are cut cables. Run cables through walls, conduit, or at minimum, secure them where they can’t be easily accessed and severed. Wireless cameras avoid this issue but introduce others (signal reliability, battery maintenance). Pick your tradeoff based on your specific situation.
Make Every Camera Count
Security cameras work when they’re positioned strategically, not randomly scattered across your property hoping something useful ends up in frame.
Tonight, walk your property and identify your actual vulnerable points. Where would you try to break in if you were forced to? Those spots need cameras. Where can someone approach unseen? Put cameras there. Where are your expensive things and critical entry points? Cover them first.
You don’t need a dozen cameras. You need the right cameras in the right places, angled correctly, with overlapping coverage and no gaps. Start with your critical zones—front door, back door, driveway—then expand coverage to eliminate blind spots and side access routes.
Stop thinking about cameras as something you install and forget. They’re part of an active security system that needs testing, adjustment, and maintenance.