Tripods

You must own a tri­pod! That 3 legged sup­port struc­ture is one of the old­est tools known to mankind. They hold pots over a fire, were used in sac­ri­fi­cial cer­e­monies and sup­port machine guns in war time.

Now, tripods pro­vide portable sta­bil­i­ty and sharp­er images for a vari­ety of pho­to­graph­ic tech­niques. Long expo­sure pic­tures tak­en in low light that would blur if the cam­era moved can be sharp and vibrant with the sta­ble sup­port of a tri­pod. A tele­pho­to lens will ampli­fy any cam­era move­ment and eas­i­ly blur your pic­ture. A tri­pod, and, in fact, any sta­ble sur­face, can help keep those pic­tures in focus.

Note: Nikon rec­om­mends that you turn off Vibra­tion Reduc­tion (VR) when using a tri­pod. VR starts a gyro­scope when you hold the shut­ter release down halfway that helps sta­bi­lize a hand held cam­era, but can induce move­ment and vibra­tion when the cam­era is sup­port­ed on a tri­pod, espe­cial­ly when using a tele­pho­to lens.

But there are tips to improve the per­for­mance of any tri­pod. First, check the bot­tom of your cam­era. Most have the stan­dard size (1/4 inch, 20 threads per inch) screw sock­et, ready to attach to a stan­dard tri­pod. Cam­era mount­ed? Let’s go.

Keep your tri­pod short. Short­er is more sta­ble. I do not extend the legs any longer then I need to. And I only raise the cen­ter pole as a last resort!

Add weight. Since a heav­ier sup­port is more sta­ble, you can improve the per­for­mance of your inex­pen­sive tri­pod by hang­ing weight from the cen­ter. Some tripods include a hook at the bot­tom of the cen­ter pole. I car­ry a bungie cord for this pur­pose and use my cam­era bag as the weight. Tying the tri­pod to a secure point embed­ded in the ground is even bet­ter but less portable. This is a big help for long expo­sures.

If it is windy, I will stand upwind with my coat open like a flash­er try­ing to pro­tect the cam­era from mov­ing. Every lit­tle bit helps.

Small tripods for small cam­eras are use­ful too. Goril­la Pod makes a pop­u­lar flex­i­ble leg tri­pod that will wrap around a pipe or chair back.

Some peo­ple make their own tripods. You can see a wide vari­ety at Instructables.com.

I find that an unin­tend­ed advan­tage to using a tri­pod is that it slows me down. Mov­ing and fram­ing takes more effort and I find myself spend­ing extra time think­ing through the shot.

You might want to add a mono pod to your col­lec­tion. They add sta­bil­i­ty, are easy to car­ry and can be used in places where tripods would be awk­ward or for­bid­den. Even using a mono pod, I look to sup­port it against some­thing sol­id, such as a rail­ing. Place the base firm­ly against your foot or even inside your shoe. And, again, short­er is more sta­ble. Only extend it as far as you need to.

The idea is you can improve the sharp­ness of your pho­tographs sim­ply by cre­at­ing a pos­i­tive sta­ble plat­form for the cam­era, whether it be on a $1000 tri­pod or the top of a fence post.

More focus to come…