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The Importance of a Tripod!

Posted by on May 20, 2012

I use to be one of those people that believed I would never need a tripod.  I avoided them.  I didn’t understand why anybody would want to carry around something so heavy.

Boy, back then, when I had those thoughts, I had no idea the importance of one, or even the benefits of what a tripod could do.

Below is my list of reasons as to why a tripod is essential to any photographer!

1) Night Photography

Because of the darker lighting, cameras need as little shake as possible.  The tripod eliminates the camera shake, and you can get clearer shots.  To eliminate camera shake even more, get yourself a remote release for your camera.  That way you can hit the camera button without touching the camera at all.

2) Long Exposures

In order to do long exposures, it involves going lower than 1/60 second on your shutter speed.  Again, going below that speed means camera shake, and your camera sensors become more sensitive.  That tripod balances out the shake so you can get photos such as the one below:

Last week a few of you asked how I captured the traffic shot as you wanted to try it on your own.  I will try to explain as best as I can now:

1) I had a tripod

2) I altered my shutter speed to 1/4 up to 2 second delay (long exposure)  You do this by making sure your camera function is set to the TV setting on your camera.  I give it up to a 2 second delay to eliminate the camera shake on my camera that I may have caused from touching my camera since I do not have a remote release for my camera.

Then I just take multiple shots until the shot I want comes out.  So I hope you can go out and try this one on your own now, and let me know how it goes.  If you have anymore photography questions you can always email me at demetrie1930 @ gmail . com

3) Self Portraits

A lot of the self portraits I take happen to be me holding my camera out and clicking the button.  With a tripod I can eliminate that hand reaching out by setting my camera up, and the scene around me by the use of the self timer.  Again, a remote release would really come in handy for self portraits 😉

4) HDR Photography

If you are curious to know what HDR photography is, please make sure to check out this post of mine.

Because HDR photography is combining 3 of the same shots,  there is an important need of making sure all 3 shots are balanced.  The only guarantee way to capture this is by the use of a tripod.  Again, eliminating the camera shake, and making your shot come out the way you want it to.

5) Eliminates that Camera Shake

And if you haven’t heard it enough in this post, utilizing a tripod gets rid of any blurring in your camera shot.  So it’s guaranteed to come out clear, and just the way you want it to.

For myself, I opt to utilize my camera without the tripod as much as possible, but on any night shoots, it’s an absolute must.  I now understand the importance of a tripod, and have been having even more fun with my shots especially at night because of it.

What are some of your favorite moments for utilizing a tripod?

 

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