Photography Quick Tip#6 – Use a tripod

Photography Quick Tips

Tripods will ensure that your picture is free from camera shake, giving you a much sharper picture. Of course this depends on whether the tripod is sturdy and you get the focus correct.

Tripods can be quite cheap, but you will find the the cheap ones are fairly flimsy when extended to any height. It is well worth spending a bit on a good tripod as it is one of the accessories that will work with any camera and it can have a positive effect on your images.

Along with your tripod you will need a good head. Not the one on top of your shoulders, the head is the bit that connects your camera to the tripod and allows you to pivot the camera and secure it in place. Again a good quality head, whether it’s a ball and socket or pan and tilt head will be a big benefit to your photography. The last thing you want is to set your camera up for the perfect shot only to find the head slipping just as you are about to press the shutter.

There are alternatives to using a tripod, a beanbag placed on a wall or rock or some other solid object can support your camera just as well as a tripod and can be a little easier to carry, although it will still be fairly heavy. Beanbags are great for getting set up quickly as you can just chuck it on the floor, on a rock or wherever, plonk your camera down on it and start taking pictures. Tripods take a little longer to set up.

2 thoughts on “Photography Quick Tip#6 – Use a tripod

  1. What counts as a good tripod? I have a flimsy Jessops that is only of use if you don’t touch it. I’ve found a Kood 284 for £55 (head £30 extra) – so is that ‘good’, not so good, or ‘over the top’? I simply don’t know.

    1. A good tripod, now there’s a tricky one. It largely depends on how you are going to use it. If you want to carry it around a lot then a light weight aluminium or carbon fibre would be a good choice, but that may be at the expense of sturdiness. If you are in the studio then a big heavy tripod will give you better stability but will be a pain to move around. So a ‘good’ tripod is not that simple.
      The Kood model you referred to isn’t a very well known model. It’s likely to be better than the cheap jessops model for sure, but might not be hugely better.
      Tripods from Manfrotto, Slik, Giottos, Gitzo (expensive) and a few other brands are all good, and add a decent head to them and you’ll have a good all rounder, but expect to pay up to £150 for a good setup.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *