Practical Photography - UK (2020-04)

70 PracticalPhotograPhy

A lotof publicspaces

th esedaysdon’t

se emto allowtheuse

oftripodsandI’mstruggling

tokeepmy shotssharpwhile

shootinghandheld.Anytips?

KevinMercer,Southport

Chrissays:it’s truethat

tr ipodsareoftenprohibited

inmanypublicspacesandat

attractionssuchas museums

and statelyhomes.these

pl acesalsotendto be quite

di mlylit,andso theseare

verydifficultconditionsto

photographin.Whilea tripod

will usuallygiveyouthebest

results,therearea fewways

toimproveyourchancesof

gettingthatpin-sharpshot

you’relookingforwithout

needinga three-leggedfriend...

1 Steadyyourself

Makeyourselfas

st ableas possible.Even

when standingstill,your

bodymovesa surprisingly

la rgeamountas it triesto

maintainbalance.theless

you canmovethecamera

duringtheexposure,theless

camerashakeyou’llintroduce

in totheimage.Shootwith

yourarmstuckedin close

toyourbodyandholdyour

breathwhiletakingtheshot.

ifthe lo cationallows,brace

yourselfagainsta wallto

furthersteadyyourstance.

2 Stabilisation

alotof camerasand

le nsesthesedaysofferimage

st abilisation.if ei theryour

cameraor lenshasthis

fe ature,turnit on.it will

helpto reducethemovement

causedby camerashake,

especiallywhencombined

withtherestof theadvice

inthislist.

3 IncreaseISO

you’llwantto usethe

fa stestshutterspeedpossible

tominimisetheeffectof

camerashake.open upyour

apertureas muchas youcan,

bearingin mindthiswill

decreaseyour depth-of-field.

ifyourapertureis as wide

openas youwantto go,then

tr y crankingup theiSo.

Beawarethatthiswillalso

in troducedigitalnoiseinto

yourimages,so onlyincrease

it as highas youneedto get

yourimagessharp.

4 Addflash

ifyoursubjectis small

enough,andyourlocation

al lowsit, youcanaddflashto

the scene.addingextralight

meansyoucanusea much

fa stershutterspeedand

minimisetheriskof camera

shake.Bearin mindthatthe

furtherawayyouarefrom

yoursubject,thelesseffective

the flashwillbe.

Above Hold your camera closeto your body with your arms tucked

in to create a stable platform whenyou’re shooting.

Above Brace yourself against

something sturdy to limit your

movement as you shoot.

Above Raising your ISO allows

you to use a faster shutter

speed for sharper shots.

How do I

shoot in low

light without

a tripod?

tip

tryusing

a monopod

Checkto seeif youcanuse

a monopodinstead.Some

establishmentsonlyban

tripodsfortheirtrip

hazard.

sarah bray