I had planned for this to be a photo free weekend, so I left the tripod at home. It might seem strange, but I find I don’t take photography as seriously if I don’t have my tripod along. My framing and “capturing the light” skills still hold, but without a tripod I feel like my photography takes on a much more “playful” tone, and play is always good for the soul. But, my photo-free weekend didn’t happen since I did have my camera with me. Just a few of the best things though. So this leads into my rules of Photography that Illl be expounding on each day for the next several days. So stay tuned for them all.

Rule 1# If you have your camera with you, you have your tripod … period. This might seem like a no-brainer but the tripod is key to sharp pictures. I know, “but but my pictures seem pretty sharp and I dont use a tripod.” You CAN get sharp pics w/o a tripod, but never as sharp as they COULD be with a tripod. I have even gotten acceptable shots at 1/8sec hand held, but the trick is to brace yourself, hold your breath, and then shoot several shots. Hopefully one of them will come out sharp. However, the real trick is to not find yourself having to do this. USE a tripod or a monopod if space doesn’t allow its three legged brethern.

I won’t wax long on the types of tripod you should get, I will say buy the best one you can afford that you will use regularly. Buying a 1000.00 tripod is a waste if you aren’t going to use it as much as humanly possible. For those who ARE looking for tips, I suggest the following.

Manfrotto tripod with a ball head. You can get these in a kit for about 200.00US. Trust me, for someone who shoots alot on uneven ground, a ball head will save your sanity. If you don’t shoot on uneven ground, a pan/tilt head is acceptable but overall I still prefer the ball head for its ease of use and application in the field. While the Manfrotto tripod/heads are the best cost to quality ratio in my opinion, there are other choices such as Gitzo and Slik. Both also make excellent tripods, in fact the Gitzo mountaineer carbon fiber models are considered, by many, to be the creme-de-la-creme of tripods. But again, the best tripod for you is one you’ll actually use, but again, try not to be too frugal in getting one, it’ll pay off in the long run.

For those REALLY new people, I suggest buying gear from B&H Photo or Adorama. All of my gear has been purchased from these two locations, and they come highly recommended by me.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you tomorrow.

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