This post is a continuation on our Tripods Series (you might like to read our introduction to tripods first).

Head to your local camera store and you’ll be confronted with a massive range of options for tripods. They come in all shapes, sizes, weights and have an array of accessories and options for connecting to your camera. How should you select one? Here are six things to keep in mind:

1. Weight

A tripod’s weight should be considered from two perspectives. Firstly remember that you (or someone else) is going to need to carry it around with you. If you are going to use it for traveling or will carry with you a lot you might want to go for a lighter option. Secondly weight is important as you consider what you’ll be putting on it. If you’re using a small camera with no accessories you’ll not need anything too weighty but if you have a DSLR, use larger lenses and add a flash to it you will probably want to invest in something that will take the weight.

2. Stability

Weight doesn’t always equal stable. Test the tripod out with your camera on it if possible. Test it fully extended to see how stable it is. Will it be sturdy on a windy day? Will it take the knock of someone bumping it on the way past?

3. Leg Locks

There is a lot of variety between manufacturers when it comes to the mechanisms used for locking legs into place. A lot of it comes to personal preference but you will want to ensure that whatever method you choose you pick something that is easy to use and adjust but that will be strong and hold in place with the full weight of your camera on it. I personally like the flip locking that Manfrotto tripods offer (I’m told Bogen also has similar ones).

Do you have a tripod? Do you use it?

I suspect that many digital photographers could improve the results that they get out of their cameras simply by attaching it to a tripod.

Over the next week or so here at DPS we’ll take a look at the humble tripod and will cover why they’re useful (read on in this post for more on that), how to shop for a tripod, the case for monopods and alternatives when you need a tripod but don’t have one handy. I hope you enjoy this series.

A ‘Rule’ for Hand Held Shooting

I’m not a big fan of rules when it comes to photography (I’m a much more intuitive guy) but sometimes it’s good to have them in the back of your mind as you shoot.

The ‘rule’ for whether it’s ok to hand hold a camera when shooting has to do with two main factors, the shutter speed you’re shooting at and the focal length of the lens you’re using. Here it is:

Choose a shutter speed with a denominator that is larger than the focal length of the lens.
So:

• if you have a lens that is 50mm in length don’t shoot any slower than 1/60th of a second
• if you have a lens with a 100mm focal length shoot at 1/125th of a second or faster
• if you are shooting with a lens of 200mm shoot at 1/250th of a second or faster

Shooting at these speeds means that the effect of camera shake that you have while taking the shot should be minimized in image you end up with.

Keep in mind that this is just a guide – a starting point if you will – to keep in mind as you shoot. It’s a rule that was devised back in the days of film and these days most of us shoot with digital cameras that often have image stabilization which means you can use slower shutter speeds and that (unless you have a DSLR) don’t have focal lengths measured in mm’s which makes using it difficult. So take it with a grain of salt if you like.

When shooting portraits in brightly lit situations outdoors it can be very handy to have a reflector on hand to assist you in ensuring that your photo is well exposed.

The challenge with outdoor portraits is how to ensure that your subject’s face is well lit. Often you’ll get harsh shadows in areas which don’t have direct light on them. Such shadows create dead patches in your image and can actually cause certain facial features to be accentuated in non flattering ways.

Commonly it is the undersides of a face that is the problem area in outdoor portraits (under the chin, nose etc).

Using a reflector helps with this by reflecting available light into those areas of your subjects face that would be in shadow without it. Quite often the best place for one is below your subjects face reflecting light back up into those dark under-spots.

The most obvious place to try out a reflector is outside but don’t write them off for indoor shooting. I find that they are particularly handy in those shots you take indoors next to windows where there is some natural light, but not quite enough to shoot without a flash. Introduce reflector into these situations and you will often find that a flash is not needed at full strength (if at all).

Reflectors generally come in two colours, silver and gold. Each gives off a different light, silver ones giving a bright and whiter reflection and gold giving a warmer and more subtle light.

To use a reflector you’ll usually want to get it pretty close to your subject – without getting it in the shot. Place your subject so that they are not looking directly into the sun (I like back or side light) and then position the reflector so that it’s glow bounces back up to light up your subject’s face. You’re ideally looking for a nice even light with no shadows so keep positioning the reflector until you achieve this (an assistant can be handy with this – although if your shot is more tightly cropped you might even be able to get the reflector positioned in your subjects lap).

Photo by keturn
One of the things about digital cameras that makes them so appealing is the little LCD screen display on the back of them.

When I used a film SLR I used to take meticulous notes of the settings that I used when taking photos – noting frame number, aperture and shutter speed down after most shots so that a week or two later when I got my photos back from the lab I could compare my notes with the shots and work out how I might improve my photography.

The LCD screen on digital cameras cuts out the need for this process as images can be viewed immediately after they are taken and adjustments can be made to improve your shots straight away.

If you like to record your images settings for future analysis, most digital cameras will do this for you – to be viewed later either on your camera (using the ‘info’ function when in playback on many cameras) or on your computer.

LCD as a Viewfinder?

One question I get asked a lot by readers is whether they should use their digital camera’s LCD screen or viewfinder to frame their shots. I suspect that the majority of camera owners do use the LCD but there are a number of arguments both for and against it. Let me explore a few:

This week I did an informal survey on a few of my digital camera owning friends and asked them to nominate which shooting modes that they most commonly use on their digital cameras (they use a range of point and shoot and DSLR digicams).

The results of this little survey didn’t really surprise me – Automatic Mode was the overwhelming response from both beginner and the more advanced users alike (a little surprising to me). In fact three of the people I questioned responded by asking ‘is there any other non Automatic mode?’

As a result I’ve decided to take a run through the basic shooting modes that most digital cameras have (both point and shoot and DSLRs have most of these).

While this is pretty basic information for many readers I hope it will be helpful for those right at the beginning of their digital photography journey who are yet to venture out of Automatic Mode.

Automatic Modes

Automatic Mode

I suspect no one will need any introduction to this mode (as it seems most digital camera owners use it). Auto mode tells your camera to use it’s best judgement to select shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, focus and flash to take the best shot that it can. With some cameras auto mode lets you override flash or change it to red eye reduction. This mode will give you nice results in many shooting conditions, however you need to keep in mind that you’re not telling your camera any extra information about the type of shot you’re taking so it will be ‘guessing’ as to what you want. As a result some of the following modes might be more appropriate to select as they give your camera a few more hints (without you needing to do anything more).