Tips for steady shots

[mv6_stormer]

I've not long bought a DSLR camera, and I'm finding it hard to hold the camera steady whilst shooting.

Anybody have any pearls of wisdom to share regarding technique?

Cheers, Mike.

[poah]

you want your shutter speed to be atleast 1/focal length eg 200mm - 1/200s or use a tripod.

[manek]

Also, stand with your legs apart (or lean against something) and stop breathing as you press the shutter. I've taken pics handheld up to 2 seconds successfully when lodging myself against something solid and holding my breath. It's not the perfect situation but if needs must - and the techniques work for faster speeds to of course.

[Major Bloodnok]

Holding your breath is good, but make sure you hold it having breathed out, not in.

Lampposts, bollards, walls - all are reasonable substitutes for a tripod.

[stuart b]

Left hand on lens, right hand on camera, tuck arms in (elbows against body). Rest eyepiece against head/eye area to form 3rd contact point.

[mv6_stormer]

Thanks for the tips guys.

Should I be trying to hold the camera tightly or just supporting it loosely?

When depressing the shutter button should I press quickly and release instantly or press and hold until the exposure is complete?

Cheers.

[nick_bbb]

You know Mike, holding a camera is like making love to a beautiful woman. Hold her with confidence but not too hard, lightly push her buttons until the moment of impact and make sure you follow through

[F308 MAN]

keep off the drink the night before ?






sorry .... < gets coat >

[seasider]

Major Bloodnok said:

Holding your breath is good, but make sure you hold it having breathed out, not in.

Marksman ??

[speedychrissie]

one more quite important thing:


keep practicing!


try pushing your boundaries a bit and if you have time, see if you can take a longer exposure than you are expecting to be able to. that is the best way to learn the art of the steady camera.

the 1/focal length for a shutter speed is a good start but with practice you can do a lot better than that.

this may sound like i am blowing my own trumpet but im not, im just using it as an example:
this shot was taken with my 300mm telephoto, at 300mm f6.0 but shutter speed of 1/25 i had no tripod, i was just leaning against the barrier at the front of the crowd resting my elbows on it so that i could get as still as possible. admittedly i was very lucky to get this shot, and this is the only one that really works out of the many that i took. but it is an example of where the techniques already described can work.

[pikey]

I have one of those Sony/Minolta/Konica things that has an image stabiliser built in.

It's really rather good. Give it a chance and you can make handheld 2 second exposure shots work.

(Which is convienient as the on-board flash is completely useless)

[mv6_stormer]

nick_bbb said:

You know Mike, holding a camera is like making love to a beautiful woman. Hold her with confidence but not too hard, lightly push her buttons until the moment of impact and make sure you follow through

Nice one

[VxDuncan]

Although image stabilised (/VR/OS) kit helps, it's best to get the technique right as well! Although a supposed 3ish stops advantage, I feel many people don't use proper technique with IS, relying on the electronics (a bit like ABS you could say?) Don't want to open a can of worms though.

One thing I would say regarding technique - shoot loads of frames is camera shake is likely to be an issue. It's digital, it's free and the odds of getting a sharp one are far higher.

[mv6_stormer]

Managed to take that at 1/30, 107mm today, without the aid of tripod.

Still managing to blur the hell out of seemingly easy shots tho . Ho hum, practice makes good eh.

[DJ_AS]

Here's one for shooting static subjects:

Activate your camera's two second shutter delay so that it doesn't matter if you're a bit ham-fisted with the shutter release.