Tips, tutorials and discussion of photography, cameras and accessories.
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This was taken hand held at 1/30 of a second. Believe me, I am not that steady.

Anita
Image
Wow, very sharp. Interesting colors and lines in this picture.

Courtney
Anita: I'm with you on image stabilization. My lens all have that feature. They really come in handy when I'm shooting surfing shots without a tripod.
Great photo Anita. I saw list of helpful hints not too long ago for photography and a hint was given for lens stablization. Bring along a bag of rice and use it to prop up your lens to stablize it.

Not a bad idea!
Julie
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I've heard either rice or dry beans, Julie. I'll have to try that.

Anita
Lots of little tricks you can use if you're not shooting with an IS type lens or using a tripod/monopod:

The rice/bean bag trick is good. Actually, anything you can put your camera on while shooting will help. A table, fence, whatever - just so its somewhat solid and stationary.

If possible, lean against something - a wall, tree, or a pole, etc. Anything that can help you keep still and not sway while your taking the shot.

Don't stand with your feet side by side. Put one slightly out in front of the other, sort of like a 2-legged tripod. This will help keep you from swaying and give you some extra stability.

If you're using a P&S with just the LED screen on the back, get it as close to your body as you can. Don't stand with your arms stretched out. If you use reading glasses, look at that LED screen with them so you can bring it in closer. The more you can tuck your arms in to your body, the better.

How you hold your dSLR makes a difference. Always have one hand underneath the camera, and supporting the lens. Don't hold the camera just by the sides of the body. Support that lens as much as possible, especially if its a heavier one.

Tuck your arms in as close to your body as you can, pulling them in against your sides as much as possible. This will give you a little extra support for your camera.

Learn to breathe!! In other words, control your breathing so that you're not hitting the shutter button when either inhaling or exhaling. Time your shots if you can where you are holding your breath when you hit the shutter. For me, shooting after I've exhaled seems to work best. ANY movement on your part will contribute to shaky or blurry pictures.

Learn to roll your finger over the shutter button, Don't stab it from above. This alone can reduce a lot of your blurry shots.

Take your time! Don't rush. Give the camera time to do its thing once you do hit the shutter button and don't be in a real big hurry to move on to the next one. Unless your panning or following some action, keep yourself and that camera as still as you can.

If your out walking around and come up on something you want to shoot, especially if it ain't moving, give yourself a few seconds to settle. Let your heart rate come down some if you've been exerting yourself. If your heart is pounding so much that you can feel it, so will your camera. Same with your breathing. Take a few seconds to catch your breath if you need to.

HTH!!
GeneVH

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What a fabulous shot Anita.

Kim
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Good tips, Gene. I never heard that one about rolling your finger over the shutter button. I have an old film p&s that has the most sensitive shutter button. There was no pre-focus option. Whenever I'd give my camera to someone else to take a photo of me with my friends, I'd warn them about the sensitive shutter, but it never helped. They'd always be surprised and shoot before they meant to. Rolling my finger over the button on that camera would work great.

I'll try to remember the foot positioning trick too.

Courtney
And I just realized, I forgot to mention: Nice shot by the way!!! :doh:
GeneVH

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Thanks, Kim and Gene. Gene, those are things I've read before but it's always good to remind myself. I try to hold my breath as I press the shutter., but sometimes I'm anxious to get the shot and realize I didn't do it. Very good reminders for all of us, Gene.

Anita
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