Handheld photography tips and techniques and without tripod

CosmicGalaxy · Sep 7, 2023

Hello All,

please provide me "Handheld photography tips and techniques and without tripod" ..

I am waiting for your valuable tips & techniques and prerequisite's.

Thanks & Regards,

CosmicGalaxy

Beginner in photography

Tom Axford · Sep 7, 2023

Many cameras today have image stabilisation either in the camera body or in the lens or both. The effectiveness of such image stabilisation varies very considerably.

So, what camera are you using? What lens?

These will have a major effect on the choice of shutter speed if the camera is handheld (not on a tripod or other solid support).

If the camera and lens have no image stabilisation, then the minimum shutter speed will depend on the focal length of the lens and on how steady you are in holding the camera and pressing the shutter button.

yardcoyote · Sep 7, 2023

First of all, keep your shutter speed up! Be aware of it, watch it, think about it. Make choices that allow you to use a higher shutter speed.

And of course if you have a viewfinder, use it. Keeping the camera at your eye allows you to keep your elbows in and your body in a line. Shooting at arm's length is much less stable.

Then, experiment and practice.

Experiment with how you hold the camera and lens. Other than what is required for safety, there is no one correct way to hold any combination. Figure out what is best for you and your body.

Relax. Hold firmly but not tightly. Every bit of tension in your body will communicate itself directly to your lens. Stay compact. Keep your elbows in.

Learn to control your breathing. This takes a lot of practice, but eventually becomes automatic. I was taught to fill my lungs halfway, pause for an instant and relax fully, then hold my breath and press the shutter. This has always worked well for me. If I take a deep breath and then hold my breath, it adds tension.

Bradrobb · Sep 7, 2023

All my Sony cameras have different scene modes that help you take better hand held shoots in most conditions.

Brad

BBbuilder467 · Sep 7, 2023

CosmicGalaxy said:
Hello All,

please provide me "Handheld photography tips and techniques and without tripod" ..

I am waiting for your valuable tips & techniques and prerequisite's.

Thanks & Regards,

CosmicGalaxy

Beginner in photography

The old method of learning technique was to hold the camera at eye-level using the viewfinder. Then, you should be able to avoid camera shake if you maintained a shutter speed of 1/focal length or faster. Using 35mm terms with no image stabilization, that gave you a baseline for reference.

If you couldn't hand-hold 50mm at 1/60th shutter speed, you were probably doing something wrong and had to adjust your technique. You learned to always be aware of the shutter speed hand-held.

FingerPainter · Sep 7, 2023

Learn how to hold the camera properly.

Stand with your body facing about 45 degrees to the right of a line to the subject. Place your feet shoulder-width apart with the left foot forward and pointing at the subject and the right pointed about 60-75 degree from the left. Flex you knees.

Hold the viewfinder firmly against the head near the eye. Do not hold the camera at arms length to look at the rear screen.

Hold the camera body with the thumb and lower three fingers of your right hand. Put the index finger on the shutter release. Use your left hand under the lens (or lens and body if the lens is really short) with your thumb on the left side. Position that left hand further forward or back as necessary to reach any zoom ring while balancing the camera/lens combination. The left hand should be taking most of the weight.

Tuck both elbows into your ribs.

To release the shutter, squeeze or roll your finger (opinions differ), but don't stab.

BBbuilder467 · Sep 7, 2023

You also want to grip the camera so it's naturally level to the horizon. It avoids a lot of problems if you get in the habit of instinctively keeping the camera level.

Krusty79 · Sep 7, 2023

FingerPainter said:
Learn how to hold the camera properly.

Stand with your body facing about 45 degrees to the right of a line to the subject. Place your feet shoulder-width apart with the left foot forward and pointing at the subject and the right pointed about 60-75 degree from the left. Flex you knees.

Hold the viewfinder firmly against the head near the eye. Do not hold the camera at arms length to look at the rear screen.

Hold the camera body with the thumb and lower three fingers of your right hand. Put the index finger on the shutter release. Use your left hand under the lens (or lens and body if the lens is really short) with your thumb on the left side. Position that left hand further forward or back as necessary to reach any zoom ring while balancing the camera/lens combination. The left hand should be taking most of the weight.

Tuck both elbows into your ribs.

To release the shutter, squeeze or roll your finger (opinions differ), but don't stab.

To add to this:

You can also kneel and use your left knee to brace you left elbow (assuming you are right handed). Or lean against a wall/tree to stabilize your body/elbow.

You can eliminate most vertical shake and some horizontal shake with a cheap DIY string "tripod."

Stabilize Your Camera for $1 with a Washer, Bolt, and String

You've likely seen this DIY trick before, but it doesn't hurt to share this for those who haven't. Instead of carrying around a tripod or monopod, you can

petapixel.com

FrancoD · Sep 7, 2023

If you listen very carefuly , sometime trees , posts , walls and tables will sing this song :

Lean on me
When you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on...

mind you, that is not good at all to me trying to catch raptors flying by but it does work at thimes.

alcelc · Sep 7, 2023

Krusty79 said:
FingerPainter said:

Learn how to hold the camera properly.

Stand with your body facing about 45 degrees to the right of a line to the subject. Place your feet shoulder-width apart with the left foot forward and pointing at the subject and the right pointed about 60-75 degree from the left. Flex you knees.

Hold the viewfinder firmly against the head near the eye. Do not hold the camera at arms length to look at the rear screen.

Hold the camera body with the thumb and lower three fingers of your right hand. Put the index finger on the shutter release. Use your left hand under the lens (or lens and body if the lens is really short) with your thumb on the left side. Position that left hand further forward or back as necessary to reach any zoom ring while balancing the camera/lens combination. The left hand should be taking most of the weight.

Tuck both elbows into your ribs.

To release the shutter, squeeze or roll your finger (opinions differ), but don't stab.

Click to expand...

To add to this:

You can also kneel and use your left knee to brace you left elbow (assuming you are right handed). Or lean against a wall/tree to stabilize your body/elbow.

Not everyone can do this... My big belly making me difficult to raise myself up without support/help :-( .

Kneeling down would also lowering the angle of shooting which might not be always work...

Krusty79 said:
You can eliminate most vertical shake and some horizontal shake with a cheap DIY string "tripod."

https://petapixel.com/2011/01/26/stabilize-your-camera-for-1-with-a-washer-bolt-and-string/

A very useful trick.

Many years ago before IBIS was popular, a member had introduced his Human Stabilization System by using a table/mini tripod on our chest...

number_5 · Sep 7, 2023

Tom Axford said:
Many cameras today have image stabilisation either in the camera body or in the lens or both. The effectiveness of such image stabilisation varies very considerably.

So, what camera are you using? What lens?

These will have a major effect on the choice of shutter speed if the camera is handheld (not on a tripod or other solid support).

If the camera and lens have no image stabilisation, then the minimum shutter speed will depend on the focal length of the lens and on how steady you are in holding the camera and pressing the shutter button.

+1. You should experiment your camera and lens pairing.

Most of my images are birds, and using long focal length. For my Sony FF, I can get it down to 1/320s @ 840mm and slower, the keepers go down significantly. But with my MFT, I'm comfortable with 1/40s with good results at the same FF focal length.

@OP, you can start 1/<focal length> (200mm, 1/200s), and go from there. Also, the modern cameras and NR software are pretty good at their jobs and you can raise the ISO a little to keep the SS a bit higher.

JustUs7 · Sep 8, 2023

FrancoD said:
If you listen very carefuly , sometime trees , posts , walls and tables will sing this song :

Lean on me
When you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on...

mind you, that is not good at all to me trying to catch raptors flying by but it does work at thimes.

I totally use this. A nice fence rail can make a great tripod substitute in a pinch.

But I also rolled a camera down a hill doing that once.

It survived no worse for the roll. Nice soft forest dirt of Michigans upper peninsula.

Older Fossil · Sep 8, 2023

Keep in mind that there are two main sources of motion blur, camera motion/shake and subject motion. Good technique or tripod and modern image stabilization can pretty much eliminate camera motion. Once you have camera motion well controlled, consider your subject's possible movement. Higher shutter speeds may be needed to avoid blur from movements of the subject(s). But depending on the subject, some motion blur might to desired. A perfectly frozen airplane propeller may not be as interesting as enough blur to indicate that it was turning.

My $0.02,
Art

Mika Y. · Sep 8, 2023

Especially if the light is low, you might also look for sturdy things like trees, poles, walls etc that you can brace either yourself or the camera against for some additional stability.

Obviously this can limit your composition, but it's still occasionally useful.

Charles McRobert · Sep 8, 2023

BBbuilder467 said:
You also want to grip the camera so it's naturally level to the horizon. It avoids a lot of problems if you get in the habit of instinctively keeping the camera level.

This advice is very important. In other words, make sure that your photograph has "good axis." You can ignore this advice if you are doing 'out there' portraiture, but for everyday landscapes and stills/portraits, make certain that you have the horizon right.

Another departure from this rule is architecture, where you may choose an aesthetic angle that suits your purpose. The point is to make that choice before depressing the shutter.

JohnSil · Sep 8, 2023

CosmicGalaxy said:
Hello All,

please provide me "Handheld photography tips and techniques and without tripod" ..

I am waiting for your valuable tips & techniques and prerequisite's.

Thanks & Regards,

CosmicGalaxy

Beginner in photography

Cosmic, welcome to photography!!

Most of the body techniques will be covered in short order so I'll skip them.

One seldom used and very effective technique is to not hold the camera at all. If you find an adequate object, simply put your camera on it using a couple second delay. For example set the camera on a rock or a table or chair, tree stump etc. For example if shooting a fancy church ceiling put the camera on the ground facing up. The ground is more steady than any tripod! Good luck!!!

John

New Wrycuda · Sep 8, 2023

CosmicGalaxy said:
please provide me "Handheld photography tips and techniques and without tripod" ..

I am waiting for your valuable tips & techniques and prerequisites.

There’s major differences in photographers’ ability to handhold the camera.

Consider the range of stability exhibited at the shooting range, particularly in the standing position; beginners will be hard pressed to even hit the target, while Olympic-standard shooters can consistently keep their shots within the 10 ring (about 1cm at 50 metres).

In my earlier days, I was a keen target shooter, and the techniques are obviously transferable to photography. It’s not called “taking a shot” for nothing.

Stay calm.
Hold your breath mid-way.
Apply part pressure to the trigger.
Wait for a steady hold.
Increase trigger pressure to release the shot.

Opinions vary on the release. Some prefer the slow release, while the more experienced shooters can release “optimally”. The latter method is more applicable with telescopic sights, but a jerky release is best avoided.

CosmicGalaxy · Sep 8, 2023

Hello Tom Axford,

Noted . Thank you for valuable information.

CosmicGalaxy · Sep 8, 2023

Hello number_5,

Noted . Thank you .

CosmicGalaxy · Sep 8, 2023

Hello yardcoyote,

Noted. Thank you .

Handheld photography tips and techniques and without tripod

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