1/25sec @ f/9.0
18mm, ISO200, 0ev
Evaluative Metering, No flash
Nikon D300, AF-S 18-55mm 3.5-5.6

When you have beautiful landscape it is hard to take a bad picture. It is also hard to take a picture that thousands of other people haven’t taken. I think this fits into the good picture category but probably not the original category. The shot was taken from a tripod using a very nice new piece of equipment I now have – an external shutter release. The external shutter release lets you move away from the camera and surprisingly release the shutter. This helps two-fold; it stops any camera shake, it makes you LOOK like a pro!! Seriously though, it is essential when taking slow shutter speed landscape photography you get a good solid tripod and an external shutter release. Another piece of kit that I now can’t live without is a set of gradual ND filters (I will talk more about these in another post).

I once read a post by Thom Hogan (Nikon evangelist and damn good photographer) about tripods and how important it is to get a good one. He talked about how every amateur photographer goes through a process in buying a tripod. The first thing they do is understand and appreciate that they are going to need a tripod. Once step one is out of the way they go out and buy the cheapest one they can get their hands on. This is fine when they start out but they quickly realise that the cheap tripod they bought actually doesn’t help and infact causes more vibration than not having one at all.

Next step is to find out that you can buy a good “sturdy” tripod that comes with a tripod head for about $120 (This is the first time they realise the head and legs can come separately). Due to increasing camera experience they start reading the photographic press and realise that a good tripod head can make all the difference to the photos they take. So they remove the one that came with the legs and go out and buy a $160 tripod head.

This is good but they soon realise that the legs that came with a free tripod head aren’t actually sturdy enough to support the new sturdy tripod head and their new DSLR. So they take their new tripod head and go and buy a new $210 set of tripod legs. Can you see where I’m going with this!!

The “They” I talk about is ME!! He even says in his article – “don’t buy a tripod and head until you can afford the best!!” I wish I had taken his advice. I am sure that even as I am writing this there are photographers everywhere doing the same thing.

I guess the point to that story is: Get a good tripod!! It is worth everything you pay for it. Your creative opportunities as a photographer grow exponentially as soon as you have one as part of your kit.