Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Tip Tuesday: "Tripods"

OK, so you want to get good pictures of those great fireworks during Wishes or Reflections of Earth. You have a standard point-and-shoot camera, but didn't want to lug a tripod around the parks. Mission impossible? Not really. First, think about what a tripod does: it is a steady platform on which you can take pictures with little or no motion blur. This is needed during night shots because the shutter is open for a significantly longer time than during a normal shot during the day or even with a flash. Taking fireworks pictures most times come out blurry not because the shot was out of focus, rather is was because the camera was moving while the image was being exposed. This is known as motion blur. The best way to avoid motion blur is to use a tripod... or something like a tripod.


Now think about this, a trash can is a tripod. A fence railing is a tripod. A lightpole can be a tripod (sort of). Anything solid and not moving can serve as a tripod. Just set your camera on something and take your picture trying not to move the camera at all. Best to use the timer function if you can, that way nothing is moving the camera.


Oh, one more bit -- don't use a flash. There's no way your flash can do anything at all, so don't use it. Set your camera to the night setting and make sure the flash is off. That way your camera won't think it has the flash to depend on and will expose the shot a little longer, allowing for a better shot.

The photo you see here was taken with a Sony Cybershot. I firmly gripped the camera to the side of a lightpost and used that to anchor the camera. This takes practice, but the good pictures are worth it! So happy photo taking out there!

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