Tripods: How to Use Them, and Choose Them

hi I'm sill steel now it may seem like a no-brainer but there are actually a lot of things to know about using tripods for photography so in this video we're going to cover everything about tripods from how to choose the right one to using all the features of a tripod including some features you may not even know about and how to avoid dumb mistakes that could damage your gear or result in bad photos [Music] all right let's start with choosing the right tripod for your needs I'll keep this part brief because we want to get on to how to use a tripod but using it depends on which features it has so we need to talk about this part first now I'm assuming you're a still photographer there are specialized tripods for video which are different from tripods for still photography for example this video tripod it can pan and it can tilt two directions of movement but for still photography you want to be able to put the camera in any position so you need a tripod that has one more degree of movement you need what's called a 3-way head or a ball head and we'll talk about those in a moment also you'll notice this tripod is all in one piece the legs in the head don't come apart now if you're on a low budget you may start with a one piece tripod like this but generally for the more sophisticated tripods the head and the legs come apart and you buy them separately so let's talk about the heads first as I mentioned at the bare minimum you want a three-way head like this one you can see it has one two three levers to allow you to move the camera in three different directions it's basically like that video pan and tilt head that we saw with one more axis of movement and that allows you to put the camera in any position however there is another alternative that allows you to quickly put the camera in any position and that is a ball head like this one the ball head is basically a ball in a socket and by moving one lever it releases the friction on the ball and allows you to move the camera to any position you like so which is better a 3-way head or a ball head well it depends on what kind of photography you do and how much speed and weight matter to you now the ball head tends to be smaller more compact and faster to work with so if you're traveling and want the most compact tripod or if you're shooting moving subjects and want to be able to move your camera around very quickly to recompose and a ball head is probably for you the 3-way head has an advantage if you want to be able to put your camera in very precise positions and you don't mind it being a little slower because you have to use three different levers to reposition the camera and if you don't mind it being a little bit bulkier so if you're shooting landscapes or product photography or architecture or macro photography where you want to take your time and set up very carefully composed shots and you don't mind it being a little slower than the 3-way head it's probably better for you I personally use ball heads because I like my tripod to be very compact and portable and I also like to be able to move my camera very quickly now if you really want the ultimate in quick movement there's a type of ball head called a pistol grip head sometimes called a joystick head now a great thing about these is with one hand with one motion you can grab it and squeeze the trigger and then move the camera to any position you like and release now it's very fast but the downside is it tends to be a bit bigger and heavier than other types of ball heads and also if you've got a big heavy camera out on it it can get kind of unbalanced when that camera is hanging way out at an angle and finally for those of you can shoot with long lens for sports or wildlife photography you might want to consider a gimbal head now these are big and expensive and highly specialized but if you do really long lens photography then they can be a lifesaver now let's talk about the tripod legs there are generally two different ways that tripod legs are latched we sometimes call them flip ease and twist B's so here's an example of flip ease you flip a little lever to move the legs when it's in position we flip it back to secure it here's an example of what we call twisties you turn a little collar to move the leg and you tighten it by rotating it the advantage of the twisties is they're more compact they're quiet they're less likely to get caught on things less likely to get broken off the downside is it's easy to fail to tighten one of them enough and then one of your legs collapses dumped your tripod over believe me I've done it now the flippy lever latches have the advantage of being faster to use and you're less likely to leave it partially latched the downside is usually they're made of plastic which means they can break they get caught on things they're not quite as compact and they make a little bit of noise that being quiet is really important to you now there are strong opinions in favor of both types I typically prefer the lever latches for their speeds and ease of use but I have this travel tripod that has twisties because it's compact and it's quiet one more thing to know about tripod legs is that many of them have replaceable feet so if you're indoors on a smooth surface you can get suction cup feet or if you're outside on soft ground or maybe on ice you can put metal spikes on there so if that's important to you make sure you look for a tripod that has replaceable feet there's a raging debate about whether carbon fiber or aluminum makes a better tripod some people would argue that carbon fiber makes a better material because it absorbs vibration better than aluminum on the other hand some people would say aluminum because it's stronger and sturdier makes a more stable tripod it's certainly true that if you shoot in cold weather you might prefer carbon fiber because is less cold to the touch and will freeze your hand on the other hand some aluminum tripods have these rubber grips added to them and that protects your hand it mostly comes down to a choice based on price and weight now if weight is your primary concern if you're a traveler or a backpacker you're probably going to want to go with carbon fiber because it's lighter but carbon fiber is also more expensive so if money is your primary concern then aluminum probably win now the final aspect of choosing a tripod that I want to mention before we get into how to use them is the center column that's this part that goes up and down now some tripods have this and some don't the advantage of having a center column is it allows you to make very precise adjustments to the height of your camera very easily and another advantage is that some tripods have a center column that's reversible you can take it out put it upside down hang your camera from it and allows you get your camera very close to the ground now the disadvantage of a center column is the more you raise it the more wobbly and weak your whole set up gift so ideally you would only raise it when you absolutely need to you would want to normally raise your tripod legs to their full height and keep the center column all the way down and the lowest most stable position and shoot like that and if you have a big heavy camera and need a lot of stability you might want to consider a tripod that doesn't have a center column at all and when you're shopping for a tripod whether it has a center column or not you should make sure you get one that's tall enough that you can look through the viewfinder of your camera without having to stoop over because that gets very tiring and then one good reason to test the tripod that you're considering in a camera store instead of just buying it online another reason to test out a tripod in a camera store stop just buying one online is you can test it with your actual camera gear and see how it performs with that amount of weight so go ahead and take your heaviest camera and lens and flash combo whatever you use put it on there and then give it a little tap and see how long it takes for the vibration to settle down and tap it in the middle of one leg and see how longer it takes the vibration to settle down if there's a lot of shaking and wobbling going on and you probably need a heavier duty tripod and in general it's better to have a tripod that's too sturdy than one that's not sturdy enough so if you're on a low budget you might consider buying a used tripod that's good and sturdy instead of a new one that's flimsy because that's all you can afford like all photography gear good tripods cost money if you start with a cheap one pretty soon you'll be replacing it and buying a more expensive one so you might just want to skip that first step and go right to a better one from the start you're going to spend at least $300 on a decent tripod some people spend much more alright now let's talk about how to use a tripod one of the most important features of any tripod is the quick-release plate there are many different styles of them on many different brands of tripods but they all serve the same function they allow you to take your camera quickly on and off of the tripod by screwing the plate to your camera instead of having to screw your camera to the tripod each time so they're great but they have some quirks first of all even though they're called quick release plates some of them are quicker than others I like this Manfrotto style wear with a single motion you can just put the camera down and lock it into place now there are other types where once you put the camera down you have to tighten a little screw to tighten it down now I like my quick release plates to be quick other people prefer the mechanical security of the screw down style and also you might want to once you snap it down might want to wiggle it a little to take out any slack because otherwise if you move it to a different position it may shift slightly to take out any slack and they slip a little bit of course quick release plates also vary in the way that you tighten them onto your camera for example this Manfrotto has a very typical what they call a d-ring style there's a little metal ring you can flip up and make the handle that you use to tighten it you have to remember to push that back down before you try to put it on the tripod that may seem obvious but I've seen people struggle with that other tripods have a different design and they have a notch that's designed so that something like a screwdriver or a coin could fit in there to turn it and tighten it on the assumption that people always have coins well I don't know about you but I don't carry coins anymore so it's a good idea to always have some coins in your camera bag or you can do what my colleague Julie does and she actually velcro's a coin to her tripod so that she's never caught without a coin to tighten the release plate and speaking of Julie's tricks here's another thing she does with her quick-release plate now one of the tricky things about these plates is there's often not symmetrical there's kind of a lip on one piece that goes under a little ledge on another piece and by definition we're often using tripods in the dark when it's hard to see and it can be hard to figure out which side goes where so she marks her the tripod and the plate with a little bit of colored nail polish so she can tell which side lines up with which side it also helps because it tells her which side of the plate is going forward on the lens when she screws it on to the camera most quick-release systems have some kind of lock so you can't accidentally bump it and drop your camera for example this Manfrotto system has a little lever pin right here and within the lock position and you can't unlatch it so if you're trying to get your camera off and can't figure out why check and make sure it's not locked and finally you'll want to buy some extra quick release plates because you'll lose them or other photographers will take them either accidentally or not or you might do the dumb thing that I do which is I'll leave the plate attached to one camera and then I'll go out with a different camera and my tripod and I'll get out in the field and discover that I don't have the plate because it's on a different camera so if you always have a spare plate in your camera bag then you can avoid those kind of problems all right we've talked out the difference between the slippy lever latches and the twisties on the tripod leg now there are better and worse ways of dealing with these especially the twisty one now first of all you don't want to over tighten them of course you don't want your leg to collapse but if you get in the habit of tightening the crap out of them you can damage them and it also makes it very hard to undo them again so usually all that's required is about a quarter of a turn to loosen it or to tighten it and if you want to get good at putting your tripod up and down you should learn what that minimum movement is on your tripod and just make that minimum movement each time so I go a quarter turn and quarter turn quarter turn and quarter turn flaps and tighten tighten tighten tighten and the reverse quarter turn quarter turn and quarter turn quarter turn extend and then tighten tighten tighten tighten you always tighten from the top and loosen from the bottom and then when you put it down make sure to lean on it and make sure none of your legs collapse because you rather find out now if one of your legs is not quite tight enough then after you put your camera on there alright we're halfway through and the best stuff is yet to come including my super-secret last tip but I just want to take a couple of seconds to let you know if you like my videos you can find a lot more of them on my website including many that you won't find on YouTube and you'll also find my full link photography courses including courses on using Photoshop and Lightroom you can check it all out on my website at steel training comm most tripods allow you to put the legs in a number of different spread positions and there's usually some kind of little latch at the top of the leg that allows you to move it to different positions on this one for example there's a little latch here you've got to pull out to release it and then you can move leather to the leg to a different position you can also if you're needed to sometimes if you're in a crowded space you may need to get one leg entirely out of the way it could be two legs down and put one leg out and maybe there's a wall or a bench or something here blocking you you could rest one leg on something like that or even get it up like that and get it out of the way I've leaned it on something of course one way to get your camera very low to the ground if you need to is you can put all three legs in this position so that your tripod is basically flat on the ground you can get your camera very low that way now another way you can get your camera very low to the ground if your tripod allows it you can take the center column out turn it upside down hang your camera from it get as low to the ground as you want another thing to think about with your tripod legs you want to make sure that the weight of your camera is well supported by the arrangement of the legs on the tripod so if you have a big heavy limbs hanging out you want to make sure one of the tripod legs is directly under that weight now an easy way to do this if you're setting your tripod up on level ground and just to set it up with one leg facing your subject and you're guaranteed to have a leg under the weight of your lens but you have to keep in mind - if you tilt your camera let's say you go over to portrait mode now suddenly the weight of your camera may be hanging over the open space between the legs and if your legs are not spread far enough or if you have a big heavy camera that weight could pull it right over believe me I've done it so you might want to rearrange the legs of your tripod when you tilt it to make sure that the weight always stays well supported and alternative to that is to use what's called an L bracket as your quick-release plate that way when you tilt your camera to portrait mode its weight stays directly over the center of your tripod you can find L brackets for almost any brand of tripod by searching online another thing helps keep your camera stable on a tripod is to use a tripod collar for long lenses now look at the difference here if the camera was mounted directly on the tripod then the whole weight of the camera and lens system is hanging out in space it's not only being unbalanced but it's putting a lot of strain on that tripod mount in the bottom of the camera but instead by using the collar it's supported in the middle so that the weight of the camera and the lens is balanced many tripods have a built-in bubble level somewhere on the top of the legs to help you set up your tripod so that it's perfectly leveled in situations where that matters for example if you're shooting a landscape and you want to make sure the horizon is level the problem is if you're using a ball head your tripod may be level but you don't know if your camera is fortunately most newer cameras have a built-in leveling mode where you can go into that mode and view an on-screen display that helps you level your camera not only side to side but fore-and-aft also now that we have this I don't even care if my tripod is level anymore because I know that my camera is no matter how stable your tripod if you're using your hand to trigger the shutter on your camera then you are shaking it you're introducing a little bit of motion vibration into your photo so if you want the sharpest possible photos you need to get what's called a cable release or remote shutter release now in the old days this was actually a physical cable that connected and mechanically trip the shutter on the camera these days it's more often an electronic device that connects by a wire to a little port inside your camera or sometimes that's a radio triggered device that connects to that port or these days it may even be a smartphone app that triggers a radio device connected to your camera or which may be even directly triggers your camera itself if you have a new camera that supports that just look up a remote shutter release for whatever camera model you have online and you'll find plenty of options it doesn't matter which method you use what matters is that you not be touching the shutter button when you're trying to take stable photos on a tripod now if you don't have your cable release with you or you have one but its batteries are dead in a pinch you can use the camera self timer mode where you press the shutter button and then a few seconds later it takes the photo now you might be tempted use the two second timer so that you can take photos more frequently but I would urge you to be cautious sometimes even after two seconds the camera and tripod still might be shaking it may not be visible to you but it may be enough to put motion blur in your photos so I recommend using the ten-second timer to make sure that the whole thing has plenty of time to settle down before it fires off the photo now you can further reduce vibration by using what's called mirror lock-up mode now this is on a DSLR if you have a mirrorless camera this doesn't apply because there's no mirror on a DSLR before the shutter can open the mirror has to flip out of the way and that mirror movement causes a little vibration so if you're making a really delicate photo where absolute stillness is required you can lock the mirror out of the way before taking the photo just look up mirror lock-up mode in your camera manual or online for your camera to see how you do it now one quick and easy way to do it on most DSLRs to put the camera in Live View mode so you have that live view on the screen that gets the mirror out of the way and then take the photo another way to reduce vibration when your cameras on the tripod is to remove the strap you wouldn't believe how many people I see out shooting with the camera on a tripod carefully using their cable release and their strap is blowing in the wind shaking the camera so you're going to hold it in your hand to prevent that or you can secure it to the tripod somehow or better yet you can just take it entirely off now if you don't want to fiddle with these little connectors that are so difficult you can buy one of these kind of straps or just have little Clips here you can clip it off shoot it like that and then later clip it back on you may wonder what this thing is on some tripods some tripods have a hook here others have a hole in the bottom of the center column where you can screw a hook in this is called the ballast hook and it's a way of adding extra weight to the tripod to make it more stable especially in the wind now there are many different ways to do this you don't want to carry extra weight with you so there are little bags that are made that you can take out and on location you can fill them what rocks or gravel and then you can hang that bag from the hook now you don't want it to swing in the wind like a pendulum because that would shake the tripod so it's usually best to hang something like that just low enough that it barely touches the ground so the wind doesn't make it swing now I often prefer to just use my camera bag for weight instead of taking something else sometimes it's hard to hang the bag from there so what I like to do sometimes just take a standard bungee cord and use the bungee cord connect that from the handle of the camera bag to the hook just add a little extra stability one more way to add stability to your tripod and give yourself a little extra storage space if you get what's called a tripod apron or a tripod shelf or a tripod hammock it's basically a little shelf that you sling between the legs of the tripod and you can load it up with camera gear or you can put rocks on it just to add extra weight and extra stability here's a little bit of tripod etiquette how do you walk with a tripod well if you only have to go a few steps it's no problem can just pick it up or if you have a super light camera on it no problem just pick it up and carry it around it's best to keep it close to you and you can walk around like this but if you have to go more than a few steps that should get a bit top-heavy and a bit dangerous so if you have to go some distance it's better to take your camera off the tripod put it around your neck risk safe and then pick up your tripod and carry it close to your body now I find it harder to carry with the heavy part up here I think it's much easier to carry it with the heavy part down just put it in your hand let the legs stick up keep it close to your body like this don't do what some people do and carry it like this because then the part that sticks out is swinging around and banging into things like a Three Stooges routine so don't be a menace keep it close to your body and walk like this there's an important setting to change on your camera when you're using a tripod that many people don't think of now I like to use stabilized lenses because I have shaky hands I'm almost always using lenses with the stabilizer turned on but when you put your camera on a tripod you need to turn that stabilizer off and this applies whether it's a lens based stabilization or whether it's in camera body stabilization those stabilizers are designed to work with hand movements and they go a little bit crazy when they're locked down on a tripod if you doubt this just put your camera on a tripod with the stabilizer on and shoot about 10 minutes of video and then when you watch the footage you'll occasionally see the camera make weird little movements for no reason you can even see this in some of my old videos when I forgot to turn the stabilizer off all right I played the most important tip for last if you have this kind of quick-release plate kind with a little d-ring loop that you flip up to tighten the screw this can be a lifesaver in an emergency if you find yourself out in the wilderness and you have a beer and you don't have a bottle opener that little loop can open a bottle it can be a little tricky you got to get the edge of the loop under the edge of the bottle cap takes two hands sometimes and to pry up and there you go crisis averted that's it for tripods I hope you found this helpful I look forward to talking to you again soon [Music]

Channel: steeletraining

Views: 499,883

Rating: 4.9552307 out of 5

Keywords: tripod, photography, use, how to, tutorial, camera

Id: pIWvjfI_-PA

Length: 23min 14sec (1394 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 14 2017