| They're heavy, expensive, conspicuous, take | | | | want to take portraits, but if you are |
| time to set up and take apart again. In | | | | shooting a low light landscape and pointing |
| short, tripods are a nuisance. And in this | | | | your camera out into the vast beyond, there |
| age of digital cameras, we can always | | | | is little or nothing for the flash to bounce |
| increase the ISO sensitivity to accommodate a | | | | off and the light it produces will be lost. |
| low light situation. So why bother with one | | | | So sometimes there is no other choice but to |
| at all? Let's look at some of the advantages | | | | sit your camera on a tripod, reduce the ISO |
| of using a tripod. | | | | and slow down your shutter speed to take in |
| | | | all the available light. |
| Noise reduction | | | | |
| | | | Creativity |
| Fist of all, what is noise? Increasing the | | | | |
| ISO level in a digital camera amplifies the | | | | Like just about any other camera accessory, |
| signal through the digital sensor that | | | | tripods can be creative as well as |
| records the image. This is much the same as | | | | utilitarian. Think cityscapes at night with |
| turning the volume on your home stereo up to | | | | traffic trails running through the scene. |
| 10. You will hear a hissing in the | | | | Think clouds moving through a twilight sky. |
| background. This is amplification noise. It | | | | To capture this movement and keep the static |
| looks like grain in a low quality film would | | | | objects in an image sharp requires a long |
| and decreases the quality of the image in the | | | | shutter speed. So the camera needs to be kept |
| same way. | | | | deadly still for 20 or 30 seconds or even |
| | | | longer. It is just not physically possible |
| The technology used to make digital cameras | | | | for a human to do this, so the only thing for |
| advances almost daily. One day, hopefully | | | | it is to drag out the tripod, perch your |
| soon, digital cameras will be created that | | | | camera on top and use either a self timer or |
| can record the same quality image no matter | | | | cable release to take the shot. |
| what ISO setting is used. But until then, we | | | | |
| just have to except the fact that if you want | | | | Depending on what you want to do with your |
| a better quality image, you need to use a | | | | images, you will either regard your tripod as |
| lower ISO. If you want to shoot in low light | | | | your best friend or biggest annoyance. If |
| or at night, there are a couple of options. | | | | your photos are destined for web use or maybe |
| Firstly, you could use a flash. Using flash | | | | small prints for a photo album, you might not |
| can produce some very natural or very | | | | be as concerned with the technical quality of |
| creative results, depending on how you use | | | | the end result, but if you want to enlarge |
| it. But there are a couple of drawbacks. | | | | prints to hang on a wall, or are looking to |
| Firstly, you have to buy a flash unit. In | | | | sell your images, you will soon discover that |
| most cases the little pop up flash on your | | | | a tripod is a valuable tool capable of being |
| camera is simply not powerful enough to do | | | | the difference between getting that million |
| anything more than fill in some dark areas in | | | | dollar shot or missing a golden opportunity. |
| an already well lit scene. Flash won't work | | | | I carry mine just about everywhere. |
| for all subjects either. It is fine if you | | | | |