Heard a nature photographer say something interesting about resting your camera on things

I was at a coffee shop last week and overheard this guy talking about how he gets sharp shots in low light. He said people worry too much about a tripod. His thing is just propping the camera on anything solid. A fence post, a rock, even rolled up jacket on a car hood. I tried it yesterday with a old building at sunset. I balanced my lens on a concrete barrier and used the 2 second timer. That single shot came out way clearer than the dozen I tried handheld. The shutter was at like 1/15th of a second. Has anyone else gotten good results just using whatever is around instead of a tripod?

2 comments

2 Comments

green.jessica10d agoMost Upvoted

I balanced my phone on a traffic cone once and got a night shot that looked pro. Works way better than trying to hold still. Tripods are just extra weight honestly.

wyatt51310d ago

Oh man, that "rolled up jacket on a car hood" trick is gold, right? I did something similar last fall at a waterfall, I just wedged my camera between two rocks on the riverbank and used the self timer. The mist was blowing everywhere and I was sure my lens was gonna get soaked, but that one 1/4 second shot came out looking like glass. Tripods are such a pain to haul around when you're just out for a walk, I basically only use mine for paid work now. It's wild how a simple rock or fence post can do the same job if you just get creative with it.