Hi and welcome to Episode 95 of the Photography Explained podcast.
I’m your host Rick, and in each episode I will try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 10 minutes (ish) without the irrelevant details. What I tell you is based on my lifetime of photographic experience. And not Google.
Before I go on if you have a question you would like me to answer just go to photographyexplainedpodcast.com/start
Here is the answery bit
5 advantages of using a tripod are
- Tack sharp photos every time
- Better compositions
- Technically correct photos
- Highest quality using the lowest ISO
- Taking photos in low-light situations is a breeze
And 3 bonus ones from me
- Something for me to lean on
- It makes me look great
- I can include myself in photos
OK – let’s take a look at these one by one
You can listen to the episode here
Or keep on reading. Or do both. Entirely up to you!
1 Tack sharp photos every time
This is my number one reason for taking photos with my camera on a tripod. Any movement of the camera, when you take a photo, introduces the risk of a less than tack-sharp photo by movement of the camera.
Sharp photos are a must – blurry photos are not good.
And the sharper the better.
You cannot recover a blurry photo, so get each and every photo as sharp as you can when you take it.
Sure you can take photos handheld but this is my preference.
2 Better compositions
This is another reason why I prefer taking photos with my camera on a tripod.
I get better compositions with my camera on a tripod. I love taking photos with my camera on a tripod. Sorry for going on but I do.
How do I get better compositions then?
Well, I just do. I put my camera on a tripod and it slows me down, and when I slow down I see things better. Seriously this is true.
I use the LCD screen and the viewfinder to get the composition that I want. It doesn’t take long, and it means that I actually take fewer photos because the ones that I have are bang-on.
3 Technically correct photos
For my architectural, construction and real estate photography work I take every photo I can with my camera on a tripod. What this allows me to do is get the composition technically correct –horizontals horizontal, verticals vertical. And in that order. Get things level first and then do the verticals – this is much, much easier than the other way around.
And this saves me time later in Lightroom, as I have got this part of things nailed in camera.
And again this helps me to take fewer photos as I am getting the technical side right with the first photo.
4 Highest quality using the lowest ISO
My camera is on a tripod. I am not worried about the shutter speed as what I am photographing is not moving. Well, most of the time.
So I can use the lowest ISO which gives me the highest quality which is my number one priority.
And the ISO that I use with my Canon 6D is 100.
5 Taking photos in low-light situations is a breeze
Sunrise, sunsets, dark interiors, dark places. Anywhere where it is low light or dark – trust me you need a tripod. This allows you to use a long enough shutter speed to get the correct exposure without the camera moving.
Now I talked before about handheld photography and what you need to know, but this is the answer to low-light situations.
6 Something for me to lean on
Now you might not believe this but I do tend to lean on my tripod during a shoot and mess up the composition.
I have done this so many times – I really have.
Don’t do this. Don’t be as stupid as me…
7 It makes me look great.
Well, I need all the help that I can get so my tripod makes me look professional. OK just kidding, I think that the days of having to have loads of gear to look professional are long behind us.
Thankfully.
8 I can include myself in photos
I did this once. I was photographing a brand new leisure centre. But there was no one there. It didn’t look great.
So I had to include myself in the photos, coat on, coat off, I even wore a hat for one photo!
And it is hard to do this without a tripod believe me.
What do I do?
I take photos with my camera on a tripod whenever possible.
The talky bit
I said this last time, and I will say it again here. Tack sharp photos are the aim. Blurry photos are no good.
The aim with every photo that I take is to get the highest quality photo that I can. That is my number one priority. The best composition, the highest quality.
And my tripod helps me to achieve this.
And I love using my tripod. In the next episode, I think I will tell you how I take photos on a tripod – well that makes sense now, doesn’t it?
And I made the point that my tripod makes me look good. I was joking of course, but it is not that long ago that to be considered a pro photographer you had to have all the gear. Lots of lenses, big camera bodies, lots of gear.
Thankfully those days are behind us now, but I still see the odd example of photography snobbery out there. Check out my website for some photography snobbery-related stuff at rickmcevoyphotography.com – just put photography snobbery in the search thing and you will see what I am talking about – after you have listened to this episode of course!
Now we don’t like this snobbery stuff, do we?
Yes, I genuinely use a tripod for every photo that I take.
What tripod do I use?
Well, I use a Manfrotto 190 Go and XPRO geared head. And no I am not being paid to tell you this – I wish! No, I bought these myself some years ago.
Is this my perfect tripod?
I don’t think there is such a thing, but this is the tripod that I keep going back to. I have two other tripods these days but the Manfrotto is my favourite and has been for some years.
Related episodes
Well, I haven’t really covered tripods before, so this was long overdue. But in the last two episodes I talked about handheld photography – if you missed them they were
How Do You Hold A Camera Properly? This Is Very Important!
How To Take Photos Handheld – Camera Settings That Work For Sharp Photos
Next episode
Let’s stick with tripods eh?
Photography Explained Podcast Episode 96 – Do You Want To Know How To Take Photos On A Tripod?
Shout out
Shout out to me and my new course – find out more at rickmcevoyphotography.com/courses. Well, if I can’t promote myself here where can I?
OK – I’m done
Thanks for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast. To find out more about my podcast and do stuff to help me check out Photographyexplainedpodcast.com/start.
Brought to you by
This episode was brought to you by coffee. Lots of coffee.
I’ve been Rick McEvoy, thanks again very much for listening to me and for giving me 11(ish) minutes of your valuable time, and I will see you on the next episode.
Cheers from me Rick
OK – that was the podcast episode.
Want to know more?
Head over to the Start page on the Photography Explained Podcast website to find out more.
And here is the list of episodes published to date – you can listen to any episode straight from this page which is nice.
Let me know if there is a photography thing that you want me to explain and I will add it to my list. Just head over to the This is my list of things to explain page of this website to see what is on there already.
Let me send you stuff
I send out a weekly email to my subscribers. It is my take on one photography thing, plus what I have been writing and talking about. Just fill in the box and you can get my weekly photographic musings straight to your inbox. Which is nice.
And finally a little bit about me
Finally, yes this paragraph is all about me – check out my Rick McEvoy Photography website to find out more about me and my architectural, construction, real estate and travel photography work. I also write about general photography stuff, all in plain English without the irrelevant detail.
Thank you
Thanks for listening to my podcast (if you did) and reading this blog post (which I assume you have done as you are reading this).
Cheers from me Rick
