If you don’t have a tripod to take super-steady pictures, there are a lot of tried-and-true methods for avoiding a blurry shot. Norman Chan over at Tested shares a few of his favourite classics, as well as a few new ones.
Photo by Quinn Dombrowski.
One of the more interesting ones: Norman says he uses his face as a “third contact point” with the camera:
In some ways, that means thinking of your body as a tripod for the camera, which means having a firm and balance stance on the ground. I typically put one foot forward when shooting, planting my feet firmly on the ground and leaning my upper body slightly and slowly forward or back to adjust for minimum focus distance.
But tripods, monopods, and any other fixed camera mount have a secure way to attach to cameras: a 1/4-inch screw thread on the bottom of the camera. You body, unfortunately, doesn’t have a 1/4-inch screw. So your hands have to make up for that. But the advantage you have over a tripod is that you don’t just have one contact point with the camera — you have at least two. You have both your hands to grip the lens and camera body, and you also have your face. When I look through the viewfinder of a DSLR, I’m jamming the camera right up to my glasses and even cheek, using my face as another point of contact to stabilise the camera. Yes, that can leave some sweat on the camera’s LCD display, but that’s a small price to pay to reduce the risk of a blurry photo.
Check out Tested’s full post for more tips, including some classics we’ve featured before, including breathing like a sniper.
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