Nature Photography Tips Tricks and Techniques

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Good Vibrations (?)

In photography at least, vibrations are not good. Vibrations or unsteadiness while taking a photograph are one of the primary causes of unsharp images. As a general rule, your shutter speed when making a hand-held photograph should be greater than or equal to 1/Focal Length of your lens. For example, if you are using a 200mm lens, your minimum shutter speed for a hand-held photo should be 1/200s, or the closest shutter speed on your camera - likely 1/250. For a 500mm lens this equates to 1/500s shutter speed. As you can see, the longer your lens, the faster the shutter speed.

This problem can more or less be eliminated by using a tripod and cable release. Tripods are one of the easiest and best ways to improve the quality of your photographs. When you can't use a tripod (or didn't carry one with you), try to brace yourself against an object such as a tree for extra stability and keep your elbows in near your chest instead of pointing them out.




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