Re: [Leica] What are your secrets to handheld shots?

["Roland Smith" <roland@dnai.com>]

Whenever you can, try to use bone support.   For instance, I frequently lean
the side of my shoulder, slightly to the back, against a door frame or
similar unyielding vertical with my elbow tucked in firmly against my
ribcage.   Then with  breath control, I squeeze the shutter with even
pressure trying to concentrate on a relaxed steadiness.   The trip of the
shutter should occur without advance warning or anticipation.   I can hold
one second this way with sharp pictures most of the time.

Roland Smith

- ----- Original Message -----
From: Les Bonser <lbonser@worldnet.att.net>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Sunday, March 19, 2000 10:32 AM
Subject: [Leica] What are your secrets to handheld shots?


> I was discussing photography with a friend last week. He has a digital
> camera and isn't really into it, but he humors me and asks intellegent
> questions. We had taken a road trip together recently (some photos are on
my
> web page) and my only real comments on his digital pictures were related
to
> an occassional fuzzy shot. I suggested that they were probably caused by
> camera shake. And of course, his comment back was "I'm very careful about
> holding the camera still."
>
> Anyway, during the discussion, I learned that he assumed the exposure was
> instantaneous. I told him it's not; it takes some fraction of a second.
> Properly educated about shutter speeds, he couldn't figure out why
sometimes
> his shots blurred if he was doing everything possible to hold his camera
> steady. I didn't have an answer for him except that something was
> occassionally causing him to move the camera slightly.
>
> Well, this got me to thinking. During spare moments over the last couple
of
> days, I'm wondering to myself about this. I finally grabbed my camera
(while
> trying on a new 35mm lens!) and did some dry shots around the house
getting
> a feel for the balance of the new lens on the camera and for the change in
> the viewfinder. The thing I finally noticed (and it took me a while
because
> it's become automatic) is that I wait until the bottom of each breath to
> trip the shutter at the natural pause in each breath.
>
> That's a little trick I picked up learning how to shoot a pistol in
> competetion. As you exhale, there's a momentary natural pause before you
> inhale. To minimize muzzle weaving, pistol and rifle shooters are taught
to
> squeeze the trigger at that natural pause. I hadn't been intentionally
doing
> it, but I'd been applying the same principle to my camera technique. I'm
> routinely able to get excellent shots at 1/15th and sometimes good shots
> down to 1/8th or 1/4th of a second hand-held with a 45mm/50mm lens. I say
> "sometimes" because sometimes there are other factors involved (muscular
> shake from holding a position too long, or the subject is moving too).
>
> Anyone else have any tricks like this?
>
> Les Bonser
> Technical Writer and Amatuer Photographer
> Las Vegas, Nevada
> http://home.att.net/~lbonser (home of the PhotoDog!)
>
>