Why is a tripod necessary

As a result, once you've framed up, lock your camera's position, ensuring all screws are fastened tightly and that all leg locks won't come loose. If you want to shoot some landscape panoramas , having a tripod will help keep your shots steady and make them easier to stitch together once back in front of the computer. Start at either the left or right of the image, whichever you're more comfortable with, and allow for some overlap between each frame. It's always worth doing a 'dummy run' so you can make sure everything you want in the scene can be captured and to double-check you have enough overlap between each shot.

It is important that focus is not adjusted during the panorama so take care not to touch the focus barrel once you have focused and set your white-balance manually so you don't have to make small tweaks to individual shots once back home.

For scenes with details much closer to the front of the frame you'll need to use a panoramic head. We know it's been said quite a few times but it doesn't hurt to mention it again, particularly to those who are new to landscape photography. What are we talking about? Well, the actual process of setting up your tripod, putting your camera through it and looking through the viewfinder does take some time and as a result, it slows you down and makes you think more about the shot you're taking.

If you didn't have a tripod with you it would be very easy to take your camera out of its bag, fire off a few shots quickly and move on to a new location without really giving much thought about composition and the overall shot you're trying to achieve. If you find the weather turns a little blustery you'll need a sturdy tripod as unlike us photographers, they're better at balancing so won't get blown and pushed around as easily.

If you find you need a little more weight and your tripod features a centre column hook, you can hang a bag of stones or other weighty objects off it to balance the tripod. For lighter tripods, use your body as a shield from the wind.

Sticking spiked feet into the ground will also help keep the tripod still. For something a little different, adjust your tripod legs so you can shoot lower to the ground.

This can give foreground detail more emphasis, really changing the feel of your landscape shot. Sometimes you have to get your feet wet to get the shot you want but trying to stand upright in water that's moving on what can be slippy rocks is hard enough on your own, without a camera in your hands. To minimise the chances of you dropping your camera in the water, put it on a tripod.

Do make sure your tripod won't topple over and if you have them, use spiked feet to bed the tripod into the floor. If you're shooting at the coast, remember to clean your tripod after dunking it in the sea as saltwater will rust it. Shooting at sunrise , sunset or during the night so you can capture a sky full of stars, requires the use of slower shutter speeds, which, as mentioned, means you'll have to use a tripod as working hand-held can result in shake spoiling your shot.

You can try nudging your ISO up to quicken your shutter speed but not all cameras produce good-quality shots when higher ISOs are used so the safest option is to take your tripod with you so you can use longer shutter speeds.

Visit our Competitions Forum, where you'll find our monthly competition and other external competitions to enter. Using a tripod will noticeably reduce unwanted movement of the camera. Panning is vital in taking stunning action shots as it allows you to really capture the movement.

Having a tripod makes panning much easier and more fluid. A tripod is key in getting great nature shots as you can be waiting around for hours for animals to make an appearance that might only last a few seconds, so you need to be ready.

Telephoto lenses tend to be difficult to steady. Their long focal length magnifies any vibration caused by the camera shutter and mirror, wind, or by the photographer themselves. Their slower maximum aperture also causes a frequent need for slower shutter speeds which exacerbates the problem even more. For example, if you are using a mm. However, the problem with a slow shutter is that one slight move will ruin the photo.

Using a tripod will give you the confidence to slow down your shutter speed quite a lot in order to get as much light in as possible without worrying about an unstable camera causing blur.

It is definitely one of the most important of all the things that can help you improve your photos at night or in low lighting conditions.

This point is directly related to the one above. One of the secrets of good smartphone photography is to make sure that the image quality is sharp. This is done by understanding how focus works and making sure it is always sharp, and that you have no motion blur caused by camera movement. Although blurry shots are mostly a problem in low lighting conditions because of slow shutter speeds, this can still be an issue in the daytime as well for various reasons. You may naturally have shaky hands or maybe your arms are tired from physical activity.

Whatever it may be, a tripod will help you prevent blurry photos by keeping your shots steady. On the other hand, taking your time to get a shot has its benefits. It can yield some really impressive results. This also gives you time to study your shot and think about the ideal camera settings to use for your shot. Slowing down and having more time to think about your shot also allows you to be more creative.

Your hands are free, so you can step away from the camera and arrange things they way you want them to be in the frame and go back to the camera and check how it looks. It may take a while to set up a tripod, but it definitely does pay off! Selfies are one thing; self-portraits are another. As mentioned before, using a tripod frees you, so you can photograph yourself at whatever distance from the camera you wish. This freedom also means you can interact with your surroundings as you take pictures of yourself which could result in some really creative shots.

You can capture images of yourself outdoors or create a studio-like environment indoors and let your imagination run wild. Some tripods actually even come with wireless remote controls that allow you to activate the shutter from a distance.

Tripods and time lapse photography go hand-in-hand like peanut butter and jam. Any unwanted camera movements and the time lapse will be compromised.

The end result of time lapse photography is a clip that shows something that usually happens over a long period of time, taking just a few seconds to unfold on-screen. Examples of this would be clear skies turned dark by ominous storm clouds rolling in across the sky very quickly.