Tripods - A Necessity (But Not Always)

            I always take a tripod on a location shoot, but more often than not it stays in the hotel room until I have a specific use for it, say for dusk and night shots. During the day I tend to wander around without a tripod and with two cameras, one with a 28-80mm lens and the other with a 70-200mm, which are set ready to use within a second if I see something good. I just go wherever it seems interesting to shoot, so I have learnt to improvise and to press many other objects into service as tripod alternatives.

            In a church, for instance, it is often possible to find a chair which can be moved, the back of which will support the camera, with a pile of coins or a film cassette propping up the front. For the symmetrical shot down the main aisle, putting the camera on the floor with a 28mm lens again propped up with coins, cassette, etc, also works, although seeing through the viewfinder is difficult -- so look through the camera at the composition, then note the angle the camera is pointing upwards. Then try and replicate the same angle on the floor. It does work, with practice! Also in a church, pillars and columns are good for stable "leaning tripods," as are lampposts and a whole host of other street furniture, for impromptu night shots in a city. Bracketing exposures is usually worthwhile when doing this, plus I re-take if I think the camera may have moved during the exposure.

            The only drawback is that, inevitably, fixed objects that can be good "tripods" are not usually in the ideal place for composition. So learning to accept compromise is another good trait in a travel photographer, and that comes with experience. Better to take the shot and reject it later, rather than be over-fussy about a small difference in composition and miss it!