Life Without a Tripod

Life Without a Tripod/Lighting Challenge

I took my wife out to Lighthouse Cove for a fish dinner today, for our 24th anniversary. It's on the south shore of Lake St. Clair. I don't care how far you have to travel, the view, the atmosphere, and the perch and pickerel are worth the trip.

I took 3 or 4 shots. I propped the camera up on a spoon so I wouldn't cut our heads off. I hope it worked. Every factor was guesswork, since I couldn't look through the viewfinder in this condition, and it was my first time using this flash. I still haven't had time to sit down and learn how to use it, but it went off each time. I just hope I had it set high enough. I set the aperture at 16 because of the window.

this image is just showing the setup, correct? there is no flash lighting it...

Looks good. And how did it turn out?

BTW, Congratulation to your 24th anniversary

rocketman122 said:

this image is just showing the setup, correct? there is no flash lighting it...

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Yes. This is just the setup. The camera in the picture is my FE2. The roll is about half done, so I won't be able to show you how it turned out for a couple of weeks. I'll try to finish the roll soon.

I need to buy another pocket tripod for times like this. When I was about 20 years old and learning on my OM-10, they were $20. Mine is kind of banged up, and has sand in the legs, so I'm just going to buy a new one. I saw them at Henry's a few years ago.

I've heard photographers criticize them, like no photographer should have such a crappy tripod, but I'd like to ask, "What tripod would you carry around with your wife on casual outings, like to dinner at a restaurant?"

There are many places I wouldn't bring a serious tripod, just like there are places I wouldn't bring an SLR. For those times we have point and shoot cameras, and pocket tripods.

I'd also ask, "Will your tripod fit in your camera bag?"

The old spoon under the lens trick, very resourceful. Congrats on your 24th.

Very resourceful. Congrats on the 24th!

Happy Anniversary. I have a small vintage tripod. I dunno, 6 inches tall and the legs fold up inside it. With a lens of any size on the camera, it can be tricky as the legs are rather short but it's just about the only one I use.

I had the flash on bounce, which I think was a great idea for this situation, but I think I underestimated the output needed. I had it on 1/8. I think it will be underexposed.

Congratulations on the anniversary.

Congrats on the anniversary, and well thought out!

Hubby and I went to Maui for our 25th and we had some waitress take our shot for us... I wish I had thought about doing it that way

Congrats on the anniversary!

Hope the shot turned out. Take a look at Mephoto tripods if you haven't already. MeFOTO Travel Tripods - Compact Tripods in all your favorite colors!

traceyjj said:

Congrats on the anniversary, and well thought out!

Hubby and I went to Maui for our 25th and we had some waitress take our shot for us... I wish I had thought about doing it that way

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We did have the waitress take a shot of us with the little Canon A2300, and this is how it turned out:



Shooting a scene like this is a perfect opportunity for learning photography the right way. This is why I love SLR photography. The challenges this presents are priceless to me. Of course, your Coolpix P610 might trounce this lighting challenge in auto mode, shutting down your aperture and providing a perfectly balanced flash, but who cares? My Canon A640 did this:



All I did was point the camera and press the button. That's not photography. Only in my wildest dreams could I take such a perfect picture with my Nikon. That is the goal I am working for. I want to be as good as a P610 in auto mode, or even better. Look at the skin tones in my son's face. I have to learn how to do that.

I'm going in to the forest next door to finish off this roll. I want to post the results. I have a strong suspicion the flash should have been on 1/2 output.

We will be going back to Lighthouse Cove, because we love it there, and I will have more opportunities to get this right.

My first reaction to the title was "I couldn't live without my tripod!". I like the resourcefulness of the shot!

Happy anniversary to you and the Mrs, and hope your capture came out perfect!

Thank you to all of you for your congratulations, and I look forward to showing you the results. Film is picked up at Shoppers on Tuesdays, and I missed this past Tuesday, so it will go out on the 18th.

I really miss 'One Hour Photo' service!

Just to bring this back up. Here is a pic of the small tripod I have. You can see where the legs fold up inside it so it's easy to take with you. I discovered a little trick that might be an old trick for many.

I was out taking pics the other night at some fireworks. I was in the middle of a parking lot and really had nowhere to place the tripod to get the picture I wanted. This is perfect to adjust legs against your chest to help hold the camera very steady. I took the second pic hand held.

I really screwed up on this one. The flash did go off, but the settings were so way off that it didn't matter. I look forward to getting another shot at this. We have to go back.

We can be hard on ourselves but I was speaking to a guy that went to school for photography and did it professionally back in the film days. He said the general rule was in a roll of 36 if you got 3 good publishable photo's you were doing well.

john*thomas said:

We can be hard on ourselves but I was speaking to a guy that went to school for photography and did it professionally back in the film days. He said the general rule was in a roll of 36 if you got 3 good publishable photo's you were doing well.

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Thank you for the encouragement. I know I'll get it right. I just need time - and a tripod. I haven't been able to get to Henry's to buy what I want. They open at 10am. I get off at 7:20, and I live 40 minutes away.

I took 3 exposures, and I'm kicking myself for not varying my settings, as I usually do, to see which one would be best.

Definitely going back for another Captain's Platter!

My son had my old tripod, and I got it back from him the other day, so I wanted to post comparison pics here. I haven't used this tripod in many years as I thought it was in bad condition, but as shown, I extended it and put my F100 on it. It is working fine, and I intend to use it with my FE2 or F100. Henry's had a good supply of these cheap tripods just a year ago. I wish I had bought another one at that time, because I went there to buy one this week, and they didn't have any, and the gentleman in the store had no idea what I was talking about when I described it to him. I find that hard to believe.





This tripod is considerably shorter than my Cameron, which is way more versatile and camera-worthy. And I know what many photographers would say: There's no way I would trust my precious gear to that piece of junk!, and I empathize with that sentiment, but then there's this:



This old Vivitar will fit in a jacket pocket. The Cameron is another story.

When I saw this old thing at Henry's a year ago, I was shocked that it was exactly the same as this one, and the quality had not improved one little bit. With all the new photography products that have come on the market since I bought this Vivitar, nobody today is making a comparable tripod with better materials and design??? Really?? I think that's absurd. A tripod is an essential piece of kit for most photographers, and who doesn't want one they can carry and not be annoyed by it? Unless you're carrying a backpack, carry that Cameron around with your DSLR long enough and you'll be wanting to ditch it by the end of the day. I can carry that Vivitar in a jacket pocket all day long and hardly notice it, and regardless of what some persnickety pro might say, it holds up my F100 just fine. So I won't put a 300mm lens on it. Big deal. What if I want to use an 85mm? No problem.

I guess I don't understand the market very well. I looked at the MeFoto tripods at their site, and they have nothing that can compare with this cheapie for size and portability. Anything I've found that resembles this is just a tabletop tripod.

I think I'll bring this back to Lighthouse Cove and leave the Cameron at home.

It looks like Vivitar still makes it. It is rated for a maximum capacity of 1.76 lbs. An F100 with batteries and an average lens is easily 2 lbs. I put my F100 on the tripod, put my hand on the camera and moved it around. It wasn't going anywhere.

Vivitar VT-41