To some people it sounds like mystical nonsense, but breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth really does help. (Parents of small children: Teach your child to do this! Best tantrum-interruption strategy I ever found.)
-NT
Nathan Tenny
San Diego, CA, USA
Although the moon is smaller than the earth, they are about the same distance apart.
To some people it sounds like mystical nonsense, but breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth really does help. (Parents of small children: Teach your child to do this! Best tantrum-interruption strategy I ever found.)
At my photo club, I am regularly amazed by how many people express surprise and gratitude when we discuss these issues, because they have never had anyone help them with them before.
I tell people the following (this assumes a prism finder):
1. stand with weight evenly distributed between your feet, and weight on both the heels and balls of your feet;
2. square your body so it is facing directly toward your subject;
3. raise your camera to your eye and help support it by tucking your elbows into your body comfortably;
4. the camera should be resting comfortably in your hands - not gripped tightly in your hands;
5. all adjustments for focus and exposure and framing should be made to your satisfaction before moving to the instant of exposure;
6. self-assess whether you feel any unusual tension in your body, and deal with it by relaxing it;
7. inhale slowly but steadily, until you are comfortable, and then pause slightly;
8. exhale gently until you are about half way, then pause slightly;
9. squeeze the shutter release smoothly and carefully until the shutter releases, then pause very slightly thereafter;
10. finish exhaling; and
11. look again at the scene through the viewfinder, to see if something has appeared that may cause you to want to shoot another.
Most of the above can be done far more quickly than it takes to type it or read it, and it can easily be reduced to near unconscious habit.
As I understand it, the breathing part of the process is recommended by those who shoot firearms.
EDIT: as mentioned below by E. von Hoegh, it can help to take several deep, unhurried breaths before the "half" breath at the time of exposure.
Matt, I have sometimes gone through a similar list to students and they look at me as though I’m from another planet and should really be showing them the anti-motion gyroscopic app.
“The contemplation of things as they are, without error or confusion, without substitution or imposture, is in itself a nobler thing than a whole harvest of invention”
Matt, I have sometimes gone through a similar list to students and they look at me as though I’m from another planet and should really be showing them the anti-motion gyroscopic app.
They're students; they're supposed to be lazy snots. The ones with some promise are the ones with minds open enough to say "yeah, yeah, right, crazy idea...hey, this *works*!"
-NT
Nathan Tenny
San Diego, CA, USA
Although the moon is smaller than the earth, they are about the same distance apart.
I don't think anyone already explicitly noted this, but I've learned to hold still AFTER squeezing the shutter release. I find that it's easy to start moving slightly while taking the shot, especially when I'm eager to take another photo or so something else. Just pausing a second or so after shooting has helped prevent me from subconscious movement before I've actually pressed the shutter.
I don't think anyone already explicitly noted this, but I've learned to hold still AFTER squeezing the shutter release. I find that it's easy to start moving slightly while taking the shot, especially when I'm eager to take another photo or so something else. Just pausing a second or so after shooting has helped prevent me from subconscious movement before I've actually pressed the shutter.
That's called "follow through". Shooters use it too.
Perhaps we should give examples of hand held shots at slow shutter speeds. My best one is this (can be found in the gallery) taken in Southern Ireland at 1/4 second. I remember pressing my back against awall to steady the shot.
“The contemplation of things as they are, without error or confusion, without substitution or imposture, is in itself a nobler thing than a whole harvest of invention”
Some people get it some don't. Those who do, get the shots that people always say "wow how did he get that"
It takes work,don't be lazy about it.If you don't understand what MattKing posted, don't bother picking up the camera.
Yes follow through, but in action photography knowing when to start to lead is the key thing and this is only learned by making a few thousand images and having a gut instict.
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Originally Posted by ntenny
