On this basic video, by Pye from slrlounge looks at 6 different ways in which you can improve you stability when hand holding and shooting in slow shutter speeds.
Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we need shoot with a slow shutter speed and we do not have a tripod or even a monopod – Pye has some pretty simple ways of making sure that you will be as stable as possible even when you don’t have any extra gear with you.
We have one more addition to Pye’s tips – whenever possible try and physically put your camera on something – a tree, a wall, a table, fance anything stable – either put the bottom of the camera against it or even the side of the camera (you can even shoot vertically if it is what you are after). We always try to squeeze the camera to the object – this gives us the most stabilization – and of course if we are talking about a flat surface – i.e. table – use a timer and don’t touch the camera – it will reduce the vibration even more in very slow shutter speeds.
In the end of this quick video Pye also shows how to capture some excellent hand held panning shots using the 6 tips.
This isn’t the first time that we have been looking at this topic. In the past we had photographer Karl Taylor demonstrated several important techniques for holding the camera and keeping it stable even when shooting in low light and slow shutter speeds. If you are more into video – Australian film director Christopher Kenworthy (from Tuts+) demonstrated some advanced handheld techniques for shooting video in a way that will mimic cinematic effect but with no extra gear.
You can find many more helpful photography tips on our Photography tips section here on and LensVid.
Iddo Genuth 
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