Shooting Positions for your Digital SLR

The Digital Photography Book: Volumes 1,2,3

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Now your ready to start taking pictures we're going to show you four ways to position yourself while you're holding your camera, to ensure you're rock steady no matter what you're shooting.

Waist Height Shots

When eyelevel shots are too high, crouching with one knee on the ground allows you to rest an elbow on your other leg for good support. This is generally very useful for landscape shoots, when trying to bring foreground detail into the scene, or to achieve a better perspective when shooting portraits of children.

Shooting at eye-level

Stand with your legs shoulder-width apart, so you're really stable. You may find that it's more comfortable to stand with one leg in front of the other, rather than the side-by-side as shown here. In either case, just ensure your legs are a good distance apart. Try to keep your arms low, and support your elbows against your body if possible. When holding the camera vertically for a portrait shot, rest your left elbow on your body. Just before you take the shot, hold your breath for a moment so as to minimise movement.

Try a low viewpoint

For an ants-eye view on the world, or when taking close-ups of nature, a prone position like this offers a very solid support. A bin bag is a cheap and effective tool for keeping mud and grime off your clothes, so is worth keeping in your kit bag. The chances of getting camera shake increases proportionally as the focal length of the lens increases. To combat this, use a fast shutter speed. If handholding your camera, aim to use a shutter speed that is 1 stop over the focal length, or faster. With a 50mm lens, a shutter speed of at least 1/50sec should be used. A 300mm lens will need a faster shutter speed of 1/300sec. The 35mm equivalent focal length should be used, see page 38 for more on lenses.

Finding Supports around you

Where possible it is best to improvise and use objects surrounding you to support your camera and hold it steady. This is particularly useful when using long telephoto zoom lenses, as the further you zoom in, the greater your chances of camera shake when even tiny movements become amplified. Rest your camera on a nearby fence or wall, or find a comfortable way to brace the camera and yourself against a post. This will massively increase your chances of getting a sharp shot.

G. Bunn www.Your-Digital-Photography.com

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