silver Loc: Santa Monica Ca.

I am amazed at the fact that so many people talk about handholding a camera on this site. There are times where I do hold my camera and make images but most of the time when I really want to be precise I put my camera on a tripod. The handholding subject is interesting because a lot of people actually wear this moniker with pride. I see this a lot," Nikon camera hand held? or " 300 lens handheld" or "105 macro lens handheld". Yes there are some people that can hand hold a camera and get good results, I have taken 1/2 second exposures with an Xpan camera and gotten great results but that was out of necessity, not out of desire. I cant understand being so voraciously proud of hand holding. It seems as if putting a camera on a tripod or other support would be sac religious. I think that is a really bad message to give to aspiring photographers. There are so many other aspects of photography to be proud of and I just cant understand this handholding thing here. Whats the big deal? I have been photographing for 40 years both as a pro and just for fun and I never think to mention wether my image is shot handheld or otherwise. Could someone logically explain why this subject is so important. It seems to be a very ego involved thing. I am sure that this will ignite a firestorm of comments from people that are very proud of handholding cameras but I really want to understand why this is so important. Let the fun begin.

ShakyShutter Loc: Arizona

No big deal on this one. Here, on the Hog, sometimes it is pride that the photog has "cheated the grim reaper of sharpness" and sometimes it may help explain some unexpected blur in the "posters" images. Hand holding may just be mentioned to short circuit questions about methodology.

silver Loc: Santa Monica Ca.

There seems to be more to this then meets the eye. I think that this is a big deal and there are people that are very threatened by the handholding thing being de bunked. Why is it so necessary to mention this?

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

I think that they only mention it like any other Exif data...it's a part of how they got the shot.

No pride or puffing...just tech data.

nyweb2001

Lol !! Well...I'm not ashamed to say I need a tripod or other support for 95% of my shots ! Too much coffee !!! I think it's the novelty aspect of something new like IS/VR ! Then again, there are people out there who can't always use a tripod.

silver Loc: Santa Monica Ca.

Most of the time this is the only thing mentioned. Why?

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Because all of the other Exif data can be had by right clicking and going to the hosting site.

The Exif data doesn't include how you propped or didn't prop the camera during the exposure.

randymoe

There so many things that cannot be shot on a tripod. Of course a tripod is great when you need it.

I just bought a tripod like the one below, Floating Head Tripod model B made in USA by Davis and Sandord. The picture does not show how big it is. The camera plate is about 6x5 inches. $20 at an old camera store. It will be good for large format and as a base for DIY floating jib boom.

Weighs 11 lbs

dfalk Loc: Chugiak, Alaska

The vast majority of my shots couldn't be done with a tripod...try chasing a dragonfly across the yard while dragging your tripod.

I sometimes mention handholding to show folks that you can get nice, sharp photos without using a tripod.

jf65625

Silver: Sure am glad that I could hold steady enough with my first camera [Kodak Brownie type 2a] to get a fair shot. Still like taking photos while skiing, from glider planes and while SCUBA diving. Even thinking about getting one of those little "Go Pro" cams to mount on the Harley. Hard to use a tripod in such situations.

But, given the opportunity, I certainly do use a tripod [or other devise] to secure my cam. Same reason one should use a "Steadicam", unless you have something better, like an hydraulic boom mount for cinema/video cams. But, then where I live, you see so called mechanics use a pair of pliers to beat on battery connections to tighten them and to loosen them. They just need to learn how to use the proper tools.

Some photographers are the same. Sometimes, here we have people who do not use PP because a good photog should get a perfect picture directly from his camera. But, personally, that is just another failure to use a very valuable and appropriate tool. Jack

naturalite Loc: Up state NY

Hi Ho Silver, I've wondered the same thing. I never think to mention hand held. Because 95% of my shots are. I may have said free hand when I use 840mm zoom. Because its damn hard not to wiggle when out that far. I would use a tripod if the wildlife would hold still long enough for me to break it out and set it up. But then again...that's my subjects most the time. I confine myself to my own constraints because of subject matter.
In general...who cares...hand held or not. I don't even think this is something note worthy.
That's my 1/2 cent worth.

Roger Hicks Loc: Aquitaine

It depends on what you're shooting. Some pics would be impossible without a tripod; some would be impossible with a tripod; and most are in between. One reason to say whether a picture was hand-held or taken with a tripod is to give other people an idea of what they may be able to achieve one way or the other. I'm not really sure that pride, let alone voracious pride, necessarily comes in to it.

From the end of http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps%20lowlight.html (on low-light photography):

"The most important thing of all, as with most of photography, is not to pine over the equipment or indeed materials that you don't have, or to fantasize about what you would do if you had them, but to get out and take pictures with the equipment you do have. You'll get better anyway -- that is the nature of practice -- but you'll also become better and better able to judge exactly where you should concentrate your budget and efforts on improving still more, be it faster film, a faster lens, a different camera or some form of camera support. "

Cheers,

R.

silver Loc: Santa Monica Ca.

Hi Nature, I completely agree with you, who cares but some people out there really care. Its so important to mention this one fact. In a lot of instances there is no mention of lighting or F stop or shutter speed, some do but most dont, just the fact that its handheld. I dont get it. One other thing, I am not saying that handholding is wrong, that would be very elitist of me to even suggest that, its the fact that it has to be mentioned at all that really intrigues me.

tkhphotography Loc: Gresham, Or, not Seattle

good explanation--wish I had thought of it. Concise and to the point.

silver Loc: Santa Monica Ca.

To answer you, I have seen people actually get insulted at the mere mention of this subject. I am not saying all people, just some. Yes its a good idea to enlighten beginners as to the benefit of various techniques but there are some that are very very insistent that its the only way to shoot and they take great pride in this fact. I would like to find out why. It just dosent make sense to me why this one thing is so important.