The Tripod Difference

Winter Glow, El Capitan, Yosemite
Sony a7R III
Sony 16-35 f/2.8 GM
1 second
F/16
ISO 100

Lately I’ve heard a lot of talk that stabilized bodies and lenses, combined with fantastic high ISO capabilities, have made tripods obsolete. But to borrow from Mark Twain, the reports of the tripod’s death are greatly exaggerated. In fact, when used correctly, I don’t think there’s a single piece of equipment more essential to consistently successful landscape photography than a sturdy tripod.

The tripod police

You’re wandering the bank of the Merced River near sunset when El Capitan, awash with warm light, emerges from a gap in the trees. The scene is framed by a foreground of pristine snow and frosted branches. Bringing your camera to your eye, you find the composition that works best is a wide horizontal frame. But keeping El Capitan and the nearby trees sharp requires f11. Hmmm. In the fading light, at your camera’s ideal ISO 100, the meter suggests a 1 second exposure.

Even with a stabilized body and lens, that’s a bit of a stretch. Unfortunately, your tripod is a) strapped to your camera bag (a misdemeanor); b) in the car (a felony); or c) at home in the closet behind the tux you haven’t worn since your first wedding (a capital offense). So you bump the ISO to 400, dial the aperture to f11, and push the shutter speed to 1/16 second and pray your hand is steady enough to eliminate camera shake. Your finger is poised on the shutter button when from behind a tree you hear, “Tripod Police! Step away from the camera!” Uh-oh.

Okay, so maybe there aren’t actual Tripod Police lurking behind trees at all the popular landscape scenes, but maybe there should be.

Photography without compromise

If you think the main reason to use a tripod is to avoid camera-shake, you’re mistaken. In this day of phenomenal high ISO performance and stabilized bodies and lenses, acceptable hand-held sharpness is possible in the vast majority of images. But here’s a reality that’s tough to deny: The steadiest hand-held image will never be sharper than it would have been if it had been properly executed using a sturdy tripod.

And here’s another reality: Each camera has an ideal ISO—the quality of any image that doesn’t use the best possible ISO is compromised, sometimes just slightly, other times a lot. So if hand-holding an image capture forces you out of your camera’s ideal ISO to minimize camera shake, you’ve made an unnecessary compromise. “Photographer’s light” (such as sunrise, sunset, and stormy or cloudy weather) only compounds the hand-holding problem. While some of these compromises can be more or less remedied in post-processing, and many may not show up at all on a fifteen-inch laptop screen or in an 8×10 print, most serious photographers want the option to print their images large—and nothing reveals flaws more than a large print.

Let’s imagine you just got a request for a 40×60 print of the pride of your portfolio—a (hand-held) Yosemite Valley moonrise telephoto, captured at ISO 800 (it looks great in your SmugMug gallery)—for the reception area of your mother-in-law’s law firm (a real coup after that whole llama-farm investment fiasco). So what do you tell her when you go to hang it and she asks why it looks “so mushy,” and what’s with all that “sludge in the shadows”? Oops—looks like another Thanksgiving at the kids’ table.

Not only does every camera have an ideal ISO, every composition has an ideal f-stop. Anyone with a camera can snap the lateral (left/right, up/down) dimensions of a scene, but artistic photographers understand that the key to rendering our three-dimensional world in photography’s two-dimensional medium is creating the illusion of its missing dimension, depth, by including visual elements from near to far throughout the frame. Since depth of field is controlled by the f-stop, of all the exposure variables at a landscape photographer’s disposal, f-stop is usually the least negotiable. In a static scene (as most landscape image are), the tripod removes motion (camera shake) from the equation, allowing you to select the ideal f-stop at your camera’s best ISO, regardless of the resulting shutter speed.

But what about a scene that’s all on the same plane, where depth isn’t a factor? The f-stop still matters because every lens has a single f-stop that renders the sharpest edge-to-edge, corner-to-corner result. For some lenses the sharpness difference between f-stops is tiny, for others it’s significant. But it’s always there. So even when DOF isn’t a consideration, I choose my lens’s sharpest f-stop, usually f/5.6-f/11.

Some photographers put each lens through extensive testing to determine its sweet spot; I usually go with f/8 or f/11 unless I see clear evidence that a lens is sharper at a different f-stop. I also try to avoid f-stops smaller than f/11 unless the scene requires extra depth—not only do lenses tend to be less sharp at their extreme f-stops, at f-stops smaller than f/11, image softening diffraction starts to rear its ugly head—the smaller the aperture, the greater the diffraction.

The bottom line: By removing camera shake from the equation, a tripod frees you to choose the best f-stop for your composition, without compromise.

An image is not a snap, it’s a process

Still not convinced? Consider also the control a tripod gives to your composition process. Managing the relationship of elements in the frame is usually the single most important compositional decision a photographer can make. Relationships are especially important when you’ve included the front-to-back objects so essential to enhancing the illusion of depth. Photographing on a tripod gives you the time to consider each element in your frame and its relationship to other elements and eliminate distractions, and the flexibility to evaluate and refine until everything’s perfect.

When setting up an image, I try to achieve a sense of visual balance throughout my frame. I think about the path I want my viewers’ eyes to follow and where I want them to pause or land as they visually traverse the scene. I consider the elements that will move or stop the eye, and potential distractions that might pull the eye away, and merged elements that rob the scene of depth. With these things in mind, I position myself and frame my composition, identifying the ideal focus point and f-stop that gives me the depth of field I want. Having my composition frozen in place atop my tripod enables me to make these adjustments deliberately and methodically, and helps me ensure that one tweak here didn’t break something else over there.

After each click, I step back and study the image on the LCD, imagining it framed large and hanging on a wall. I scrutinize my composition for possible composition and depth of field improvements, and check the histogram for exposure problems. With a tripod I can do all this at my pace, taking as much time as necessary, knowing that when I’m ready to make adjustments, the composition I just scrutinized is waiting right there in my viewfinder atop my tripod, exactly as I captured it, ready for whatever improvements I deem necessary.

And finally

Other benefits of a tripod I’ve almost come to take for granted. For example, I sometimes use graduated neutral density filters, but find the holders that screw onto the end of my lens awkward. With a tripod, it’s easy to position my GND and hold it with my fingers during exposure (I don’t even own a filter holder). During long exposures I’ll sometimes move the GND up and down slightly to disguise the transition—also easy on a tripod.

I use a polarizer for almost every daylight composition, taking care each time to orient it for the best effect. But even though a polarizer subtracts 2-stops of light, I don’t need to worry about compromising my exposure settings to account for that lost light.

And advanced digital techniques such as image stitching (for panoramas or high resolution capture), HDR (high dynamic range blending of multiple images for exposure management), or focus blending to increase depth of field are all easier on a tripod. As is old-fashioned mirror lock-up to reduce mirror-slap induced vibration. And live-view focusing, the best way to ensure precise focus, is a snap on a tripod (and pretty much impossible hand-held).

Autumn Reflection, North Lake, Eastern Sierra

For example…

With so much top-to-bottom beauty, this North Lake reflection scene required lots of DOF. To find my composition, I removed my camera from my tripod and moved it around, zooming and widening, switching between horizontal and vertical, until something

stopped me. I found that by dropping to my knees, going wide, and orienting the frame vertically, I could include everything from the foreground reflection to the partly cloudy sky and aspen-covered mountainside.

My general composition conceived, I lowered my tripod and reattached the camera. Because the contrast between the bright sky and shaded foreground exceed my sensor’s dynamic range, I used a 3-stop soft graduated neutral density filter to reduce the difference to a manageable amount. I find GND-holders awkward and don’t own one, opting instead to use my fingers to position the filter–not practical without a tripod, but simple with one.

With my equipment ready, I dialed to f/16, metered, set my shutter speed, composed, positioned the GND, and clicked. After evaluating the image on my LCD, I made a couple of refinements. I repeated this cycle a couple more times until I had a composition that satisfied me. Finally, with everything exactly as I wanted it, I captured several more identical compositions, each with a different polarizer orientation.

Tripod amnesty

Just as the llama farm is now dust in the Peruvian desert (just checking to see how carefully you’ve been reading), all those beautiful hand-held scenes from your unstable past are history. Fortunately, the Tripod Police offer a generous amnesty program that rewards rehabilitated offenders with great new images each time they use a tripod. Just give it a try, and allow enough time for the tripod to become habit. Once you see the improvement, I don’t think you’ll relapse.

Read my guidance for purchasing a tripod

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Not Without a Tripod

Click any image to scroll through the gallery LARGE

Falling Snow, El Capitan, Yosemite

Forked Lightning, Point Imperial, Grand Canyon

Sunset Palette, Half Dome from Sentinel Dome, Yosemite

Sunstar, Horseshoe Bend, Arizona

Half Dome Reflection, Mirror Lake, Yosemite

Three Strikes, Bright Angel Point, North Rim, Grand Canyon

Direct Hit, Half Dome Lightning Strike, Yosemite

Moonlight Reflection, El Capitan and the Three Brothers, Yosemite

Aspen Abstract, Lundy Canyon, Eastern Sierra

Electric Night, Grand Canyon Lodge, North Rim, Grand Canyon

Winter Glow, El Capitan, Yosemite

Moon!, Half Dome, Yosemite

Tree and Crescent, Sierra Foothills, California

Lightning Explosion, Oza Butte, Grand Canyon North Rim

Big Moon, Valley View, Yosemite

Autumn Moon Reflection, Half Dome, Yosemite

Heavenly Beam, Upper Antelope Canyon

Winter Reflection, El Capitan, Yosemite

Before Sunrise, South Tufa, Mono Lake

Electric Dance, Grand Canyon

Spring Moon Reflection, Half Dome, Yosemite

Rainbow on the Rocks, Queen’s Bath, Kauai, Hawaii

Milky Way Reflection, Colorado River, Grand Canyon

Under the Rainbow, Colorado River, Grand Canyon

Dancing Poppy, Sierra Foothills, California

Spring Reflection, El Capitan and Three Brothers, Yosemite

Under the Rainbow, Colorado River, Grand Canyon

Storm’s End, Tunnel View, Yosemite

Bristlecone Night, Milky Way from the White Mountains, California

Sunset Fire, Olmsted Point, Yosemite

Infinity, Lake Wanaka, New Zealand

Winter Blue Hour Reflection, Half Dome, Yosemite

First Snow, El Capitan, Yosemite

Electric Sunset, Hopi Point Lightning, Grand Canyon

Rocks and Reflection, El Capitan, Yosemite

Champagne Glass Poppies, Merced River Canyon

Grand Canyon Sunset, Hopi Point

Horsetail Fall, El Capitan, Yosemite

Death Valley Winter Moon photo workshop

Yosemite Moonbow and Dogwood photo workshop

Dawn, Puna Coast, Hawaii

Autumn Leaf, Bridalveil Creek, Yosemite

Sunrise Mirror, Mono Lake

Poppy Hillside, California Gold Country

Sunset Palette, Half Dome from Sentinel Dome, Yosemite National Park

Day’s End, Ke’e Beach, Hawaii

El Capitan Reflection, Yosemite

Poppy Pastel, Sierra Foothills, California

Red Sunset, Lake Wanaka, New Zealand

Backlit Poppies, Folsom, California

Double Rainbow, Tunnel View, Yosemite

Intimate Poppy, Point Reyes National Seashore

Bristlecone Star Trails, Schulman Grove, White Mountains, California

Spring Meadow, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Fire on High, Kilauea and Milky Way, Hawaii

Fern Cascade, Russian Gulch Fall, Mendocino

Sunrise Trio, El Capitan and Half Dome, Yosemite

Lunar Kiss, Half Dome and Sentinel Dome, Yosemite

Thunderhead and Lightning, Lipan Point, Grand Canyon

Twilight Mist, Yosemite Valley

Rising Crescent, El Capitan and Half Dome, Yosemite

Poppy and Surf, Point Reyes National Seashore

Reflection on the Rocks

Emergence, Half Dome from Olmsted Point, Yosemite

Leaf, Bridalveil Creek, Yosemite

First Light, Yosemite Valley

Stairway to Heaven, Milky Way Over the Puna Coast, Hawaii