July 30, 2009

Bingin Bali...always bring a tripod.


(click image for large version)
Here's a nice shot I grabbed down at Bingin a little while ago. I was there shooting the local Bali rippers Garut and Raditya. During the high tide they took a break, but I kept shooting. This guy was waiting for the right moment to enter the water. I decided to slow the shutter down to give a better sense of the water movement happening up against the jagged cliffs. 

It was quite bright at midday so I threw on a polarizing filter to suck up some light (2 stops) chose ISO 200, I stopped the lens down to F22 and ended up with 1/13th for a shutter which meant I couldn't handhold it, so I used my favorite piece of gear: my tripod.

So many photographers hate to carry tripods, but without a good one you're really limited to hand holdable shutter speeds and that can mean your creativity is limited too. Things get even more difficult (impossible) when you want to shoot in low light like early morning and late afternoon. Just bring it. 

With that said there is one thing worse than not having a tripod and that's having a crappy tripod. Buy a good one with quick release and a good head on it. I prefer ball heads for most of my photography.  


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