bursting technique

San Antonio, 1/10 sec @ f/4.5, Nikon D70

What do you do when the shutter speed gets below what you're comfortable handholding the camera, and you don't have a tripod with you?  Well, you could brace yourself against some object, like a flag pole or a wall, or place the camera on a bench or a short wall, and use the self-timer so you don't introduce more camera motion when you press the shutter. Or use Joe McNally's super-duper hand-over-shoulder-left-eye-dominant technique. I know there are photographers who can handhold down to like 1/4 sec or slower--more power to them.  I have a tremor in my left hand so I won't even try.



Enter the "bursting technique," when you don't have anything to lean against or to set your camera on (also what I used to capture the above image).  Put your camera in burst mode.  You know, the one where it takes some 3 to 5 images a second when you hold down the shutter button (or 11, if you have a Nikon D3s--I hate you). Hold down that shutter and shoot a bunch of frames.  What happens is that the first few frames will not be so sharp, as there's motion from the initial shutter press.  By about the third or fourth frame, however, your shutter button has been fully depressed, so the camera actually becomes more stable.  Works best with stationary subjects, of course.  Now-a-days with those insane high ISOs, you may not need to resort to this at all.  Still, nice trick to keep in the back pocket.

Another rule of thumb to avoid camera shake is to not use a shutter speed slower than the inverse of the focal length of the lens. For example, if you're shooting with a 200mm lens, use at least 1/200 sec or faster to avoid camera shake.  If you're using a zoom lens, you should figure this on the longest focal length, i.e., 1/70 sec for a 18-70mm lens.  The heavier the lens, the faster that lower limit is on the shutter speed.  Again this sorta assumes that your subject is not moving.  If you're photographing kids running around at the playground, throw out all rules of thumb and shoot from the hip.

Incidentally, I was surprised to find that there's a lot in common between photography and rifle shooting.  In the sense that they say to not hold your breath when pressing the shutter/trigger, but to exhale and gently squeeze the shutter/trigger.