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Thread: Stone Cold Toad

  1. #1
    Bee Emily
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    Default Stone Cold Toad

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    This fellow was posing on a stone in my backyard and seemed to just want his picture taken. So I laid down on the grass and obliged him.

    Kodak C360 P&S
    handheld
    f4.1
    82mm
    iso 125
    1/60

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    Bee,
    I like the low angle. A nice perspective. Lovely colours of the moss on the rock. I would have loved a higher aperture. Since you are shooting at 1/60, I would suggest a different method of hand holding your P&S cameras. Hold your left palm facing upwards. Then rest the P&S camera on it. Use your right hand to grip the camera as you normally would and then press the shutter. This would ensure that the camera doesn't move down when you are clicking. How far were you from the toad?
    Cheers,
    Sabyasachi

  3. #3
    Bee Emily
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    I was approx 4 feet (if not closer) to the toad. I love the suggestions about handholding.

  4. #4
    Julie Kenward
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    Great suggestion on the hand holding S. Another thing to add is when you get ready to click the shutter, take a breath in, then exhale. As you get to the very end of your breath, THEN click the shutter. That way you aren't breathing in (which tends to make your arms rise a bit) while you are clicking down the shutter. This way everything is stable as best it can be. I've gotten away with handholding down to 1/15 with my old P&S when using this technique.

  5. #5
    Bee Emily
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    Would this work with a Canon 20D too?

  6. #6
    Julie Kenward
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    It works with any camera, Bee...it's just that you tend to get more blur from a P&S camera because they don't always have the high technology (image stabilization, etc.) to help freeze the image as it is shot.

  7. #7
    Robert Amoruso
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    P&S's can be harder to hold steady then a SLR type camera but great suggestion by Sabyasachi. Going low Bee was the right way to handle this image as it makes for a stonger perspective being at her level.

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    Bee,
    Interesting discussion on handholding. My suggestion is based on arresting the downward movement. Something like a monopod, where your camera can't go down.

    Julie has given a nice suggestion. Initially, I used to inhale and hold my breath before clicking. However, that is a wrong technique as you would be struggling to hold your breath and you wont be still. You should exhale and then click. This breath control is also practiced by shooters (Yes. not photographers but shooters). I was chatting with a shooting coach, who confirmed about the breath control i.e. exhale and then pull the trigger. Try it with your 20D and 100-400 or any lens, it would work.
    Cheers,
    Sabyasachi

  9. #9
    Co-Founder James Shadle's Avatar
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    Wow, most hand holding techniques have been covered.
    Let me add my 2 cents worth, if I were hand holding a 20D with a 100-400, I would hold the lens the lens with my left palm facing upward, thumb pointing to my left.
    I would hold the lens as far out as possible, the camera being a pivot point, the farther out I hold the lens, the easier it is to control.
    It is also important that I keep my elbows under control, pushed into my side, on my knee or on the ground etc, depending on my position.
    I gently exhale while I smoothly press the shutter release, never jab.
    Pressing the camera against may face helps because this absorbs vibration and helps steady the camera.
    Work quickly but not hurried(does that make sense?), fatigue can hit more quickly than you may think, while hand hold this camera lens combo.

  10. #10
    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
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    Hand holding...a subject that is near and dear to my heart. I agree with both James and Sabyasachi about technique. I would add that when you get into the longer focal length big lenses (500 and above), I move my hand supporting the lens in closer so that I can prop my body against my elbow.
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