Of the various methods to keep your camera steady, the best is to use a tripod, but often you may not have one with you or the situation makes the use of a tripod impossible. In these situations, if you use proper precautions, it is possible to take high-quality pictures using hand-held methods.

Under normal circumstances, you should not handhold your camera at shutter speeds longer than about 1/60 second. When a long lens is used, this becomes even more critical, because the images produced by long lenses are affected more by camera movement. Also, it is more difficult to control the weight and greater size of a long lens when it is hand-held. As a general rule, the slowest recommended shutter speed is the reciprocal of the focal length of the lens; for example, when you are using a 500mm lens, the slowest shutter speed you should use is 1/500 second. When handholding your camera, be sure to have a good, solid, but not tense grip on the camera. Use your whole body as a firm support. Your elbows should be close to your body and your feet spread apart to provide good balance. In this position your body is acting as a tripod. When possible, you should try steadying yourself by leaning against something solid like a wall, tree, or post.

When using an eye-level camera, press the camera against your forehead and face. A waist-level camera should be pulled solidly against your body. Just before releasing the shutter, take a deep breath, let out part of the air-hold the rest, and squeeze the shutter release as if firing a gun.

When nothing is available to support your camera other than yourself, try sitting down, squatting, or kneeling, and firmly rest your elbows on one or both knees. When you are taking low-angle photographs, lying on the ground with the camera in front of you is another simple way to keep the camera reasonably

Figure 5-1. Handholding the camera.

steady. Even better results are obtained when you place the camera steady upside down against a roof or other the camera on a solid surface, such as a railing or a rock object within easy reach above your head, such as under (fig.5-1). a low archway or firm tree branch.

When taking high-angle photographs with a Portable and compact supports, such as pistol or twin-lens reflex or waist-level camera, you could hold rifle grips, are available for hand-held cameras. These

are particularly useful when covering fast events, when using long-focal-length lenses, or when a tripod is too cumbersome to use. These hand-held supports are usually fitted with a cable release for firing the shutter.

Camera shake can cause fuzzy photographs. Some cameras have built-in capabilities that help reduce camera vibration or shake; for instance, on a single-lens reflex (SLR) camera, the mirror jumps up when the shutter is fired-that causes vibration. On some SLRs you can lock the mirror up before taking the picture to avoid this; however, the disadvantage of locking the mirror is that you are unable to see through the viewfinder. Also, the pressure of your finger on the shutter release can cause some camera shake. This does not happen on cameras with a delayed shutter release because the camera compensates by automatically delaying the shutter release. Additionally, cable release can be used to fire the shutter without handling the camera