How do you hold your camera? These are the best and the worst ways to do it
When shooting in low light conditions at slower shutter speeds, it-s best to use a tripod. But more often than not, you’ll need to shoot handheld. In fact, some of us prefer it whenever it’s possible. There is no a single right way to hold your camera when handholding it. But there sure are some wrong ways that will end up with motion blur in your photos. You want to avoid those, and Chris Nichols of DPReview will share some useful tips and tricks for this. He’ll show you how to hold your camera properly and reduce camera shake when shooting handheld.
Chris uses a Canon EOS R5 at 70mm focal length. He shoots at 1/30s shutter speed and with image stabilization off, which makes it difficult to get sharp photos handheld. But you can still get fairly sharp and usable photos, and Chris shares some tips on how to do it.
In the video, Chris goes through several holding techniques and gives them pretty creative names: “Old man eyes,” “Mr./Mrs. Pinchypants,” “The operator,” “Where did I drop my SD card?!” and so on. He tests each of them by taking ten photos to see how many of those will be usable, and how many will turn out sharp.
In the photo above, my brother is something between “Mr./Mrs. Pinchypants” and “The operator,” and I’m “The Operator.” It’s one of the best positions to hold your camera when shooting handheld: keep your elbows tucked in, press the camera against your face with the gripping hand, and stabilize the lens underneath with your other hand. If you can, lean onto something as well for extra stabilization.
Camera holding poses are one of the first things I saw in more than one photography book. And when I bought my first DSLR, I embraced them kinda naturally. “The operator” is how I hold my camera if it isn’t on a tripod, and I do it in most shooting situations. How do you hold your camera?
