As I mentioned in my previous post, With or Without?, I enjoy using a tripod in certain situations. A tripod slows you down:

“Had I planned to be there just for photography and had I used a tripod, then the experience would have been different. Contemplative and mindful, both eyes on the scene, all senses on the job in hand, focused camera and focused mind, nothing else matters, alert and ready and enjoying every minute, that’s what a tripod is for! It slows you down and gives you time to be in the moment, to be in the landscape.”

Three Walkers, Humphrey Head

So, you have decided on your composition, your tripod is set up, camera mounted securely, lens focused and exposure set. You can now just stand back and wait for the right moment to take your photo. This might be a change of light or waiting for the wind to drop or in this case, willing the people who have just walked into my composition to go away!

***Excuse me, can’t you see I’m taking a photo here!***

As they stood there together, I took a photo anyway, but they weren’t adding anything to my composition so I just waited for them to leave. Although I felt confident I had my image, I like to spend time with a composition, to watch how the clouds move, observe changes in the light, so I wasn’t quite ready to leave. As they walked on, they looked more pleasing as they spread out over the rocks. I took a few photos before they moved out of my frame and when reviewing my images, I decided they had, after all, contributed to my composition!

***That’s perfect, stay just there! Three Walkers, Humphrey Head.***

Had I been handholding my camera, I would have taken it away from my eye as I waited for them to leave. As they began to move, I could have just waited for them to walk out of my frame and not taken any photos of them at all. If I did want to include them, I would have had to quickly recompose. As I was using a tripod and had my composition set, it was easy enough to observe the walkers and take the photo just at the right moment, particularly as I was standing away from my camera and using a remote control. They wouldn’t have known I was photographing them, unlike if they saw me raise my camera to my eye. My tripod certainly made it easier in making this image.

Two Dogs, Seaham Harbour

I experienced a similar situation when photographing moving waves at Seaham Harbour.

Wanting to capture movement in the water, I was using a neutral density (ND) filter* and a tripod. This allowed me to have an exposure time of several seconds to help blur the moving waves. Working this way can be a bit hit and miss as no two images will be alike, even with the same exposure time. It all depends on how fast the water is moving and how far into the frame it will come. As I was waiting for the wave to cover the bottom right corner of my composition, two dogs suddenly appeared and started running all over my scene!

However, unlike the three walkers, I was pleased to see these energetic intruders so I removed the ND filter, took my camera off the tripod and started photographing the dogs as my main subject! When I thought they had gone, I continued with my long exposure photography however, they reappeared and ran back into my composition so I decided to include them as harbour ghosts!

Photographing the dogs running in the harbour and the walkers at Humphrey Head, are a good illustration that sometimes the images you have in your mind are not always the ones you make!

Cheers for now,
David.

*A neutral density filter reduces the amount of light entering the lens and allows for longer exposure times. I was using a six second exposure time for the Seaham Harbour waves.

Three Walkers and Two Dogs

With or Without?