Skip to main content

Improve your telephoto photography with this long lens tripod technique

Long Lens Tripod Technique
When shooting subjects at long distances, as you may do for your kids’ sporting events or out at the wildlife refuge, having good technique can be the difference between disaster and a sharp shot. It’s important to have an understanding of photography and how your camera takes a picture, but even then, you can still run into problems if you are less than rigorous with your technique.

Steve Perry is an accomplished wildlife photographer, and his latest video over on YouTube is just what you need if you have been struggling to get clear and sharp images when shooting at long distances with your telephoto lenses. Before going any further, we want to point out that in the video Steve is standing next to a very expensive $9,000+ lens. You do not need to have one of those in order to take advantage of this technique — Tamron and Sigma both make very affordable 120-600mm telephoto zoom lenses that could benefit from it, not to mention 70-200mm and other similar lenses that also have a tripod collar.

long-lens-tripod
Rest your hand on the top of your lens to dampen some of the micro-vibrations that can cause an image to lose sharpness Steve Perry/YouTube

Now that we have that out of the way, many of you will likely not have a gimbal head, as they can be expensive and unless you shoot a lot of long telephoto lens shots you are probably better off with a standard ball head. In the video, Steve starts by going over the technique with his gimbal, but later in the video he shows you how to do it with a standard ball head as well.

Recommended Videos

This technique and others similar to it have been used by professional sports and wildlife photographers for decades, and if you want to get better results with your camera/lens combination, who better to learn from than a pro who is out there doing it on a daily basis.

Anthony Thurston
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Anthony is an internationally published photographer based in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Specializing primarily in…
Astronaut’s photo shows Earth as you’ve never seen it before
Earth as seen from the space station.

NASA astronaut Don Pettit already has a long-held reputation for creating stunning space photography, and his latest effort will only bolster it.

Shared on social media on Thursday, the image (top) shows Earth as a blaze of streaking light, an effect created by using long and multiple exposures to capture cities at night across several continents.

Read more
This GoPro camera is $100 off at Walmart today
The GoPro Hero 12 Black Creator Edition set up on a small tripod on the beach.

When it comes to high-octane sports and other speedy scenarios, our phone cameras can only do so much to capture the action. That’s why there’s such a big market for action cameras, and one of the O.G. camera companies in this realm is GoPro. For years, GoPro has been delivering HD and 4K cameras that are both durable and user-friendly, which is why we’re glad to shine a light on this fantastic offer we found while vetting Walmart deals:

When you purchase the GoPro Hero 12 at Walmart, you’ll pay $300. At full price, this model sells for $400.

Read more
The excellent intermediate Canon EOS R10 camera is $86 off at Walmart today
Canon EOS R10 camera mirrorless with STM lens attached and flash up

I recently grabbed a Canon EOS R50 bundle for a trip to the Dominican Republic. I did a lot of research before I made my decision, sifting through the best camera deals, and the two options I essentially narrowed down were the R50 and the EOS R10. The biggest difference between the two is that the R10 gives you more granular control over some of the photoshoot settings. R50, on the other hand, was designed assuming you'll mostly use the automatic shooting modes. That's a great option for novices, while the R10 is better for intermediate to more skilled photographers. Why am I telling you all of this? Because the excellent Canon EOS R10 camera is on sale at Walmart for Black Friday, discounted by $86 to $760 instead of $846. It is one of the better early Black Friday camera deals I've found so far. It comes with an 18-45mm lens. Needless to say, that's a great deal. Comparatively, the R10 with body only -- no lens -- is .

 
Why shop the Canon EOS R10 camera in Walmart's early Black Friday sale?

Read more